The Washington Times
January 28, 2003
Bush's hour to shine
Frank J. Gaffney Jr.
President Bush has been getting a lot of free advice lately about what
he should say in his State of the Union address tomorrow night. Here is the
Center for Security Policy's contribution:
My fellow Americans: Tonight, it is my solemn responsibility to
describe for you an unacceptably grave risk to our national security - and
what we are going to do about it.
For 17 months, we have been waging a war on terror, a defensive
response to a scurrilous attack that caused the premeditated death of
thousands of our countrymen. We have struck at the al Qaeda network that was
most immediately involved in carrying out the September 11 hijackings.
All over the world, operatives of this Islamist terror organization are
today being sought, apprehended or killed in the hope of preventing further,
and possibly far more destructive, attacks upon us, our allies or our vital
interests.
Indispensable to that effort has been our campaign to deny al Qaeda the
logistical support, training facilities and safe haven they once enjoyed in
Afghanistan. In the process, thanks to the skill, courage and sacrifice of
our armed forces and intelligence services, we have helped to liberate the
Afghan people and to offer them an opportunity rarely known to their
long-suffering nation for representative self-governance, political freedom
and economic opportunity.
We have reason to believe, however, that another government played an
indispensable role in planning, facilitating and executing the September 11
attacks: Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq. Unfortunately, at the moment the
evidence of this involvement is circumstantial and less than clear-cut.
The case for implicating Saddam and his operatives in the latest and
most deadly attack upon us is even more compelling, though, when added to
evidence that points to his complicity in earlier terrorist acts - the 1993
bombing of the World Trade Center and the 1996 bombing of the Murrah Federal
Building in Oklahoma City. Tonight, sitting with the first lady, are two
intrepid women who have done pioneering work ferreting out and calling
attention to this evidence: an internationally recognized specialist on Iraq
and best-selling author, Dr. Laurie Mylroie, and
television-reporter-turned-independent investigator, Jayna Davis of Oklahoma
City. I would ask you to join me in saluting them for pursuing leads that
neither the federal government, prosecutors or the media have done enough to
date to investigate.
My administration is working to correct this shortfall and to learn all
we can - to connect the dots - between Saddam's sponsorship of terror, his
oft-stated desire for revenge and the actions of others, be they followers
of a blind sheik, disaffected American "militiamen" or al Qaeda operatives.
We will probably not know the full truth about the Iraqi connection,
however, until Iraq is liberated as Afghanistan has been, and the secrets of
the former's brutal regime are brought to light.
What we do know already is that it would be irresponsible to afford
Saddam Hussein an opportunity to attack again, either directly or through
cut-outs. This is particularly true since the next attack may well involve
the use of weapons of mass destruction on our soil or overseas. This danger
exists because Saddam has assiduously pursued the production and stockpiling
of such weapons and continues to violate international commitments and U.N.
Security Council resolutions requiring him to disarm.
We also know the only effective way to ensure such disarmament - and
the only hope it will not be followed by a covert Iraqi rearmament - is to
liberate Iraq from Saddam's brutal misrule. Affording more time for
inspections that are not disarming Iraq and that, even if they were, would
not in and of themselves preclude Saddam from subsequently rearming, would
do nothing to prevent him from engaging in further acts of terror against
us. To the contrary, additional weeks or months may well provide just the
opportunity he needs to exercise a monstrously lethal strike.
In the hope of preventing such a possibility, with the intention of
advancing regional and world peace and with a determination to liberate the
Iraqi people, I have ordered the United States military at this hour to
launch operations aimed at removing Saddam Hussein and his regime from
power. As they do so, they will be accompanied and facilitated in their
campaign by a number of other nations' combat units joining ours in
operating from foreign bases and, with permission, through foreign airspace.
The speed and cost of this operation will ultimately be decided by the
help we receive from those who have at least as much interest as we in
ending Saddam's malevolence - his own people - as by the skillful employment
of our weaponry. We will work with the opposition to build a new, free and
prosperous Iraq, a model for the region and the world.
My report to you tonight is that we have acted, as we must, to defend
our vital interests. We are doing so in a way that will minimize the threats
now confronting us, that holds out hope for a more peaceful and secure world
and that will enhance the state of our Union. God bless America.
Frank J. Gaffney Jr. is the president of the Center for Security Policy and
a columnist for The Washington Times.
