'A good year for Americans'
23/12/2005 12:05  - (SA)  

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Washington - United States president George W Bush has called 2005 "a good year for the American people", but cautioned that "terrorists like those who carried out the September 11 attacks" still posed a threat.

On Thursday, in brief remarks outside the White House as he headed to the Camp David presidential retreat for Christmas, Bush also pointed to elections in Iraq and in Afghanistan and said the US economy had grown stronger.

Bush said: "This has been a year of strong progress toward a freer, more peaceful world and a prosperous America. It's been a good year for the American people."

Bush said key priorities in 2006 would be reconstruction efforts on the US gulf coast following the battering it received from hurricanes Katrina and Rita, and the renewal of controversial anti-terrorism laws.

Bush said: "It appears to me that the congress understands we got to keep the Patriot Act in place, that we're still under threat, there's still an enemy that wants to harm us."

The US senate however, has balked at the open-ended renewal of the law - citing civil liberties concerns amid a domestic spying controversy - and has only extended it by six months.

Bush had a special message for families of US soldiers overseas: "We stand with you and we pray with you for the safety of your loved one.

"We want to send our greetings to your loved one overseas and tell them how much we appreciate you serving for the cause of freedom and peace."

- AFP

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