Dems imploding over 9/11 TV miniseries
The Democrats are imploding over ABC 's "The Path to 9/11" miniseries, set
to air this Sunday and Monday evening. Below is an email from the DNC:
Does a major national broadcast network want to stain itself by presenting
an irresponsible, slanderous, fraudulent, "docu-drama" to the American
public?
Not if you and I have the last word -- but either way, we're about to find
out.
The ABC television network -- a cog in the Walt Disney empire -- unleashed a
promotional blitz in the last week for a new "docudrama" called "The Path to
9/11". ABC has thrown its corporate might behind the two-night production,
and bills it as a public service: a TV event, to quote the ABC tagline,
"based on the 9/11 Commission Report".
That's false. "The Path to 9/11" is actually a bald-faced attempt to slander
Democrats and revise history right before Americans vote in a major
election.
The miniseries, which was put together by right-wing conservative writers,
relies on the old GOP playbook of using terrorism to scare Americans. "The
Path to 9/11" mocks the truth and dishonors the memory of 9/11 victims to
serve a cheap, callous political agenda. It irresponsibly misrepresents the
facts and completely distorts the truth.
ABC/Disney executives need to hear from the public and understand that their
abuse of the public trust comes with a cost. Tell Walt Disney CEO Robert
Iger to keep this right-wing propaganda off the air -- we'll deliver your
message:
http://www.democrats.org/pathto911
This story is breaking quickly. The bias of the "docudrama" only became
known when ABC began circulating previews recently. Less than two weeks ago,
9/11 Commission member Richard Ben-Veniste confronted a lead writer of "The
Path to 9/11" after watching the first half of the miniseries at a
screening, but most of what we know amounts to bits and pieces because ABC
chose to screen the miniseries to conservative bloggers and right-wing media
outlets exclusively. Almost none of the Democrats portrayed in the film have
even been asked for their thoughts.
But we still know enough, thanks to news accounts and crack research, to
fact check "The Path to 9/11" as a biased, irresponsible mess. Here's what
you need to know:
Richard Clarke -- the counterterrorism czar for the Clinton administration,
now himself a consultant to ABC News -- describes a key scene in "The Path
to 9/11" as "180 degrees from what happened." In the scene, a CIA field
agent places a phone call to get the go ahead to kill Osama Bin Laden, then
in his sights, only to have a senior Clinton administration official refuse
and hang up the phone. Sandy Berger, President Clinton's National Security
Advisor, called the same scene "a total fabrication. It did not happen." And
Roger Cressey, a top Bush and Clinton counterterrorism official, said it was
"something straight out of Disney and fantasyland. It's factually wrong. And
that's shameful."
Another scene revives the old right-wing myth that press reporting made it
impossible to track Osama bin Laden, accusing the Washington Post of blowing
the secret that American intelligence tracked his satellite phone calls. In
reality, responsibility for that blunder -- contrary to "The Path to 9/11"
-- rests with none other than the arch-conservative Washington Times.
The former National Security Council head of counterterrorism says that
President Clinton "approved every request made of him by the CIA and the
U.S. military involving using force against bin Laden and al-Qaeda," and the
9/11 report says the CIA had full authority from President Clinton to strike
Bin Laden. Yet chief "Path to 9/11" scriptwriter Cyrus Nowrasteh, a friend
of Rush Limbaugh, says the miniseries shows how President Clinton had
"frequent opportunities in the '90s to stop Bin Laden in his tracks -- but
lacked the will to do so."
ABC asked only the Republican co-chair of the 9/11 Commission, Tom Kean,
Sr., to advise the makers of "The Path to 9/11". The producers optioned two
books, one written by a Bush administration political appointee, as the
basis of the screenplay -- yet bill the miniseries as "based on the 9/11
Commission Report."
This is a picture of bias -- a conservative attempt to rewrite the history
of September 11 to blame Democrats, just in time for the election.
Tell Walt Disney president Robert Iger that you hold his company responsible
-- and that this community demands that ABC tell the truth:
http://www.democrats.org/pathto911
ABC is trying to use of the airwaves -- airwaves owned by you and me, and
loaned to broadcasters as a public trust -- to slander Democrats and sell a
slanderous, irresponsible fraud to the American people, and they're
shamefully doing it just weeks away from Election Day.
The Walt Disney Corporation could have given Americans an honest look at
September 11. Instead, the company abandoned its duty to the truth -- and
embraced the fiction known as "The Path to 9/11."
