Page 36 - 2022-IdeasArg-SE-1e

George W. Bush ■ Address to the Nation on September 20, 2001 109

man named Todd Beamer. And would you goal is remaking the world and imposing its
please help me welcome his wife Lisa Beamer radical beliefs on people everywhere.
© Bedford, Freeman & Worth Publishers. For review purposes only. Do not distribute.
here tonight? The terrorists practice a fringe form of LANGUAGE AND STYLE
We have seen the state of our union in the Islamic extremism that has been rejected by
endurance of rescuers working past exhaustion. Muslim scholars and the vast majority of Mus-
We’ve seen the unfurling of flags, the lighting lim clerics; a fringe movement that perverts
of candles, the giving of blood, the saying of the peaceful teachings of Islam. . . .
prayers in English, Hebrew, and Arabic. Our war on terror begins with al Qaeda, but
We have seen the decency of a loving and it does not end there. It will not end until every
giving people who have made the grief of terrorist group of global reach has been found,
strangers their own. My fellow citizens, for the stopped and defeated.
last nine days, the entire world has seen for Americans are asking, “Why do they hate
itself the state of union, and it is strong. us?”
Tonight, we are a country awakened to dan- 5 They hate what they see right here in this 15
ger and called to defend freedom. Our grief chamber: a democratically elected govern-
has turned to anger and anger to resolution. ment. Their leaders are self-appointed. They
Whether we bring our enemies to justice or hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion,
bring justice to our enemies, justice will be our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote
done. . . . and assemble and disagree with each other.
On September the 11th, enemies of freedom They want to overthrow existing govern-
committed an act of war against our country. ments in many Muslim countries such as
Americans have known wars, but for the past Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. They want to
136 years they have been wars on foreign soil, drive Israel out of the Middle East. They want
except for one Sunday in 1941. Americans have to drive Christians and Jews out of vast regions
known the casualties of war, but not at the of Asia and Africa.
center of a great city on a peaceful morning. These terrorists kill not merely to end lives,
Americans have known surprise attacks, but to disrupt and end a way of life. With every
but never before on thousands of civilians. atrocity, they hope that America grows fear-
All of this was brought upon us in a single ful, retreating from the world and forsaking
day, and night fell on a different world, a world our friends. They stand against us because we
where freedom itself is under attack. stand in their way.
Americans have many questions tonight. We’re not deceived by their pretenses to
Americans are asking, “Who attacked our piety.
country?” We have seen their kind before. They’re
The evidence we have gathered all points to 10 the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of
a collection of loosely affiliated terrorist orga- the twentieth century. By sacrificing human
nizations known as al Qaeda. They are some of life to serve their radical visions, by aban-
the murderers indicted for bombing American doning every value except the will to power,
embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and respon- they follow in the path of fascism, Nazism
sible for bombing the USS Cole. . . . and totalitarianism. And they will follow that
Al Qaeda is to terror what the Mafia is to path all the way to where it ends in history’s
crime. But its goal is not making money, its unmarked grave of discarded lies.

03_williamideas1e_35663_ch02_084_159.indd 109 24/11/21 2:47 PM