President Bush at the Army War College December 17

Washington — The United States confronted a threat from global terrorists in 2001 unlike any previous threat faced by the nation, President Bush says.

The attacks of September 11 followed several previous terrorist attacks — the 1993 bombing attack on the World Trade Center, the bombing of two U.S. embassies in Africa in 1998, and the suicide terrorist attack on the USS Cole in 2000 in Yemen.

“For many years, our nation viewed these attacks as isolated incidents, and we responded with limited measures. That changed on September the 11th, 2001,” Bush said in a speech December 17 at the Army War College in Pennsylvania.

The United States then launched “a deliberate and comprehensive approach” to thwart global terrorism and enhance the security of the U.S. homeland, he said. A fear of many Americans is a direct attack from abroad on the U.S. homeland, much as happened at the outset of World War II, when the Japanese Navy attacked the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii.

“We fundamentally reshaped our strategy for protecting the American people around three core principles,” he said.

First, the United States recognized that its homeland security measures and intelligence capabilities were inadequate against the new threat, Bush said. His administration launched a reorganization of the federal government, the largest since the beginning of the Cold War, and initiated major reforms of the U.S. intelligence community.

Second, Bush said, the United States realized it could not wait for the terrorists to attack again. A global campaign was designed and launched to fight terrorists and terrorist groups abroad, dismantle their networks, dry up their financing and bring their leaders to justice.

And third, Bush said, the United States came to realize that struggling against terrorism was more than a battle of arms, but also an ideological struggle of wills. “And to prevail, we must counter the terrorists’ hateful ideology with a more hopeful alternative based on liberty and justice,” he said.

Bush said the proof of the effectiveness of U.S. and allied efforts is that terrorists are being driven from their once-powerful safe havens, their financing is being choked off, and terrorist network operations are being disrupted.

Bush said the United States also expanded efforts to remove the conditions of despair and hopelessness that often contribute to the rise of rage and radicalism that can feed terrorism.

“We will leave behind a strong coalition of more than 90 nations, composing almost half the world, who are committed to combating terror and sharing intelligence and keeping our citizens safe,” Bush said.

The December 17 speech is part of a series of remarks Bush is making to explain and give context to his decisions as president. He will leave office January 20, 2009, as President-elect Barack Obama assumes the presidency.

Bush’s remarks at the Army War College is available on the web, and a White House fact sheet on efforts against terrorism may be found at the White House Web site.