But ABC isn't the only company pushing this gross revision of history. ABC
has enlisted the reputable education and children's entertainment company
Scholastic, Inc. to send 100,000 letters to high school teachers, urging
them to show students "The Path to 9/11". Scholastic has also created a
discussion guide for teachers to use to encourage students and their
families to watch this irresponsible fraud and then discuss it in school.
The discussion guide does not in any way point out the concerns and
criticisms that have been raised about the validity and accuracy of the
film.
We've got to stop this now.
ABC/Disney must face an accountability moment. You can ratchet up the
pressure on ABC by sending your own letter to Walt Disney CEO Robert Iger --
tell him to keep this propaganda off their air.
http://www.democrats.org/pathto911
We'll keep you up to date as this story evolves.
Thank you,
Tom
Tom McMahon
Executive Director
Democratic National Committee
Republicans makin' hay!
"AmericaWeakly.com"
takes aim at the cut-n-run, luv-those-terroists Dems. Here is the latest
email from Ken Mehlman:
Impeachment. Cutting and running from the War on Terror. Key defense systems
dismantled. Tax cuts repealed. Speaker Pelosi.
That's what America could look like one year from now if Democrats take the
majority. Don't wait a year find out how Democrats have weakened America -
after it's too late. Get a sneak peak at what the news would be like in
September 2007 - based on the Democrats' actual record - with America
Weakly, the newspaper of record for the Democrat majority.
http://www.AmericaWeakly.com
Visit
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Vote for Your Favorite Democrat Leader. Will it be Hillary
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Learn how Supreme Court nominees were
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Watch the America Weakly Video and share it with friends.
It doesn't take a wild leap of the imagination to figure out what government
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they fight to undercut the tools we need to win the War on Terror. If
they're this extreme now, imagine how extreme they'd be if they had total
power in Congress? Find out with America Weakly.
Visit the site.
Send a link to all your friends and neighbors. And let's make it so
the real headlines a year from now look nothing like America Weakly.
Sincerely,
Ken Mehlman
Chairman, Republican National Committee
NY Post Headline:
Bubba goes ballistic on ABC about its
damning 9/11 movie
INSISTS NET PULL DRAMA
{EXCERPT:] "A furious Bill Clinton is warning ABC that its mini-series "The
Path to 9/11" grossly misrepresents his pursuit of Osama bin Laden - and he
is demanding the network "pull the drama" if changes aren't made... The
movie is set to air on Sunday and Monday nights. Monday is the fifth
anniversary of the attacks."
>>>read entire article here
Romney: No state security for Khatami visit
Governor Mitt Romney ordered all
Massachusetts state government agencies to
decline support, if asked, for former Iranian President Mohammed Khatami’s
September 10 visit to the
Boston area, where he is scheduled to speak
at
Harvard
University.
“State taxpayers should not be providing special treatment to an individual
who supports violent jihad and the destruction of
Israel,”
said Romney.
Romney’s action means that Khatami will be denied an official police escort
and other VIP treatment when he is in town. The federal government provides
security through the U.S. State Department.
Romney criticized Harvard for honoring Khatami by inviting him to speak,
calling it “a disgrace to the memory of all Americans who have lost their
lives at the hands of extremists, especially on the eve of the five-year
anniversary of 9/11.”
Said Romney: “The U.S. State Department listed Khatami’s
Iran as the
number one state sponsor of terrorism. Within his own country, Khatami
oversaw the torture and murder of dissidents who spoke out for freedom and
democracy. For him to lecture Americans about tolerance and violence is
propaganda, pure and simple.”
Romney cited a litany of hateful actions by Khatami, including his support
for violent jihadist activities:
·
During the period of time he was in office, from 1997 to 2005,
Khatami presided over
Iran’s
secret nuclear program. Currently, the Iranian Government under President
Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is snubbing the international community’s request to
cease nuclear weapons production.
·
In the recent conflict along the Israel-Lebanon border,
Khatami described the terrorist group Hezbollah as a “shining sun that
illuminates and warms the hearts of all Muslims and supporters of freedom in
the world.”
·
Khatami has endorsed Ahmadinejad’s call for the annihilation
of
Israel.
·
During Khatami’s presidency,
Iran refused to hand
over the Iranian intelligence officials who were responsible for the attack
on the
Khobar
Towers that killed 19
U.S.
military personnel.
·
In his own country, Khatami oversaw the torture and murder of
Iranian students, journalists, and others who spoke out for freedom and
democracy. Khatami relaxed freedom of speech laws giving democracy
reformers a false sense of security only to engage in one of the largest
crackdowns in the country’s history.
