Like the attack on Pearl Harbor, the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, forced a reluctant nation to acknowledge a war that had been raging for years. It began with the Iranian revolution in 1979, when militant Islamists kidnapped American embassy workers in Tehran. There would be repeated attacks throughout the 1980s and 1990s, building up to the atrocities of September 11th. In response to that attack on our homeland, America once again sent her armies abroad, not seeking an empire, but to defeat an enemy and liberate oppressed people.
Speaking today at a press conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, President Bush remarked: “Sixty-five years ago this day, America was jolted out of our isolationism and plunged into a global war that Britain had been fighting for two years. In that war, our nation[s] stood firm. And there were difficult moments during that war, yet the leaders of our two nations never lost faith in the capacity to prevail. We will stand firm again in this first war of the 21st century. We will defeat the extremists and the radicals. We will help a young democracy prevail in Iraq. And, in so doing, we will secure freedom and peace for millions, including our own citizens.â€