Excerpts from Tonight's Speech

Here is the text of a White House press release with excerpts from this evening's speech on the war in Iraq by President Bush.

Tonight, President Bush will address the Airborne and Special Operations Forces at Ft. Bragg to mark the one year anniversary of the transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqi people. The President will address the violence in Iraq and will answer the fundamental question on the minds of the American people:

"The work in Iraq is difficult and dangerous. Like most Americans, I see the images of violence and bloodshed. Every picture is horrifying – and the suffering is real. Amid all this violence, I know Americans ask the question: Is the sacrifice worth it? It is worth it, and it is vital to the future security of our country. And tonight I will explain the reasons why."

While acknowledging that the new Iraqi government and coalition forces have experienced tough fighting and suicide bombings, the President will explain why the terrorists are failing:

"The terrorists can kill the innocent – but they cannot stop the advance of freedom. The only way our enemies can succeed is if we forget the lessons of September 11 … if we abandon the Iraqi people to men like Zarqawi … and if we yield the future of the Middle East to men like Bin Laden."

After detailing both our military and political strategy in Iraq, the President will provide the American people with a broader, strategic understanding of the stakes in Iraq, the enemy we face, and why he’s optimistic the Iraqi people and coalition forces will prevail:

"We have more work to do, and there will be tough moments that test America’s resolve. We are fighting against men with blind hatred – and armed with lethal weapons – who are capable of any atrocity. They wear no uniform; they respect no laws of warfare or morality. They take innocent lives to create chaos for the cameras. They are trying to shake our will in Iraq – just as they tried to shake our will on September 11, 2001. They will fail. The terrorists do not understand America. The American people do not falter under threat – and we will not allow our future to be determined by car bombers and assassins."

The acknowledgement of tough going is appropriate, but it's the final paragraph that needs to be heard far and wide. We're fighting barbarians who willing murder innocent civilians. And, as the President will say, these people don't understand us. Like their ideological predecessors, the Nazis, they assume that democracies are populated by materialistic, secular cowards who will cut and run. And, of course, that's what the Kennedy/Durbin/MoveOn crowd would demonstrate beyond the shadow of a doubt if they could. But far too much is at stake here for that to happen, and I'm confident we will see this fight through to the end; that is, to a stable, democratic Iraq as the lynchpin in a reforming Middle East, itself a part of a safer world.