Transcript: Bush Casts War on Terrorism in Historic Terms

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As we fight the war on terror in Iraq and on other fronts, we must keep in mind the nature of the enemy. No act of America explains the terrorist violence and no concession of America could appease it.

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The terrorists who attacked our country on September the 11th, 2001, were not protesting our policies. They were protesting our existence.

Some say that by fighting the terrorist abroad since September the 11th, we only stir up a hornets' nest. But the terrorist who struck that day were stirred up already.

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If America were not fighting terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere, what would these thousands of killers do? Suddenly begin leading productive lives of service and charity?

BUSH: Would the terrorists who beheaded an American on camera just be quiet, peaceful citizens if America had not liberated Iraq?

We're dealing here with killers who have made the death of Americans the calling of their lives. And America's made a decision about these terrorists: Instead of waiting for them to strike again in our midst, we will take the fight to the enemy.

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I'm confident of our cause in Iraq, but the struggle we have entered will not end with the success in Iraq. Overcoming terrorism and bringing greater freedom to the nations of the Middle East is the work of decades.

To prevail, America will need the swift and able transformed military you will help to build and lead. America will need a generation of Arab linguists and experts on Middle Eastern history and culture. America will need improved intelligence capabilities to track threats and expose the plans of unseen enemies. Above all, America will need perseverance.

This conflict will take many turns with setbacks on the course to victory. Through it all, our confidence comes from one unshakable belief: We believe in Ronald Reagan's words that "the future belongs to the free."

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BUSH: And we've seen the appeal of liberty with our own eyes. We've seen freedom firmly established in former enemies like Japan and Germany. We've seen freedom arrive on waves of unstoppable progress to nations in Latin America and Asia and Africa and Eastern Europe.

Now freedom is stirring in the Middle East and no one should bet against it.

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In the years immediately after World War II ended, our nation faced more adversity and danger with the rise of imperial communism.

In 1947 communist forces were pressing a civil war in Greece and threatening Turkey. More than two years after the Nazi surrender, there was still starvation in Germany. Reconstruction seemed to be faltering, and the Marshall Plan had not yet begun.

In 1948, Berlin was blockaded on the orders of Joseph Stalin. In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded a nuclear weapon and communists in China won their revolution.

All this took places in the first four years of the Cold War. If that generation of Americans had lost its nerve, there would have been no long twilight struggle, only a long twilight.

But the United States and our allies kept faith with captive peoples and stayed true to the vision of a democratic Europe. And that perseverance gave all the world a lesson in the power of liberty.

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BUSH: We are now about three years into the war against terrorism. We have overcome great challenges. We face many today and there are more ahead.

This is no time for impatience and self-defeating pessimism. These times demand the kind of courage and confidence that Americans have shown before.

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Our enemy can only succeed if we lose our will and faith in our own values.

And, ladies and gentlemen, our will is strong. We know our duty. By keeping our word and holding firm to our values, this generation will show the world the power of liberty once again.

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For four years, you've trained and studied and worked for this moment, and now it's come. You're the ones who will defeat the enemies of freedom. Your country is depending on your courage and your dedication to duty. The eyes of the world are upon you.

You leave this place at an historic time and you enter the struggle ahead with the full confidence of your commander in chief. I thank each of you for accepting the hardships and high honor of service in the United States military, and I congratulate every member of the Rickenbacker class of 2004. May God bless you.

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