President Bush said Sunday night he will seek $87 billion to fight terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan and "engage the enemy where he lives."
In an 18-minute address Bush said, "We are fighting that enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan today so that we do not meet him again on our own streets, in our own cities."
Bush appealed for troops and money for security and reconstruction from other nations, even those who opposed the U.S.-led war. The American leader said the United States would not be intimidated into retreat by violence.
"The terrorists have cited the examples of Beirut and Somalia, claiming that if you inflict harm on Americans we will run from a challenge," Bush said. "In this they are mistaken."
Bush said Iraq and the Middle East are critical to winning the global war on terror. He described Iraq as the central front in the war against terror and said that "enemies of freedom are making a desperate stand there, and there they must be defeated."
"This will take time and require sacrifice," he said. "Yet we will do what is necessary, we will spend what is necessary, to achieve this essential victory in the war on terror, to promote freedom and to make our own nation more secure."
Bush said the current number of U.S. troops in Iraq - 130,000 - is sufficient but that more foreign troops are needed. He said two multinational divisions, led by Britain and Poland, are serving alongside the United States, and that American commanders have requested a third multinational division.
Referring to France, Germany and Russia, Bush said that "not all of our friends agreed with our decision (to) ... remove Saddam Hussein from power. Yet we cannot let past differences interfere with present duties."
"Europe, Japan and states in the Middle East all will benefit from the success of freedom in those two countries, and they should contribute to that success," Bush said. (Albawaba.com)