·
In Khatami’s
Iran, there
was no religious tolerance. According to the U.S. Office of International
Religious Freedom,
Iran was one
of the worst offenders of religious persecutions. Minorities, such as
Evangelicals, Jews, Catholics and others, have suffered.
“Khatami pretends to be a moderate, but he is not. My hope is that the
United States will find
and work with real voices of moderation inside
Iran. But
we will never make progress in the region if we deal with wolves in sheep’s
clothing,” said Romney
Remarks By The President On The Global War On
Terror
Cobb Galleria Centre
Atlanta, Georgia
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Please be
seated. (Applause.) Thank you. Sonny, thanks for the introduction. Thanks
for your leadership. It's always a pleasure to be in Georgia. I appreciate
you coming -- (applause) -- and I appreciate the chance to speak here before
the Georgia Public Policy Foundation. And I thank you for what you do. For
15 years, you've been researching and writing on issues that matter. You
take on tough questions, you apply innovative thinking, you push for action,
and you do it all without regard to politics. Come on up to Washington.
(Applause and laughter.)
I have come here to Atlanta to continue a series
of speeches marking the fifth anniversary of the September the 11th, 2001
attacks. Last week at the American Legion Convention in Salt Lake City,
Utah, I outlined the ideological struggle between the forces of moderation
and liberty, and the forces of extremism across the Middle East. On Tuesday,
in Washington, I described our enemies in their own words, and set forward a
strategy to defeat them. Yesterday, I announced that the men we believe
orchestrated the 9/11 attacks have been transferred to Guantanamo Bay, and I
called on the United States Congress to pass legislation creating military
commissions to bring these people to justice. (Applause.)
Today I'll deliver a progress report on the steps
we have taken since 9/11 to protect the American people, steps we've taken
to go on the offense against the enemy, and steps we are taking to win this
war on terror.
Today I traveled with two United States Senators
who clearly see the issues before us, and I appreciate and I'm proud to be
associated with and friends with Senator Saxby Chambliss and Senator Johnny
Isakson. (Applause.)
I do thank Brenda Fitzgerald for encouraging the
Board of Governors to invite me, and for taking the lead for the Georgia
Public Policy Foundation. And I want to thank the Board of Governors for
your kind invitation. I appreciate very much being with Major General Terry
Nesbitt, who's the director of the Georgia office of Homeland Security.
Joining us today is a man I got to know quite
well under trying circumstances, and that would be Lieutenant General Russ
Honoré of the United States Army. Honoré. (Applause.) He issued one of the
great lines I've ever heard, and you're welcome to use it -- "Don't get
stuck on stupid." (Applause.) It's good advice for people in Washington,
D.C. (Laughter.)
I welcome the other state and local officials
here. Thank you all for letting me come by.
In Atlanta, you know the pain of terrorism
firsthand. This summer, you marked the 10th anniversary of the bombing in
Centennial Olympic Park. That was the act of one madman. Next Monday is the
fifth anniversary of an attack on our nation, and on that day, we awoke to a
new kind of terrorism. Instead of a localized strike, we faced multiple
attacks by a network of sophisticated an suicidal terrorists. In the years
since, we've come to learn more about our enemies -- we learned more about
their dark and distorted vision of Islam. We learned about their plan to
build a radical Islamic empire stretching from Spain to Indonesia. We
learned about their dream to kill more Americans on an even more devastating
scale. That's what they have told us. As President, I took an oath to
protect this country, and I will continue using every element of national
power to pursue our enemies and to prevent attacks on the United States of
America. (Applause.)
Over the past five years, we have waged an
unprecedented campaign against terror at home and abroad, and that campaign
has succeeded in protecting the homeland. At the same time, we've seen our
enemies strike in Britain, Spain, India, Turkey, Russia, Indonesia, Jordan,
Israel, Afghanistan, Iraq, and other countries. We've seen that the
extremists have not given up on their dreams to strike our nation. Just last
month, police and intelligence officers from Great Britain, with the help of
the United States and other allies, helped break up a terror cell in London.
Working together, we foiled a suicide plot to blow up passenger planes on
their way to the United States.
Many Americans look at these events and ask the
same question: Five years after 9/11, are we safer? The answer is, yes,
America is safer. (Applause.) We are safer because we've taken action to
protect the homeland. We are safer because we are on offense against our
enemies overseas. We're safer because of the skill and sacrifice of the
brave Americans who defend our people. (Applause.) Yet five years after
9/11, America still faces determined enemies, and we will not be safe until
those enemies are finally defeated.
