President George W. Bush used his Saturday morning radio address on September 13 to speak of the terrorist attacks on the United States of 2001. President Bush said “This week, Americans marked seven years since the terrorist attacks that shook our Nation on September 11, 2001…But we also witnessed selfless acts of valor and compassion performed by courageous citizens. And we saw the strength of the American people as they rallied in defense of the Nation.”
On September 11, 2008, President Bush dedicated a new 9/11 memorial at the Pentagon applauding the rescue workers who rushed into the burning Pentagon in September 2001 to save the lives of fellow citizens while also recalling the fiery deaths of those on board Flight 77 and in the headquarters of the US military that day. For their part, presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama jointly laid flowers at the 9/11 memorial at the former site of the World Trade Center in New York City on the anniversary of the attacks of September 11, 2001.
Segueing to current events, President Bush said “…this spirit of heroism lives on. We see it in the courageous members of the United States Armed Forces. These brave men and women have volunteered to defend our Nation during a time of war. Every day, they are confronting our enemies abroad so we do not have to face them here at home. And because of their efforts, our Nation is safer today than it was seven years ago.”
Earlier in the week, President Bush announced additional deployments of troops to Afghanistan. A Marine battalion that had been promised to Iraq will instead depart for Afghanistan, where terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden is still thought to be hiding. Noting the importance of the mission, the president said “In Afghanistan, where the 9/11 attacks were planned, our men and women in uniform toppled the Taliban regime, destroyed al Qaeda camps, and liberated more than 25 million Afghans. In the years since, members of the Taliban and al Qaeda have sought to regain power through acts of terror. The United States and our allies are meeting this challenge head on. We will not allow Afghanistan to once again become a safe haven for terror.”
Even so, the commander-in-chief noted that conditions in Iraq appear to warrant troop reductions, saying “By February (2009), about 8,000 additional American troops will have returned home without replacement. And if this progress in Iraq continues to hold, General Petraeus and our military leaders believe additional reductions will be possible in the first half of 2009.”
Source: White House
RSS