How Bush is beating terrorism

dcv · Jul 26, 2004

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How Bush is beating terrorism
July 26, 2004

BY RICHARD S. WILLIAMSON

Is America safer today than we were four years ago? Yes, absolutely!

Throughout the 1990s the terrorist threat grew, Americans were attacked and Americans were killed. The terrorists threw down a gauntlet and America said, ''Excuse me, you dropped your glove.''

Four years ago, in Afghanistan, al-Qaida was training and sending out thousands of terrorists. Pakistan had a significant al-Qaida presence. Saudi Arabia was a major area of support for al-Qaida. In Iraq, Saddam Hussein, a brutal dictator and sworn enemy of America, was in power. Nuclear weapons technology was being sold to Iran, North Korea and Libya.

In 1993, terrorists bombed the World Trade Center. In 1996, they bombed Americans in the Khobar Towers in Saudi Arabia. U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were destroyed in 1998. And in 2000, the USS Cole was attacked by al-Qaida. Americans were attacked, and many were killed.

The U.S. response to these terrorist attacks was measured and proportional. The terrorists had relative impunity. The danger continued to grow. Then came the terrible destruction of the 9/11 attacks. Innocent people were targeted on American soil. More than 3,000 were killed.

President Bush led the nation in mourning the loss of life to those evil terrorist attacks. Then he set out to make America more secure.

Bush recognized past U.S. policy had been too reactive. Giving terrorists some of what they want and hoping they will stop being terrorists had not been a game plan for victory. It looked more like appeasement. The storm continued to gather.

Bush changed the policy he had inherited. He set a course to seek out, confront and destroy Islamic fanatic terrorists where they lived, not wait until they attack us where we live.

The lesson of 9/11 is clear: If you do not go to bad neighborhoods, they will come visit you.

Today, in Afghanistan, the terror camps are closed, and Osama bin Laden is on the run. President Pervez Musharraf has become an ally of America in the fight on global terrorism, and Pakistani forces are rounding up terrorists on their border.

In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is now working closely with the United States to root out al-Qaida. In Iraq, our coalition removed a declared enemy of the United States. Saddam, who sought weapons of mass destruction and used chemical weapons against his foes, foreign and domestic, is in jail.

Today a popular, sovereign Iraqi government recognized by the U.N. and NATO is expanding its own security capabilities. NATO is helping to train and equip the Iraqis.

America has led the U.N. to create a global regime to cut off terrorist funding.

And progress has been made to stop nuclear proliferation. Libya has given up its nuclear ambitions. A.Q. Kahn's black-market network to sell nuclear technology is being dismantled. The United States led the creation of multilateral talks to get North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons programs. The United States is working within the U.N. and with our European allies to get Iran to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

And freedom and democracy are on the march in Afghanistan and the Middle East.

Under Bush, America has acted and we have led. The forces of terror and tyranny have suffered defeat after defeat. America and the world are safer.

Richard S. Williamson is the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights in Geneva.
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