One way to assess whether we're safer is to look
at what we have done to fix the problems that the 9/11 attacks revealed. And
so today I'll deliver a progress report. The information about the attacks
in this report is largely drawn from the work of the 9/11 Commission and
other investigations of the terrorist attacks. I'll begin by looking back at
four key stages of the 9/11 plot, the gaps in our defenses that each stage
exposed, and the ways we've addressed those gaps to make this country safer.
In the first key stage of the 9/11 plot, al Qaeda
conceived and planned the attacks from abroad. In the summer of 1996, Osama
bin Laden issued a fatwa from Afghanistan that said this: "by the grace of
Allah, a safe base here is now available." And declared war on the United
States. A month later, the Taliban seized control of Kabul, and formed an
alliance with al Qaeda. The Taliban permitted bin Laden to operate a system
of training camps in the country, which ultimately instructed more than
10,000 in terrorist tactics. Bin Laden was also free to cultivate a global
financing network that provided money for terrorist operations. With his
fellow al Qaeda leaders, Osama bin Laden used his safe haven to prepare a
series of attacks on America and on the civilized world.
In August 1998, they carried out their first big
strike -- the bombing of two U.S. embassies in East Africa, which killed
more than 200 people and wounded thousands. Shortly after the embassy
bombings, bin Laden approved another attack. This one was called "the planes
operation." Our intelligence agencies believe it was suggested by a fellow
terrorist named Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- or KSM. KSM's plan was to hijack
commercial airliners and to crash them into buildings in the United States.
He and bin Laden selected four preliminary targets -- the World Trade
Center, the Pentagon, the Capitol Building, and the White House. The "planes
operation" would become the 9/11 plot -- and by the middle of 1999, KSM was
at work recruiting suicide operatives to hijack the airplanes.
The first stage of the 9/11 plot exposed serious
flaws in America's approach to terrorism. Most important, it showed that by
allowing states to give safe haven to terrorist networks that we made a
grave mistake. So after 9/11, I set forth a new doctrine: Nations that
harbor or support terrorists are equally guilty as the terrorists, and will
be held to account. (Applause.) And the Taliban found out what we meant.
With Afghan allies, we removed the Taliban from power, and we closed down
the al Qaeda training camps. Five years later, Taliban and al Qaeda remnants
are desperately trying to retake control of that country. They will fail.
They will fail because the Afghan people have tasted freedom. They will fail
because their vision is no match for a democracy accountable to its
citizens. They will fail because they are no match for the military forces
of a free Afghanistan, a NATO Alliance, and the United States of America.
(Applause.)
Our offensive against the terrorists includes far
more than military might. We use financial tools to make it harder for them
to raise money. We're using diplomatic pressure, and our intelligence
operations are used to disrupt the day-to-day functions of al Qaeda. Because
we're on the offense, it is more difficult for al Qaeda to transfer money
through the international banking system. Because we're on the offense, al
Qaeda can no longer communicate openly without fear of destruction. And
because we're on the offense, al Qaeda can no longer move widely without
fearing for their lives.
I learned a lot of lessons on 9/11, and one
lesson is this: In order to protect this country, we will keep steady
pressure, unrelenting pressure on al Qaeda and its associates. We will deny
them safe haven; we will find them and we will bring them to justice.
(Applause.)
Key advantages that al Qaeda enjoyed while
plotting the 9/11 attack in Afghanistan have been taken away, and so have
many of their most important leaders, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. For
the past three years, KSM has been in the custody of the Central
Intelligence Agency. He's provided valuable intelligence that has helped us
kill or capture al Qaeda terrorists and stop attacks on our nation.
(Applause.) I authorized his transfer to Guantanamo Bay -- and the sooner
the Congress authorizes the military commissions I have called for, the
sooner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will receive the justice he deserves.
(Applause.)
In the second key stage of the 9/11 plot, KSM and
bin Laden identified, trained, and deployed operatives to the United States.
According to the 9/11 Commission, two of the first suicide hijackers to join
the plot were men named Hazmi and Mihdhar. KSM's plan was to send these two
men to infiltrate the United States and train as pilots, so they could fly
the hijacked planes into buildings. Both operatives attended a special
training camp in Afghanistan, and then traveled to Malaysia and Thailand to
prepare for their trip to America. KSM doctored Hazmi's passport to help him
enter the United States. And from Thailand, the two men flew to Los Angeles
in January 2000. There they began carrying out the plot from inside our
nation. They made phone calls to planners of the attack overseas, and they
awaited the arrival of the other killers.
