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Progress in war on terror - Bush
08/09/2006 08:12 - (SA)
Atlanta - President George W Bush asserted that enormous strides have been made in correcting US security lapses uncovered by the September 11 attacks, seeking to deflect criticism that significant gaps remain.
"Over the past five years, we have waged an unprecedented campaign against terrorism at home and abroad and that campaign has succeeded in protecting the homeland," Bush said on Thursday.
"We've learned the lessons of September the 11th."
It was the third consecutive day of Bush speeches focusing on his war-on-terror record, part of a series of outings that will continue through events commemorating the September 11 anniversary and culminating in a September 19 address to the United Nations.
Congressional elections
With Republican dominance of Congress at stake in congressional elections now less than two months off, the aim is to restore Bush's tough-on-terror image by refocusing attention on the broad effort to battle terrorist networks worldwide.
Republicans view terrorism and national security as a winning issue for them, while Democrats have sought to make the November balloting a referendum on the unpopular war in Iraq that has dragged down Bush's approval ratings.
Threat remains potent
Last week, Bush lumped disparate terrorist and militant groups under one umbrella. Earlier this week he quoted extensively from Osama bin Laden and other terrorist leaders to remind Americans that the threat from terrorism remains potent.
On Wednesday, he defended a previously unacknowledged CIA programme to detain some of the worst suspected terrorists and use rough techniques to extract information from them.
Changes to national security
In Atlanta, the president highlighted changes in national security preparedness as a result of the September 11 attacks to show how new strategies now in place would make it more difficult for terrorists to stage a repeat.
"In order to protect this country, we will bring steady pressure, unrelenting pressure on al-Qaeda and its associates," Bush said before an audience assembled by the Georgia Public Policy Foundation.
He cited the elimination of Afghanistan as a safe haven for al-Qaeda, international finance crackdowns, the new ability of the CIA and FBI to share data and intelligence, a broad restructuring of the intelligence bureaucracy to make connecting dots easier, consolidated terrorist watch list and immigration changes that make air travel and communities safer, and the passage of the USA Patriot Act.
- AP
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