Transcript: Bush Casts War on Terrorism in Historic Terms

We will not abandon them to the designs of evil men. We will stand with the people of that region as they seek their future in freedom.

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We bring more than a vision to this conflict. We bring a strategy that will lead to victory. And that strategy has four commitments.

First, we are using every available tool to dismantle, disrupt and destroy terrorists and their organizations.

With all the skill of our law enforcement, all the stealth of our special forces and all the global reach of our air power we will strike the terrorists before they can strike our people. The best way to protect America is to stay on the offensive.

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Secondly, we're denying terrorists places of sanctuary or support. The power of terrorists is multiplied when they have safe havens to gather and train recruits.

Terrorist havens are found within states that have difficulty controlling areas of their own territory, so we're helping governments like the Philippines and Kenya to enforce anti-terrorist laws through information sharing and joint training.

Terrorists also find support and safe haven within outlaw regimes, so I have set a clear doctrine that the sponsors of terror will be held equally accountable for the acts of terrorists.

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BUSH: Regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan learned that providing support and sanctuary to terrorists carries with it enormous costs, while Libya has discovered that abandoning the pursuit of weapons of mass murder has opened a better path to relations with the free world.

Terrorists find their ultimate support and sanctuary when they gain control of governments and countries. We saw the terrible harm that terrorists did by taking effective control over the government of Afghanistan, a terrorist victory that led directly to the attacks of September the 11th. And terrorists have similar designs on Iraq, on Pakistan, on Saudi Arabia, and many other regional governments they regard as illegitimate.

We can only imagine the scale of terrorists' crimes, were they to gain control of states with weapons of mass murder or vast oil revenues.

So we will not retreat. We will prevent the emergence of terrorist-controlled states.

Third, we're using all the elements of our national power to deny terrorist the chemical, biological and nuclear weapons they seek. Because this global threat requires a global response, we're working to strengthen international institutions charged with opposing proliferation.

BUSH: We're working with regional powers and international partners to confront the threats of North Korea and Iran. We've joined with 14 other nations in the Proliferation Security Initiative to interdict on sea, on land or in the air, shipments of weapons of mass destruction, components to build those weapons, and the means to deliver them.

Our country must never allow mass murderers to gain hold of weapons of mass destruction. We will lead the world and keep unrelenting pressure on the enemy.

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Fourth and finally, we are denying the terrorists the ideological victories they seek by working for freedom and reform in the broader Middle East.

Fighting terror is not just a matter of killing or capturing terrorists. To stop the flow of recruits into terrorist movements, young people in the region must see a real and hopeful alternative, a society that rewards their talent and turns their energies to constructive purpose.

And here the vision of freedom has great advantages. Terrorists incite young men and women to strap bombs on their bodies and dedicate their deaths to the death of others. Free societies inspire young men and women to work and achieve and dedicate their lives to the life of their country.

And in the long run, I have great faith that the appeal of freedom and life is stronger than the lure of hatred and death.

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Freedom's advance in the Middle East will have another, very practical effect.

BUSH: The terrorist movement feeds on the appearance of inevitability. It claims to rise on the currents of history, using past American withdrawals from Somalia and Beirut to sustain this myth and to gain new followers.

The success of free and stable governments in Afghanistan and Iraq and elsewhere will shatter the myth and discredit the radicals.

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And as the entire region sees the promise of freedom in its midst, the terrorist ideology will become more and more irrelevant until that day when it is viewed with contempt or ignored altogether.

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For decades, free nations tolerated oppression in the Middle East for the sake of stability. In practice, this approach brought little stability and much oppression, so I have changed this policy.

In the short term, we will work with every government in the Middle East dedicated to destroying the terrorist networks. In the longer term, we will expect a higher standard of reform and democracy from our friends in the region.

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Democracy and reform will make those nations stronger and more stable, and make the world more secure by undermining terrorism at its source.