September 12, 2001

Presidential Address from the Oval Office

Good evening.
Yesterday, America was the target of the deadliest terrorist attack in our
nations history.
In a series of coordinated suicide attacks, a group of terrorists hijacked four
passenger jetliners with the intent of flying them into buildings and turning
them into weapons of mass destruction. Two of those planes, American
Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the
North and South towers, respectively, of the World Trade Center complex in
New York City. All on board were killed, as were an unknown number of
people inside the buildings. Within two hours, both towers collapsed. The
search for trapped survivors is ongoing.
A third plane, American Airlines Flight 77, was crashed into the Pentagon,
leading to a partial collapse in its western side. All 58 passengers, in
addition to many civilian and military personnel going about their daily
business, were killed.
The fourth plane, United Flight 93, was targeted at either the White House
or the Capitol. But it never reached its target. The passengers attempted to
overtake the hijackers and divert the aircraft, crashing it into a field near
Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing all on board.
There is much we still do not know, including the total number of casualties,
which is estimated to be in the thousands.
As we struggle to regroup as a nation, we have many questions. First and
foremost, is who attacked us, and why?
No terrorist organization has officially claimed responsibility. However, the
coordinated nature of the attack, as well as the identities of the hijackers
known thus far, strongly point to al-Qaida, an Islamist militant group based
in Afghanistan and led by Osama bin Laden.
Al-Qaida is the terrorist network responsible for the 1998 bombings of the
US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and the suicide bombing of the USS
Cole in 2000.
Osama bin Ladens animosity toward the United States resides in our
foreign policy toward the Middle East specifically, our ongoing support of
Israel and our occupation of Saudi Arabia.

Al-Qaida believes that the West is at war with Islam and the Muslim people,
and that it is a religious duty to use violence against the West to protect
Islam and Muslims.
Why were we unable to prevent yesterdays attack?
Todays national security institutions of the US government are still the
institutions constructed to win the Cold War. Our challenges today surpass
the boundaries of traditional nation-states and call for quick, imaginative,
and agile responses commensurate with new methods of attacks by
terrorists.
To ensure that such an attack is never repeated, we must redefine our
counterterrorism strategies so that we utilize all of our available
counterterrorism resources within the State Department and the
Departments of Justice, Defense, and the Treasury. We must streamline the
communication between our agencies to ensure that we work in
cooperation, rather than in competition, with one other. We must unify our
strategic intelligence collection and operational planning. At the same time,
we must strike a balance between protecting our nations security and
respecting the privacy of its citizens at home and abroad, to ensure that our
cherished system of democracy does not perish.
On a global scale, we must work with our allies around the world to cut off
al-Qaidas access to funding. We must increase the collaboration in
intelligence with and among our international allies in order to disrupt the
al-Qaida network.
Our mission is threefold: to defeat the international al-Qaida network; to
eliminate the Taliban which supports it; and to bring Osama bin Laden to
justice.
These are the actions we will take as a government.
It is equally important that we grow as a people, that we turn this tragedy
into an impetus for global change. In the wake of yesterdays atrocity, we
have received a tremendous outpouring of support from around the world.
Let us harness the collective goodwill of our friends abroad and work
together to increase our global consciousness. Let us educate one another
in terms of peace and understanding.
Our hearts and our prayers go out to those whose loved ones are lost or still
missing.