- The United States must be prepared to take the War on
Terror to up to 60 countries if weapons of mass destruction are to be kept
out of terrorists' hands, President Bush said at the weekend.
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- His impassioned speech to 1,000 graduates of West Point
Military Academy in New York State on Saturday marks a watershed in the
Administration's foreign policy.
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- Mr Bush said that terrorism cells in countries that make
up close to one third of the globe must be actively sought and dismantled.
"We must take that battle to the enemy, disrupt his plans and confront
the worst threats before they emerge," he said, adding that Americans
must be "ready for pre-emptive action when necessary to defend our
liberty and to defend our lives."
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- He said: "In the world we have entered, the only
path to safety is the path of action. And this nation will act."
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- The 52-minute speech also contained a series of thinly
veiled attacks on countries already singled out as enemies of the US. Mr
Bush did not mention any country by name, but he pointed repeatedly to
non-democratic regimes that are said to sponsor terrorism. In what officials
later hinted was a reference to President Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq,
Mr Bush said that attempts to contain terrorist activity and anti-US sentiments
within some countries would fail without direct action.
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- "(Containment) is not possible when unbalanced dictators
with weapons of mass destruction can deliver those weapons on missiles
or can provide them to terrorist allies," he said.
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- The criticism of foreign countries appeared to go further
than any other he has made since September 11. "Some nations need
military training to fight terror and we will provide it," Mr Bush
said. "Other nations oppose terror but tolerate the hatred that leads
to terror and that must change." White House officials told The Washington
Post that these comments were directed at Middle East allies such as Saudi
Arabia and Jordan.
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- If the United States decides to make surprise strikes
on other countries, it will mark a big change in strategy for the US military,
which traditionally acts only in self-defence.
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- The speech was billed by the White House as the first
instalment of a renewed ìoverall security frameworkî. The
framework will be expanded in a national security strategy document expected
in July.
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- Mr Bush said that America's foreign policy would have
three strands. "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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- He said that the conflict the graduates would be required
to fight would differ greatly from that fought by their forefathers in
Japan and Europe. "Enemies in the past needed great armies and great
industrial capabilities to endanger the American people and our nation,"
Mr Bush said. "The attacks of September 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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- Copyright 2002 Times Newspapers Ltd.
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