19 September 2001

Bush to Lay out Case for Global Campaign Against Terrorism

 (President to speak to joint session of Congress September 20) (820) By Wendy S. Ross Washington File White House Correspondent Washington -- President Bush plans to address a joint session of the U.S. Congress the night of September 20, and will use the occasion to inform the American people and people around the world about the sustained nature of the campaign against terrorism, White House National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice told reporters late September 19. "This is not a speech to announce military action," she said, but rather an opportunity for him "to urge patience and reason," and inform people that the struggle against international terrorism will be a long one. "This is a speech that will seek to start to broaden and deepen the American people's understanding -- indeed, people around the world -- the understanding of what it is we face, and how we're going to have to face it, because we're in this for the long haul". Bush is going to use the speech "as an opportunity to talk about the sustained nature of this campaign, that this cannot be a campaign that is thought of like the Gulf War, where there was a capital with a leadership that one understood fully in the way that we traditionally understood leadership. ... [H]e will use it as an opportunity to urge patience and reason and to demonstrate again that his resolve is going to be over a long period of time, not in a single moment," Rice said "This is not something that is going to be over in a matter of months," she added. "Rooting this cancer out of the tens of countries in which it is operating has got to take place," she said. Bush will also talk about the "extraordinary" support the United States is getting from nations around the world, Rice said, noting that terrorism is a worldwide phenomenon. "I think everybody understood that this was not just an attack on America, this was an attack on freedom," Rice said. She pointed out that not just Americans but citizens of many countries were among the victims of the attack on the World Trade Center. Bush at a late afternoon meeting in the Oval Office September 19 with congressional leaders informed them and the press pool covering that event of his pending address. In his question and answer with reporters, Bush also said that U.S. officials are working to avert follow-on terrorist attacks. He reiterated that the U.S.-led campaign against terrorism is not directed at Islam, and praised cooperation with the United States by Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf. Bush also suggested that the "horrible tragedy" of the terrorist attacks on the United States could provide the United States with "interesting" opportunities to help ease Israeli-Palestinian tensions, "refashion" the relationship between India and Pakistan and "shake terrorists loose" from their sponsoring countries. Earlier in the day, in his continuing effort to build support for a global campaign against terrorism, Bush held separate meetings at the White House with Indonesia's President Sukarnoputri Megawati, Russia's Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov and Germany's Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer. In the morning Bush spoke by phone with both South Korean President Kim dae Jung and South African President Thabo Mbeki. White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters at his daily briefing September 19 that the United States is "very pleased" with Pakistan's cooperation in fighting terrorism, following President Pervez Musharraf's address to his nation. "The President has noted the speech of President Musharraf today in Pakistan," Fleischer said. "The United States is very pleased with the cooperation of Pakistan and President Musharraf's speech is an indication of the strong relationship between the United States and Pakistan to counter terrorism," he said. Fleischer also discussed in some detail the conversations between Bush and Indonesia's president, who leads world's largest Muslim population and the world's third largest democracy. Both Bush and Megawati, Fleischer said, agreed to increased cooperation between their countries against international terrorism, and "reaffirmed their commitment to the principles of religious freedom and tolerance in relations within and among nations." They both stressed "the importance of differentiating between the religion of Islam and the acts of violent extremists, which is what took place in New York and here at the Pentagon in Washington, emphasizing that Islam is a religion of peace that neither teaches hatred nor condones violence," Fleischer said. Bush, noting that Islam is the fastest-growing religion in the United States, "assured President Megawati that the American people respect Islam as one of the world's great religions and that the United States would join hands with freedom-loving people around the world of all religions to combat international terrorism," Fleischer said. (The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)