Our intelligence community picked up some of this
information. CIA analysts saw links between Mihdhar and al Qaeda, and
officers tracked Mihdhar to Malaysia. Weeks later, they discovered that he
had been accompanied by Hazmi and that Hazmi had flown to Los Angeles. This
gave the CIA reason to be suspicious of both these men. Yet, at the time,
there was no consolidated terrorist watchlist available to all federal
agencies, and state and local governments. So, even though intelligence
officers suspected that both men were dangerous, the information was not
readily accessible to American law enforcement -- and the operatives slipped
into our country.
Since 9/11, we've addressed the gaps in our
defenses that these operatives exploited. We've upgraded technology; we've
added layers of security to correct weaknesses in our immigration and visa
systems. Today, visa applicants like Hazmi or Mihdhar would have to appear
for face-to-face for interviews. They would be fingerprinted and screened
against an extensive database of known or suspected terrorists. And when
they arrived on American soil, they would be checked again to make sure
their fingerprints matched the fingerprints on their visas. Those procedures
did not exist before 9/11. With these steps we made it harder for these --
people like these guys to infiltrate our country.
Nine-Eleven also revealed the need for a
coordinated approach to terrorist watchlists. So we established common
criteria for posting terrorists on a consolidated terrorist watchlist that
is now widely available across federal, state, and local jurisdictions.
Today, intelligence community officials would immediately place terrorist
suspects like Hazmi and Mihdhar on a consolidated watchlist -- and the
information from this list is now accessible at airports, consulates, border
crossings, and for state and local law enforcement. By putting terrorists'
names on a consolidated watchlist, we've improved our ability to monitor and
to track and detain operatives before they can strike.
Another top priority after 9/11 was improving our
ability to monitor terrorist communications. Remember I told you the two had
made phone calls outside the country. At my direction, the National Security
Agency created the Terrorist Surveillance Program. Before 9/11, our
intelligence professionals found it difficult to monitor international
communications such as those between the al Qaeda operatives secretly in the
United States and planners of the 9/11 attacks. The Terrorist Surveillance
Program helps protect Americans by allowing us to track terrorist
communications, so we can learn about threats like the 9/11 plot before it
is too late.
Last year, details of the Terrorist Surveillance
Program were leaked to the news media, and the program was then challenged
in court. That challenge was recently upheld by a federal district judge in
Michigan. My administration strongly disagrees with the ruling. We are
appealing it, and we believe our appeal will be successful. Yet a series of
protracted legal challenges would put a heavy burden on this critical and
vital program. The surest way to keep the program is to get explicit
approval from the United States Congress. So today I'm calling on the
Congress to promptly pass legislation providing additional authority for the
Terrorist Surveillance Program, along with broader reforms in the Foreign
Intelligence Surveillance Act. (Applause.)
When FISA was passed in 1978, there was no widely
accessible Internet, and almost all calls were made on fixed landlines.
Since then, the nature of communications has changed, quite dramatically.
The terrorists who want to harm America can now buy disposable cell phones,
and open anonymous e-mail addresses. Our laws need to change to take these
changes into account. If an al Qaeda commander or associate is calling into
the United States, we need to know why they're calling. And Congress needs
to pass legislation supporting this program. (Applause.)
In the third key stage of the 9/11 plot, the rest
of the 19 al Qaeda operatives arrived in the United States. The first two
hijackers in America, Hazmi and Mihdhar, had given up flight training -- so
Khalid Sheikh Mohammed selected operatives from a cell in Germany to become
the new pilots. These men, led by Mohammed Atta, obtained visas and they
traveled to the United States, and then they enrolled in flight training
schools. Atta and his team visited airports and flight training centers
along the East Coast, including here in Georgia. Atta was pulled over by
police. On his way -- one of his co-conspirators, the terrorist who would go
on to pilot Flight 93, was also stopped. Yet there was no information that
the men were dangerous, so the officers treated the encounters as routine
traffic stops. By September the 10th, the hijackers had moved to their final
destinations near major airports and were ready to execute their attack.
As these terrorists finalized their plans, al
Qaeda dispatched another operative named Moussaoui to the United States.
