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Bush Addresses U.S. Congress, Says Brace For Protracted War
WASHINGTON, Sept 20 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - A grim and determined U.S. President George W. Bush Thursday told Americans to prepare for a protracted war and ordered Afghanistan's Taliban rulers to hand over Saudi dissident Osama bin Laden immediately or face the wrath of U.S. armed forces.
Bush issued the warning as the U.S. military stepped up its deployment of air, sea and ground forces to areas within striking distance of Afghanistan.
"The demands are not open to negotiation or discussion. The Taliban must act and act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists or they will share their fate," he said in an address to Congress televised worldwide.
He also demanded the closure of all training camps of the al-Qaeda network run by bin Laden, the chief suspect in the airborne September 11th attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, linking Egypt's Islamic Jihad and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan to al-Qaeda.
He extended his tough ultimatum to any nation that harbors terrorists.
"And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism," he said to loud applause from lawmakers, adding: "either you are with us or you are with the terrorists."
Bush said the upcoming war would be unlike any U.S. troops had ever fought.
"Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes," he said. "Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any you have ever seen."
However, Bush, at several points in the address, in statements directed to Muslims and non-Muslims in the U.S. and abroad said that the U.S. was not trying to wage war against Islam.
With a noted U.S. Muslim personality in the audience, Hamza Yusef, Bush recognized the participation of American Muslims in mourning vigils throughout the country.
"We have seen the state of our Union in the endurance of rescuers, working past exhaustion. We have seen the unfurling of flags, the lighting of candles, the giving of blood, the saying of prayers - in English, Hebrew, and Arabic," he said.
A brief while later in the address, Bush mentioned the outpouring of sympathy from the world, saying, "And on behalf of the American people, I thank the world for its outpouring of support. America will never forget the sounds of our National Anthem playing at Buckingham Palace, and on the streets of Paris, and at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate. We will not forget South Korean children gathering to pray outside our embassy in Seoul, or the prayers of sympathy offered at a mosque in Cairo.
"Nor will we forget the citizens of eighty other nations who died with our own. Dozens of Pakistanis. More than 130 Israelis. More than 250 citizens of India. Men and women from El Salvador, Iran, Mexico, and Japan. And hundreds of British citizens," he added.
Bush then tried to speak directly to Muslims worldwide.
"I also want to speak tonight directly to Muslims throughout the world.
"We respect your faith. It is practiced freely by many millions of Americans, and by millions more in countries that America counts as friends. Its teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit evil in the name of Allah, blaspheme the name of Allah. The terrorists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself.
"The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends; it is not our many Arab friends. Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists, and every government that supports them," he said.
Bush also tried to separate the Taliban from the people of Afghanistan: "The United States respects the people of Afghanistan - after all, we are currently its largest source of humanitarian aid - but we condemn the Taliban regime. It is not only repressing its own people, it is threatening people everywhere by sponsoring and sheltering and supplying terrorists. By aiding and abetting murder, the Taliban regime is committing murder."
Describing bin Laden's network specifically, Bush said, "The terrorists practice a fringe form of Islamic extremism that has been rejected by Muslim scholars and the vast majority of Muslim clerics, a fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teachings of Islam. The terrorists' directive commands them to kill Christians and Jews, to kill all Americans, and make no distinctions among military and civilians, including women and children."
Bush then went on to equate bin Laden and his network with fascism, and Nazism, and totalitarianism.
His remarks came after Afghanistan's leading Islamic clerics issued an edict urging the Taliban to persuade bin Laden to leave the country voluntarily, but stopping far short of U.S. and U.N. demands the Saudi-born dissident be handed over.
Bush's speech and the deployment of military forces spelled out the U.S. response.
Ground troops were given deployment orders Thursday as bombers and fighter jets were sent to bases in the Gulf and the Indian Ocean.
Portugal on Thursday agreed to allow the United States to use its strategic mid-Atlantic air base on the Azores islands, and only hours later several U.S. aircraft were reported to have stopped off at the facility.
Two U.S. aircraft carrier battle groups were already on stand-by in the waters off the Gulf and southern Asia, while a third battle group with 2,000 Marines aboard, was on its way. A further aircraft carrier left its homeport of Yokosuka near Tokyo to an undisclosed location.
Bush said evidence gathered since the attacks "all points" to bin Laden and his al-Qaeda network
U.S. investigators reported progress in their probe of the terror onslaught that left more than 6,800 people dead or missing.
FBI agents said they arrested Nabil Marabh, claiming he could be a link between the men who conducted last week's attacks and bin Laden - who has denied he had any role in the carnage.
In a parallel diplomatic initiative, Bush and Secretary of State Colin Powell held face to face or telephone talks with dozens of international leaders in a bid to rally global support.
"We ask every nation to join us," Bush told lawmakers gathered in a joint session of Congress. "The civilized world is rallying to America's side."
Shortly before his address, Bush held talks with his close ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
"We stand side by side with you without hesitation," Blair said after the White House talks.
French President Jacques Chirac, for his part, briefed his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on talks he held with Bush Tuesday, and joined Putin in saying he would like the U.N. Security Council to take an active role in coordinating a global effort to fight terrorism, the Kremlin said.
On Friday, EU leaders were to hold a one-day emergency summit to reaffirm solidarity with the United States and stake out a common European position on fighting terrorism.
Washington's European allies and its traditional rivals Russia and China have given qualified but determined support to the idea of taking on bin Laden's networks.
On the eve of planned talks with Powell, Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan said Thursday that China would stand with the United States to fight terrorism.
Most Islamic states also have signaled their assent, even though several of them risk a backlash from conservative religious groups at home.
On Thursday, a leading Muslim cleric told thousands of protesters in Karachi they should seize control of Pakistan's airports if the government allows U.S. troops to use the country as a staging ground for an attack on Afghanistan.
"If any U.S. planes land in Pakistan we should seize the airports and take revenge on Americans," Mufti Nizamuddin Shamazai told a rally in Pakistan's biggest city.
The crowd responded by raising hands and shouting: "Revenge on America, revenge on America."
In Afghanistan, leading Islamic clerics warned that any U.S. strikes would be met with a
jihad, or struggle. Conservative religious cohorts in other countries also issued similar warnings.
Anti-American protests were spreading in the region, particularly in the border areas where many tribesmen and Islamic clerics have strong ties to Afghanistan.
The region, already wracked by 20 years of war in Afghanistan and the row between India and Pakistan over Kashmir, now faces a wave of refugees as millions of Afghans flee in fear of U.S. raids.
Americans, meanwhile, braced for further financial aftershocks.
The U.S. economy has been staggering under the fall-out of the attacks and the European Central Bank warned Thursday that they have made the outlook for the global economy even more uncertain.
But Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said the economy would "recover and prosper" despite a severe short-term economic impact from last week's attacks.
The Bush administration announced on Thursday it was planning an eight billion dollar package to rescue U.S. airlines that have been reeling since the terrorist onslaught.
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