Terrorism Targeted Against Freedom, Wolfowitz Says

Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz addresses the Rand Corp. during a Sept. 8 conference on the next steps in the war on terrorism. Photo by Sgt. 1st Class Doug Sample   (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available.

At a daylong conference sponsored by the Rand Corp. that addressed steps to deal with the war on terrorism, Wolfowitz told Rand terrorism experts that the Sept. 11 attacks were a "wake-up call" for the United States. He called the deaths of more than 3,000 Americans and foreign citizens "cold-blooded murder."

"We learned in one shattering and horrific attack that evil remains on the loose," he said, adding that "the target is freedom itself."

Wolfowitz said that winning the war on terrorism will mean "sowing the seeds of hope and expanding the appeal of freedom in the Muslim world."

During his speech, the deputy secretary referred to four basic principles that must guide the U.S. strategy in combating terrorism.

First, the U.S. must realize that the struggle against terrorism will be a long struggle. Terrorism is "not something we will win in three years, or eight years, or perhaps even decades," he said. "But we will win, even though victory will probably not be marked by anything so dramatic as a signing ceremony on the USS Missouri or the collapse of the Berlin Wall."

Second, the U.S. must use all the instruments of its national power, including military force, against terrorists.

Next, the war on terrorism must be waged in multiple theaters, including in the United States. "We need to sequence our efforts so that we focus our energies in the right places at the right time," Wolfowitz pointed out.

Finally, the struggle against terrorism is ideological as well as physical. "We must do more than simply kill and capture terrorists," he said.

Quoting President Bush, the deputy secretary said the United States must work to build "a just and peaceful world beyond the war on terror and particularly in the Muslim world, so that we can offer a vision of life and hope and freedom to counter the terrorist vision of tyranny and death and despair."

Wolfowitz noted that the war on terrorism will be a "long and determined" campaign, "one that will use all the resources of the United States to win." He added that the United States will not stop until the terrorist networks are destroyed.

The deputy secretary also thanked U.S. service members for their roles in helping win the war on terrorism. He said because of their actions, 50 million people in Afghanistan and Iraq have been freed from brutal tyranny.

"Afghanistan and Iraq are one their way to becoming America's U.S. allies in the fight for freedom," he noted.

During the conference Rand researchers presented findings of their research on several terrorism-related topics, from how terrorists think to how to defend against a suicidal terrorist.

Other topics included curbing al-Qaeda recruitment, preventing terrorist use of nuclear weapons, and applying lessons learned in fighting terrorism in Iraq.