Moussaoui took flight lessons in Oklahoma and Minnesota, and communicated
with an al Qaeda leader abroad. But he remained isolated from the other
operatives and was not a suicide hijacker on the day of the attacks, didn't
participate in the 9/11 attacks.
During this stage, law enforcement and
intelligence authorities failed to share the insights they were learning
about the 9/11 plot. For example, an FBI intelligence analyst working at the
CIA came across information that raised her suspicions about Hazmi and
Mihdhar. But she did not relay her concerns to FBI criminal investigators
because of a wall -- or "the wall" that had developed over the years between
law enforcement and intelligence. You see, throughout the government, there
was an assumption that law enforcement and intelligence were legally
prohibited from sharing vital information. At one point, key officials from
the CIA, the intelligence branch of the FBI, the criminal branch of the FBI
were all sitting around the same table in New York, but they believed that
"the wall" prohibited them from telling each other what they knew about
Hazmi and Mihdhar, and so they never put the pieces together.
By the summer of 2001, intelligence about a
possible terrorist attack was increasing. In July, an FBI agent in Phoenix
noted that a large number of suspicious men were attending flight schools in
Arizona. He speculated that this activity might be part of a bin Laden plan
to attack inside the United States. The following month, the FBI Field
Office in Minneapolis began an investigation into Moussaoui. He was soon
arrested on immigration charges, and Minneapolis agents sought a FISA
warrant to search his computer. FBI Headquarters turned them down, saying
that the case did not justify a FISA request because there was not enough
intelligence tying Moussaoui to a foreign power. The FBI later learned that
Moussaoui had attended an al Qaeda training camp in Afghanistan -- but the
information didn't arrive until September the 13th.
It is clear, after 9/11, something needed to be
done to the system, something needed to be changed to protect the American
people. And it is clear to me that this started with transforming the FBI to
ensure that it would effectively and quickly respond to potential terrorists
attacks. And so now the top priority of the FBI, since 9/11 -- the culture
of that important agency, full of decent people, has changed. The top
priority is to protect the American people from terrorist attack. The Bureau
has hired large numbers of counterterrorism agents and analysts. They're
focusing resources on what they need to do to protect America. They created
a unified National Security Branch to coordinate terrorist investigations.
They expanded the number of Joint Terrorism Task Forces. And the Bureau is
submitting more FISA requests in terrorist cases. In other words, they
understand the challenge. And the FBI is changing to meet those challenges.
The FBI is responding to terrorist threats like Moussaoui more quickly, more
effectively, and with more resources. At every level, America's law
enforcement officers now have a clear goal -- to identify, locate, and stop
terrorists before they can kill people.
Since the attacks, we've also worked with
Congress to do something about that wall that prevented intelligence and
criminal investigators from talking to each other. The wall made no sense.
It reflected an old way of thinking. And so I called upon Congress to pass a
piece of legislation that would tear down the wall, and that was called the
Patriot Act. The Patriot Act has increased the flow of information within
our government and it has helped break up terrorist cells in the United
States of America. And the United States Congress was right to renew the
terrorist act -- the Patriot Act. (Applause.) The Terrorist Prevention Act,
called the Patriot Act.
We created the National Counterterrorism Center,
where law enforcement and intelligence personnel work side-by-side in the
same headquarters. This center hosts secure video teleconferences every day
that allow for seamless communication among the FBI, the CIA, and other
agencies. Now officials with critical threat information are sitting at the
same table and sharing information. We created the position of the Director
of National Intelligence to operate the intelligence community as a single
unified enterprise. We set up the Terrorist Screening Center, which
maintains the government's master list of suspected terrorists, and helps
get this information in the hands of state and local law enforcement. Today,
a police officer who stops a driver for a routine traffic violation can
access terrorist watchlists and be automatically directed to the Terrorist
Screening Center if there's a match.
We've learned the lessons of September the 11th.
We're changing how people can work together. We're modernizing the system.
We're working to connect the dots to stop the terrorists from hurting
America again. (Applause.)
The fourth and final stage of the 9/11 plot came
on the morning of the attack. Starting around 6:45 a.m., the 19 hijackers,
including Hazmi and Mihdhar, checked in, cleared security, and boarded
commercial jets bound for the West Coast. Some of the hijackers were flagged
by the passenger pre-screening system. But because the security rules at the
time focused on preventing bombs on airplanes, the only precaution required
was to hold the operatives' checked baggage until they boarded the airplane.
