President George W. Bush vowed Thursday to tap "every resource" in the US arsenal for a coming global campaign against terrorism and warned the world: "either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."
Bush, who has ordered US forces deployed to within striking distance of the Middle East and Southwest Asia, will also tell the military to "be ready" to punish the authors of terror attacks on New York and Washington.
"We are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom," the president said in speech excerpts released by the White House ahead of his 9:00 pm (0100 GMT) televised address to a joint session of the US Congress.
"We will direct every resource at our command -- every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence and every necessary weapon of war -- to the disruption and defeat of the global terror network," he pledged.
While urging Americans to be "calm and resolute" in the aftermath of the worst attack on US soil, Bush called on "police forces, intelligence services and banking systems around the world" to aid his cause.
Seeking to reassure a US public shaken by attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, which left over 6,300 people feared dead, Bush was to urge steps to prevent similar future attacks and secure the reeling US economy.
Aiming to counter anti-Muslim attacks on US citizens at home and bolster support for his campaign abroad, Bush was to make clear that his quarrel is not with Islam's "good and peaceful" teachings but with "radical" terrorists.
"The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends. It is not our many Arab friends. Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them," Bush said.
Bush met earlier with Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal and dined with British Prime Minister Tony Blair at the White House. Blair, who has vowed to stand "shoulder-to-shoulder" with him, was to attend the speech.
But Vice President Dick Cheney and an unnamed Cabinet member were to be absent as a security precaution.
National surveys have found overwhelming support behind forceful retaliation for the September 11 attacks, which Bush has blamed on Osama bin Laden, a Saudi-born militant living in Afghanistan.
The US president, who has declared he wants bin Laden "dead or alive," bluntly rejected an edict by Islamic clerics in Kabul urging the ruling Taliban militia to ask him to leave the country where he has resided since 1996.
He has also warned that he will not spare nations that harbor terrorists, a move that prompted the clerics, or ulema, to threaten a holy war, or jihad, in the event of US strikes on their country.
"It's the time for action, not words," Fleischer declared, adding the edict "doesn't meet America's requirements" and calling on the Taliban to turn bin Laden over to "responsible authorities."
The White House earlier said Bush will respond to plummeting stock prices and mention his aid package to US airlines, which have announced layoffs in the tens of thousands since the tragedy.
Fleischer said the address would last at least half an hour, including applause from US lawmakers who have all but forgotten budget disputes that dominated political discourse until September 11.
"I look forward to the opportunity to explain to the American people who it is, who would do this to our great country; and why, why would people choose America," Bush said Wednesday. "I owe it to the country to give an explanation” -- WASHINGTON (AFP)
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
