Terror Takes a Back Seat to Tyranny in Bush Speech

By David Ruppe
Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON — After using previous addresses to invoke the potential threat posed by WMD-armed terrorists to the United States, U.S President George W. Bush altered his focus in his fourth State of the Union speech last night to promote what he called America’s “great venture” to deliver freedom across the globe (see GSN, Jan. 21, 2004).

In his three previous addresses, which followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, Bush had emphasized the risks of terrorists attacking the United States with chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

In 2002 he called the prospect “a grave and growing danger,” in 2003 “the gravest danger,” and in 2004 the “ultimate danger.”

While he mentioned weapons of mass destruction a number of times as a concern in the speech last night, Bush did not invoke again the specter of grave danger. He instead focused on what the global struggle to spread freedom and end tyranny.

“In the long term, the peace we seek will only be achieved by eliminating the conditions that feed radicalism and ideologies of murder. If whole regions of the world remain in despair and grow in hatred, they will be the recruiting grounds for terror, and that terror will stalk America and other free nations for decades,” he said.

Bush did mention as concerns terrorists, terrorist-harboring states, and states seeking weapons of mass destruction. He did not, though, describe them as a potentially combined, dire threat as he had before and suggested those concerns were being dealt with handily. 

“The al-Qaeda terror network that attacked our country still has leaders — but many of its top commanders have been removed. There are still governments that sponsor and harbor terrorists, but their number has declined. There are still regimes seeking weapons of mass destruction, but no longer without attention and without consequence,” he said.

He noted Libya had renounced its WMD programs, and he praised international cooperation to interdict illicit weapons technologies in transit. The United States, he said, is working with other countries to persuade North Korea to abandon its nuclear ambitions.

Iran, Bush charged, “remains the world’s primary state sponsor of terror,” and is pursuing nuclear weapons while depriving its people of freedom. He urged its ruling regime to change its ways and said America supports “liberty” there.

Syria, he said, also supports terrorists and is pursuing unconventional weapons.

“To promote peace in the broader Middle East, we must confront regimes that continue to harbor terrorists and pursue weapons of mass murder,” Bush said.

Diminishing the prospect of WMD terrorism had been the administration’s central justification for the invasion of Iraq in March 2003, but last night Bush focused on a need to build democracy in Iraq to promote it throughout the Middle East and battle terrorists.

“Our generational commitment to the advance of freedom, especially in the Middle East, is now being tested and honored in Iraq. That country is a vital front in the war on terror, which is why the terrorists have chosen to make a stand there. Our men and women in uniform are fighting terrorists in Iraq, so we do not have to face them here at home,” he said.

U.S.-led investigators concluded last year that prewar Iraq did not have banned weapons or the intent to use them against the United States (see GSN, Jan. 25).

In his 2002 State of the Union address, Bush said the United States faced two critical challenges: defeating terrorists and preventing certain countries — an “axis of evil” of Iran, Iraq and North Korea — from implementing alleged intentions to threaten the United States with catastrophic weapons, possibly by sharing them with terrorists.

In his 2003 address, less than two months prior to the invasion of Iraq, Bush cited efforts under way to combat and mitigate terrorism and again asserted that countries might try to strike the United States by sharing unconventional weapons with terrorists.

“Today, the gravest danger in the war on terror, the gravest danger facing America and the world, is outlaw regimes that seek and possess nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. These regimes could use such weapons for blackmail, terror, and mass murder. They could also give or sell those weapons to terrorist allies, who would use them without the least hesitation,” he said.

In the 2004 address, he invoked the theme again. “As part of the offensive against terror, we are also confronting the regimes that harbor and support terrorists, and could supply them with nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. The United States and our allies are determined: We refuse to live in the shadow of this ultimate danger.”

Invoking suspected Iranian and North Korean proliferation, he said, “America is committed to keeping the world’s most dangerous weapons out of the hands of the most dangerous regimes.”

Bush closed last night’s speech by arguing that America since 2001 has been engaged in a global struggle between freedom and tyranny.

“The attack on freedom in our world has reaffirmed our confidence in freedom's power to change the world. We are all part of a great venture: to extend the promise of freedom in our country, to renew the values that sustain our liberty, and to spread the peace that freedom brings,” he said.

“We have declared our own intention,” Bush said.  “America will stand with the allies of freedom to support democratic movements in the Middle East and beyond, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.”

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