Several hijackers were also carrying small knives or box cutters, and when
they reached the security checkpoints, they set off metal detectors. The
screeners wanded them, but let them board their planes without verifying
what had set off the alarms. When the flights took off, the men hijacked
each plane in a similar way -- they stabbed or subdued the pilots and crew,
they seized control of the cockpit and they started flying the airplane. By
9:03 a.m., the hijackers had driven two of the flights in the World Trade
Center. At 9:37 a.m., they had struck the Pentagon. And shortly after 10:00
a.m., the fourth plane crashed into a field in Pennsylvania. The passengers
realized what was happening, and they rose up against their captors. These
brave passengers saved countless lives on the ground; they likely spared the
Capitol or the White House from destruction; and they delivered America its
first victory in the war on terror. (Applause.)
We have taken many steps to address the security
gaps that the hijackers exploited that morning. We created the
Transportation Security Administration to ensure that every passenger and
every bag is screened. We increased the number of federal air marshals on
domestic and international flights. We trained and authorized thousands of
pilots to carry firearms. We hardened cockpit doors to prevent terrorists
from gaining access to the controls. We merged 22 government agencies into a
single Department of Homeland Security, and tripled spending for homeland
security on our airlines, on our ports, and our borders and other critical
areas. We will continue to provide the resources necessary to secure this
homeland.
Even if all the steps I've outlined this morning
had been taken before 9/11, no one can say for sure that we would have
prevented the attack. We can say that if America had these reforms in place
in 2001, the terrorists would have found it harder to plan and finance their
operations, harder to slip into the country undetected, and harder to board
the airplanes and take control of the cockpits, and succeed in striking
their targets.
We are grateful to all those who have worked to
implement these important reforms. We're grateful to our federal and state
and local law enforcement officers who are working tirelessly to protect our
country. We're grateful to all the intelligence and homeland security and
military personnel. Together, these dedicated men and women are keeping
their fellow citizens safe, and Americans are proud of their important
service to our country. (Applause.)
On the morning of 9/11, we saw that the
terrorists have to be right only once to kill our people, while we have to
be right every time to stop them. So we had to make a larger choice about
how to respond to the threats to our country. Some suggested that our effort
should be purely defensive, hunkering down behind extreme homeland security
and law enforcement measures. Others argue that we should respond overseas,
but that our action should be limited to direct retaliation for 9/11. I
strongly disagree with both approaches. Nine-Eleven lifted the veil on a
threat that is far broader and more dangerous than we saw that morning -- an
enemy that was not sated by the destruction inflicted that day, and is
determined to strike again. To answer this threat and protect our people, we
need more than retaliation; we need more than a reaction to the last attack;
we need to do everything in our power to stop the next attack.
And so America has gone on the offense across the
world. And here are some of the results. We've captured or killed many of
the most significant al Qaeda members and associates. We've killed al
Qaeda's most visible and aggressive leader to emerge after 9/11, the
terrorist Zarqawi in Iraq. We've kept the terrorists from achieving their
key goal, to overthrow governments across the broader Middle East and to
seize control. Instead, the governments they targeted -- such as Pakistan
and Saudi Arabia -- have become some of our most valuable allies in the war
on terror. These countries are joined by the largest coalition in the
history of warfare -- more than 90 nations determined to find the
terrorists, to dry up their funds, to stop their plots, and to bring them to
justice.
This coalition includes two nations that used to
sponsor terror, but now help us fight it -- the democratic nations of
Afghanistan and Iraq. (Applause.) In Afghanistan, President Karzai's elected
government is fighting our common enemies. In showing the courage he's
showing, he's inspired millions across the region. In Iraq, Prime Minister
Maliki's unity government is fighting al Qaeda and the enemies of Iraq's
democracy. They're taking increasing responsibility for the security of
their free country.
The fighting in Iraq has been difficult and it
has been bloody, and some say that Iraq is a diversion from the war on
terror. The terrorists disagree. Osama bin Laden has proclaimed that the
"third world war is raging" in Iraq. Al Qaeda leaders have declared that
Baghdad will be the capital of the new caliphate that they wish to establish
across the broader Middle East. It's hard to believe that extremists would
make large journeys across dangerous borders to endure heavy fighting, and
to blow themselves up on the streets of Baghdad for a so-called "diversion."
The terrorists know that the outcome in the war on terror will depend on the
outcome in Iraq -- and so to protect our own citizens, the free world must
succeed in Iraq. (Applause.)
