- WEST POINT, N.Y.
(Reuters) - Without mentioning Iraq by name, President Bush told future
U.S. military leaders on Saturday they must be prepared to launch preemptive
strikes to keep "terrorists and tyrants" from obtaining weapons
of mass destruction.
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- "We face a threat with no precedent," Bush
told the first class to graduate from the United States Military Academy
at West Point since the Sept. 11 attacks. Echoing the dire warnings of
other administration officials, Bush said: "The dangers have not passed
... because we know the terrorists have more money and more men and more
plans."
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- In a preview of the challenges that await them, Bush
told the cadets that the United States must uncover terrorist cells in
60 or more countries, and prevent America's enemies from acquiring the
nuclear, biological and chemical weapons.
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- "Our enemies have declared this very intention and
have been caught seeking these terrible weapons," Bush told the graduates,
who wore "dress gray" cutaway coats with gleaming brass buttons.
Ceremonial swords dangled at their sides.
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- Bush did not single out Iraq, which he has denounced
as part of an "axis of evil" threatening to spread weapons of
mass destruction. But officials have suggested it would be the next U.S.
target in the war against terrorism.
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- "We cannot put our faith in the words of tyrants
who solemnly sign nonproliferation treaties and then systematically break
them," Bush said.
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- "If we wait for threats to fully materialize, we
will have waited too long. We must take the battle to the enemy, disrupt
his plans and confront the worst threats before they emerge."
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- In the face of concerns among European allies that an
attack against Baghdad would be rash and destabilizing, Bush said last
week he had "no war plans on my desk."
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- But in his address at West Point, Bush vowed to hold
his ground. "In the world we have entered the only path to safety
is the path of action and this nation will act," he said, adding that
all Americans must be "ready for preemptive action when necessary
to defend our liberty and to defend our lives."
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- Bush brushed aside critics who accuse him of acting unilaterally,
saying, "Some may worry that it is somehow undiplomatic or impolite
to speak the language of right and wrong. I disagree."
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- Bush flew to West Point from Camp David, the presidential
retreat in Maryland where he was spending the weekend. Aides said the president
was monitoring developments in the war on terrorism, as well as the standoff
between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan.
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- "From the Middle East to South Asia, we are gathering
broad international coalitions to increase the pressure for peace,"
Bush said.
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- THREAT WITHOUT PRECEDENT
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- Bush said the Sept. 11 attacks and the anti-terror campaign
that started in Afghanistan have rapidly redefined military strategy and
tactics.
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- "Enemies in the past needed great armies and great
industrial capabilities to endanger the American people and our nation,"
said Bush, whose administration has come under fire for its handling of
intelligence about the Sept. 11 assaults.
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- By contrast, he added, "the attacks of Sept. 11
required a few hundred thousand dollars in the hands of a few dozen evil
and deluded men. All of the chaos and suffering they caused came at much
less than the cost of a single tank."
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- PRAISE FOR CADETS
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- Hailing West Point on its bicentennial, Bush praised
this year's graduating class of 958 cadets for their willingness to serve
and sacrifice for the nation.
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- Comparing them to the soldiers that defeated Germany
and Japan in World War II, Bush told the academy's 2002 graduates that
"history has also issued its call to your generation."
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- "We will defend the peace against threats from terrorists
and tyrants. We will preserve the peace by building good relations among
the great powers. And will we will extend the peace by encouraging free
and open societies on every continent."
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- "Building this just peace is America's opportunity
and America's duty. From this day forward, it is your challenge as well,
and we will meet this challenge together," Bush said.
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- At the end of the ceremony near the banks of the Hudson
River, the newly minted second lieutenants tossed their hats high in the
air to celebrate their graduation.
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