Successes Against Terrorism Are Slow, Uneven, Bush Says

09 December 2008

(Bush says U.S. has transformed national security strategy against terrorism)

By Merle D. Kellerhals Jr.
Staff Writer

Washington — The results of efforts by the United States to thwart global terrorism are unfolding slowly and unevenly, but there are encouraging signs, President Bush said December 9.

And in confronting terrorism, Bush said, the United States also transformed its national security strategy and its armed forces, which have played a sobering and critical role in the struggle.

“As part of our transformation effort, we are arming our troops with intelligence, and weapons, and training, and support they need to face an enemy that wages asymmetric battle,” Bush said in a December 9 speech in West Point, New York. “This enemy hides among the civilian population, and they use terror tactics like roadside bombs to attack our forces, to demoralize [the] local population, and to try to shake the will of the American people.”

And the United States has upgraded and enhanced its counterterrorism capabilities as well as developed a new and more effective counterinsurgency strategy that focuses on the importance of following up security gains with benefits in people's daily lives and livelihoods, the president said.

Bush was at West Point — the home of the U.S. Military Academy, where Army officers are educated — to review the changes his administration has brought to the armed forces and the ways in which the United States pursues its national security. It was at West Point on June 1, 2002, that the president presented detailed views of the crisis created by the terrorist attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001. That address since has become known as the Bush Doctrine.

“We must take the battle to the enemy, disrupt his plans and confront the worst threats before they emerge. In the world we have entered, the only path to safety is the path of action. And this nation will act,” Bush told the graduating class at West Point six years ago.

After six years, the president said December 9, the threat is ever present, but much has changed in the way efforts are mounted to curb it.

“The terrorists continue to pose serious challenges, as the world saw in the terrible attack in Mumbai [India] last month,” Bush said. “Al-Qaida's top two leaders remain at large. Yet they are facing pressure so intense that the only way they can stay alive is to stay underground.”

And Bush pledged to the cadets, who soon will become regular Army officers, that the day will come when those terrorists will face justice.

“With all the actions we've taken these past eight years, we've laid a solid foundation on which future presidents and future military leaders can build,” Bush said. “In the years ahead, our nation must continue developing the capabilities to take the fight to our enemies across the world.”

DEFENSE TRANSFORMATION

Bush said that the United States and its allies have applied the full range of military and intelligence assets to keep “unrelenting pressure” on terrorist groups and their affiliates. “We have severely weakened the terrorists. We've disrupted plots to attack our homeland,” he said.

In strengthening U.S. counterterrorism capabilities, Bush said, the United States also has helped key partners and allies strengthen their capabilities by increasing intelligence-sharing and helping others assert control over ungoverned spaces, which terrorist groups seek as safe havens.

And the United States has made clear to governments that sponsor terror that they are as guilty as the terrorists, he said, and will be held to account. The president also said that the United States recognized early on that to thwart the current terrorist threats, it must also confront the terrorists’ ideology.

Rather than replace governments with friendly strongmen, Bush said, the United States instead has sought to help democratic societies emerge as examples for people across all regions.

“We're pressing nations around the world — including our friends — to trust their people with greater freedom of speech, and worship, and assembly,” Bush said. “We're advancing a broader vision of reform that includes economic prosperity, and quality health care and education, and vibrant civil societies, and women's rights.”