As we fight the enemies of a free Iraq, we must
also ensure that al Qaeda, its allies and the extremists never get their
hands on the tools of mass murder. When we saw the damage the terrorists
inflicted on 9/11, our thoughts quickly turned to the devastation that could
have been caused with weapons of mass destruction. So we launched the
Proliferation Security Initiative -- a coalition of more than 70 countries
that are cooperating to stop shipments related to deadly weapons. Together
with Russia, we're working on a new Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear
Terrorism. We worked with Great Britain to persuade Libya to give up its
nuclear weapons program, and now the components of that program are secured
right here in the United States. We uncovered the black market nuclear
network of A.Q. Khan, who was shipping equipment to Iran and North Korea --
that network is now out of business. And now the world is uniting to send a
clear message to the regime in Tehran: Iran must end its support for terror;
it must stop defying its international obligations; and it must not obtain a
nuclear weapon. (Applause.)
Our enemies have fought relentlessly these past
five years, and they have a record of their own. Bin Laden and his deputy
Zawahiri are still in hiding. Al Qaeda has continued its campaign of terror
with deadly attacks that have targeted the innocent, including large numbers
of fellow Muslims. The terrorists and insurgents in Iraq have killed
American troops and thousands of Iraqis. Syria and Iran have continued their
support for terror and extremism. Hezbollah has taken innocent life in
Israel, and succeeded briefly in undermining Lebanon's democratic
government. Hamas is standing in the way of peace with Israel. And the
extremists have led an aggressive propaganda campaign to spread lies about
America and incite Muslim radicalism. The enemies of freedom are skilled and
they are sophisticated, and they are waging a long and determined war. The
free world must understand the stakes of this struggle. The free world must
support young democracies. The free world must confront the evil of these
extremists. The free world must draw the full measure of our strength and
resources to prevail. (Applause.)
We see that full measure and the strength of this
nation in the men and women in uniform who fight this war, and we have --
and who have given their lives in the cause of liberty and freedom. One of
these soldiers was a young lieutenant named Noah Harris, who was killed last
summer in Iraq when his Humvee was hit by a roadside bomb. Noah grew up here
in Georgia; he graduated from the University of Georgia. He volunteered for
the Army after September the 11th, 2001. He told his dad that people had an
obligation to serve a cause higher than themselves. In Iraq, Lieutenant
Harris was an officer known for his toughness and his skill in battle -- and
for the Beanie Babies that he carried with him to hand out to Iraqi
children. He was also known for the photo of his parents' home in Ellijay
that he used as a screen-saver on his computer. When his troops asked why he
chose that picture, he explained, "That is why I'm here."
Lieutenant Harris understood the stakes in Iraq.
He knew that to protect his loved ones at home, America must defeat our
enemies overseas. If America pulls out of Iraq before the Iraqis can defend
themselves, the terrorists will follow us here, home. The best way to honor
the memory of brave Americans like Lieutenant Harris is to complete the
mission they began -- so we will stay, we will fight, and we will win in
Iraq. (Applause.)
The war on terror is more than a military
conflict – it is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century. And
we're only in its opening stages. To win this struggle, we have to defeat
the ideology of the terrorists with a more hopeful vision. So a central
element in our strategy is the freedom agenda. We know from history that
free nations are peaceful nations. We know that democracies do not attack
each other, and that young people growing up in a free and hopeful society
are less likely to fall under the sway of radicalism. And so we're taking
the side of democratic leaders and reformers across the Middle East. We're
supporting the voices of tolerance and moderation in the Muslim world. We're
standing with the mothers and fathers in every culture who want to see their
children grow up in a caring and peaceful world. And by leading the cause of
freedom in the vital region, we will change the conditions that give rise to
radicalism and hatred and terror. We will replace violent dictatorships with
peaceful democracies. We'll make America, the Middle East, and the world
more secure.
In the early days after 9/11, I told the American
people that this would be a long war -- a war that would look different from
others we have fought, with difficulties and setbacks along the way. The
past five years have proven that to be true. The past five years have also
shown what we can achieve when our nation acts with confidence and resolve
and clear purpose. We've learned the lessons of 9/11, and we have addressed
the gaps in our defenses exposed by that attack. We've gone on the offense
against our enemies, and transformed former adversaries into allies. We have
put in place the institutions needed to win this war. Five years after
September the 11th, 2001, America is safer -- and America is winning the war
on terror. With vigilance, determination, courage, we will defeat the
enemies of freedom, and we will leave behind a more peaceful world for our
children and our grandchildren.
God bless. (Applause.)
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