Athlon_9800
10-07-2005, 12:37 PM
How ironic of him to say that... The sh** that's going on lately is just full of it - irony that is.
WASHINGTON — U.S. President George W Bush said Thursday that al-Qaida was bent on building a "totalitarian empire" grounded in radical Islam, and put its leader Osama bin Laden on a par with Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot and Joseph Stalin. In a speech on terrorism, Bush said it was a "dangerous illusion" that the United States would be better off pulling troops out of a conflict which has cost nearly 2,000 U.S. lives and hammered his personal opinion poll ratings.
Seeking to reclaim authority on national security he enjoyed during his first term in office, Bush, speaking to the National Endowment for Democracy, portrayed al-Qaida as the latest in history's ideological threats. "This form of radicalism exploits Islam to serve a violent, political vision : the establishment, by terrorism and subversion and insurgency, of a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedom."
Bush compared terrorist leaders to ideological "fanatics" Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, Nazi tyrant Adolf Hitler, and Cambodia's Khmer Rouge kingpin Pol Pot.
"Evil men obsessed with ambition and unburdened by conscience must be taken very seriously and we must stop them before their crimes multiply," Bush said.
"We have seen this kind of shameless cruelty before, in heartless zealotry that led to the gulags and the Cultural Revolution and the Killing Fields."
Speaking in Washington's Ronald Reagan Building, dedicated to the man many Americans believe was instrumental in winning the Cold War, Bush made several comparisons between al-Qaida and communism.
"Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy pursues totalitarian aims. Its leaders pretend to be an aggrieved party, representing the powerless against imperial enemies.
"In truth, they have endless ambitions of imperial domination, and they wish to make everyone powerless except themselves."
Bush also said that the United States had foiled three al-Qaida terror strikes on its soil since the Sept 11 attacks in 2001, and stopped terror groups casing U.S. targets and infiltrating operatives into the country.
The White House later said two of those foiled attacks had already been publicised. They involved U.S. citizen Jose Padilla, who is accused of plotting to set off a radiological "dirty" bomb, and Iyman Faris, a U.S. truck driver who has admitted plotting to blow up New York's Brooklyn Bridge.
Aides had styled the speech as an attempt to convince Americans that Iraq was a central front of the anti-terror campaign, and a crucial showdown with Islamic radicalism.
Bush took square aim at critics of his leadership in Iraq, amid a rising tide of public discontent over the course of the war, growing criticism in Congress and even calls to bring the troops home.
"Observers look at the job ahead and adopt a self-defeating pessimism. It is not justified," Bush said, arguing that Iraq had made "incredible political progress" and warned the idea that the United States would be better off out of Iraq was a "dangerous illusion."
"In Iraq, there is no peace without victory. We will keep our nerve and we will win that victory," said Bush, who also hit out at critics who say the Iraq war has increased U.S. vulnerability to terrorism.
"I'll remind them that we were not in Iraq on September the 11th, 2001, and al-Qaida attacked us anyway. The hatred of the radicals existed before Iraq was an issue and it will exist after Iraq is no longer an excuse."
But Bush's political foes were not convinced. Harry Reid, Democratic leader in the Senate said Bush risked making Iraq "a training ground for terrorists."
Senator Edward Kennedy said it was "foolish for the president to brag openly about disrupting al-Qaida plots."
"His 'bring it on' attitude hasn't worked, and such statements can only goad al-Qaida into trying harder," Kennedy said. (Wire reports)
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=8&id=351458
WASHINGTON — U.S. President George W Bush said Thursday that al-Qaida was bent on building a "totalitarian empire" grounded in radical Islam, and put its leader Osama bin Laden on a par with Adolf Hitler, Pol Pot and Joseph Stalin. In a speech on terrorism, Bush said it was a "dangerous illusion" that the United States would be better off pulling troops out of a conflict which has cost nearly 2,000 U.S. lives and hammered his personal opinion poll ratings.
Seeking to reclaim authority on national security he enjoyed during his first term in office, Bush, speaking to the National Endowment for Democracy, portrayed al-Qaida as the latest in history's ideological threats. "This form of radicalism exploits Islam to serve a violent, political vision : the establishment, by terrorism and subversion and insurgency, of a totalitarian empire that denies all political and religious freedom."
Bush compared terrorist leaders to ideological "fanatics" Soviet leader Joseph Stalin, Nazi tyrant Adolf Hitler, and Cambodia's Khmer Rouge kingpin Pol Pot.
"Evil men obsessed with ambition and unburdened by conscience must be taken very seriously and we must stop them before their crimes multiply," Bush said.
"We have seen this kind of shameless cruelty before, in heartless zealotry that led to the gulags and the Cultural Revolution and the Killing Fields."
Speaking in Washington's Ronald Reagan Building, dedicated to the man many Americans believe was instrumental in winning the Cold War, Bush made several comparisons between al-Qaida and communism.
"Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy pursues totalitarian aims. Its leaders pretend to be an aggrieved party, representing the powerless against imperial enemies.
"In truth, they have endless ambitions of imperial domination, and they wish to make everyone powerless except themselves."
Bush also said that the United States had foiled three al-Qaida terror strikes on its soil since the Sept 11 attacks in 2001, and stopped terror groups casing U.S. targets and infiltrating operatives into the country.
The White House later said two of those foiled attacks had already been publicised. They involved U.S. citizen Jose Padilla, who is accused of plotting to set off a radiological "dirty" bomb, and Iyman Faris, a U.S. truck driver who has admitted plotting to blow up New York's Brooklyn Bridge.
Aides had styled the speech as an attempt to convince Americans that Iraq was a central front of the anti-terror campaign, and a crucial showdown with Islamic radicalism.
Bush took square aim at critics of his leadership in Iraq, amid a rising tide of public discontent over the course of the war, growing criticism in Congress and even calls to bring the troops home.
"Observers look at the job ahead and adopt a self-defeating pessimism. It is not justified," Bush said, arguing that Iraq had made "incredible political progress" and warned the idea that the United States would be better off out of Iraq was a "dangerous illusion."
"In Iraq, there is no peace without victory. We will keep our nerve and we will win that victory," said Bush, who also hit out at critics who say the Iraq war has increased U.S. vulnerability to terrorism.
"I'll remind them that we were not in Iraq on September the 11th, 2001, and al-Qaida attacked us anyway. The hatred of the radicals existed before Iraq was an issue and it will exist after Iraq is no longer an excuse."
But Bush's political foes were not convinced. Harry Reid, Democratic leader in the Senate said Bush risked making Iraq "a training ground for terrorists."
Senator Edward Kennedy said it was "foolish for the president to brag openly about disrupting al-Qaida plots."
"His 'bring it on' attitude hasn't worked, and such statements can only goad al-Qaida into trying harder," Kennedy said. (Wire reports)
http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=8&id=351458