US: President Bush last night called on the American people to recognise that the war against terrorism would be long and dangerous and appealed domestically for the unity of purpose the war had demonstrated was possible. Patrick Smyth reports
"We have found, and Afghanistan confirms that, far from ending there, our war against terror is only beginning," he said. "Most of the 19 men who hijacked planes in September 11th were trained in Afghanistan’s camps, and so were tens of thousands of others," he warned.
Mr Bush's second State of the Union address, the constitutionally-mandated annual report to both houses of Congress, could not have been more different from his first.
Last year it took half an hour to reach concerns about the dangers of terrorism - this year, the President argued, they were living through unique circumstances, and his three themes were the winning of the war, the strengthening of homeland security, and reviving the economy.
The challenge for the President, who has approval ratings of 83 per cent in the latest Washington Post poll published yesterday, was to convince the country that the leadership in war that it so admires can be applied to the economy where he has yet to convince. Mid-term elections this year threaten Republican control of the House.
To rapturous applause Mr Bush welcomed to Congress Afghanistan's interim leader, Mr Hamid Karzai, and the country's new Minister for Women's Affairs, Ms Sima Samar, and, beside them the widow of the CIA officer, Mike Spann, who died in Mazar-e-Sharif, Ms Shanon Spann.
The First Lady's Box also hosted several emergency workers, flight attendants, friends of the Bushes and the leader of the Teamsters' Union, Mr Jimmy Hoffa, whose union Mr Bush is currently assiduously courting.
In his speech, which lasted about three quarters of an hour, Mr Bush cited three specific countries whose development of weapons of mass destruction was cause of particular concern, North Korea, Iraq, and Iran.
But although the US intends to put pressure on each of them, senior Administration officials insisted that they should not necessarily be seen as targets for American military action in the next phase of the war against terrorism.
America, he said, would be "steadfast, patient and persistent" in pursuing two objectives, shutting down current terrorist operations and bringing terrorists to justice, and preventing terrorists and regimes who support them from acquiring chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.
"The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons."
He pledged the US to campaign internationally on non-negotiable core values of democracy and respect for human dignity and religious freedom, values which he said were common to the Islamic world.
The US would do so by backing major educational programmes, he said, a sign that the US is determined now to counter what it sees as the deleterious effect of the religious "madrassah" schools which have spread the message of militant Islam.
On the domestic front, Mr Bush avoided mentioning Enron by name but took a swipe at the corporate irresponsibility that had let down shareholders and workers.
He did not mention campaign finance reform. He called on Congress to work with him on legislation now stalled in the Senate, all of which was very much part of the Bush election programme - the economic stimulus package, the energy Bill, fast-track powers to negotiate trade agreements, known as "trade promotion authority", and faith-based initiatives.
Each was essential, he said, for the key challenge of creating jobs. Each is currently bogged down because the White House may preach bi-partisanship, but, say Democrats, is deeply ideological in practice.
Mr Bush finished his speech with an appeal to civic virtue, to the harnessing of the spirit of solidarity and community that the war had exposed, by a commitment by the American people to volunteering to help others. He asked every American to pledge to their community either 2 years or 4,000 hours of work.
And he promised to establish a new Homeland security volunteer corps to allow citizens to participate in preparedness for attacks.
