September 11, 2001 - Thanks to Associated Press Text of President Bush's televised national address from the Oval Office Tuesday after terrorist attacks across the East Coast earlier in the day, as transcribed by eMediaMillWorks, Inc.: Good evening. Today, our fellow citizens, our way of life, our very freedom came under attack in a series of deliberate and deadly terrorist acts. The victims were in airplanes or in their offices: secretaries, businessmen and women, military and federal workers, moms and dads, friends and neighbors. Thousands of lives were suddenly ended by evil, despicable acts of terror. The pictures of airplanes flying into buildings, fires burning, huge structures collapsing have filled us with disbelief, terrible sadness and a quiet, unyielding anger. These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong. A great people has been moved to defend a great nation. Terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings, but they cannot touch the foundation of America. These acts shatter steel, but they cannot dent the steel of American resolve. America was targeted for attack because we're the brightest beacon for freedom and opportunity in the world. And no one will keep that light from shining. Today, our nation saw evil, the very worst of human nature, and we responded with the best of America, with the daring of our rescue workers, with the caring for strangers and neighbors who came to give blood and help in any way they could. Immediately following the first attack, I implemented our government's emergency response plans. Our military is powerful, and it's prepared. Our emergency teams are working in New York City and Washington, D.C., to help with local rescue efforts. Our first priority is to get help to those who have been injured and to take every precaution to protect our citizens at home and around the world from further attacks. The functions of our government continue without interruption. Federal agencies in Washington which had to be evacuated today are reopening for essential personnel tonight and will be open for business tomorrow. Our financial institutions remain strong, and the American economy will be open for business as well. The search is underway for those who are behind these evil acts. I've directed the full resources for our intelligence and law enforcement communities to find those responsible and bring them to justice. We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them. I appreciate so very much the members of Congress who have joined me in strongly condemning these attacks. And on behalf of the American people, I thank the many world leaders who have called to offer their condolences and assistance. America and our friends and allies join with all those who want peace and security in the world and we stand together to win the war against terrorism. Tonight I ask for your prayers for all those who grieve, for the children whose worlds have been shattered, for all whose sense of safety and security has been threatened. And I pray they will be comforted by a power greater than any of us, spoken through the ages in Psalm 23: "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil for you are with me." This is a day when all Americans from every walk of life unite in our resolve for justice and peace. America has stood down enemies before, and we will do so this time. None of us will ever forget this day, yet we go forward to defend freedom and all that is good and just in our world. Thank you. Good night and God bless America. September 20, 2001 - Thanks to The Washington Post Following is the full text of President Bush's address to a joint session of Congress and the nation: BUSH: Mr. Speaker, Mr. President Pro Tempore, members of Congress, and fellow Americans, in the normal course of events, presidents come to this chamber to report on the state of the union. Tonight, no such report is needed; it has already been delivered by the American people. We have seen it in the courage of passengers who rushed terrorists to save others on the ground. Passengers like an exceptional man named Todd Beamer. And would you please help me welcome his wife Lisa Beamer here tonight? (APPLAUSE) We have seen the state of our union in the endurance of rescuers working past exhaustion. We've seen the unfurling of flags, the lighting of candles, the giving of blood, the saying of prayers in English, Hebrew and Arabic. We have seen the decency of a loving and giving people who have made the grief of strangers their own. My fellow citizens, for the last nine days, the entire world has seen for itself the state of union, and it is strong. (APPLAUSE) Tonight, we are a country awakened to danger and called to defend freedom. Our grief has turned to anger and anger to resolution. Whether we bring our enemies to justice or bring justice to our enemies, justice will be done. (APPLAUSE) I thank the Congress for its leadership at such an important time. All of America was touched on the evening of the tragedy to see Republicans and Democrats joined together on the steps of this Capitol singing ``God Bless America.'' And you did more than sing. You acted, by delivering $40 billion to rebuild our communities and meet the needs of our military. Speaker Hastert, Minority Leader Gephardt, Majority Leader Daschle and Senator Lott, I thank you for your friendship, for your leadership and for your service to our country. (APPLAUSE) And on behalf of the American people, I thank the world for its outpouring of support. America will never forget the sounds of our national anthem playing at Buckingham Palace, on the streets of Paris and at Berlin's Brandenburg Gate. We will not forget South Korean children gathering to pray outside our embassy in Seoul, or the prayers of sympathy offered at a mosque in Cairo. We will not forget moments of silence and days of mourning in Australia and Africa and Latin America. Nor will we forget the citizens of 80 other nations who died with our own. Dozens of Pakistanis, more than 130 Israelis, more than 250 citizens of India, men and women from El Salvador, Iran, Mexico and Japan, and hundreds of British citizens. America has no truer friend than Great Britain. (APPLAUSE) Once again, we are joined together in a great cause. I'm so honored the British prime minister had crossed an ocean to show his unity with America. Thank you for coming, friend. (APPLAUSE) On September the 11th, enemies of freedom committed an act of war against our country. Americans have known wars, but for the past 136 years they have been wars on foreign soil, except for one Sunday in 1941. Americans have known the casualties of war, but not at the center of a great city on a peaceful morning. Americans have known surprise attacks, but never before on thousands of civilians. All of this was brought upon us in a single day, and night fell on a different world, a world where freedom itself is under attack. Americans have many questions tonight. Americans are asking, ``Who attacked our country?'' The evidence we have gathered all points to a collection of loosely affiliated terrorist organizations known as al Qaeda. They are some of the murderers indicted for bombing American embassies in Tanzania and Kenya and responsible for bombing the USS Cole. Al Qaeda is to terror what the Mafia is to crime. But its goal is not making money, its goal is remaking the world and imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere. The terrorists practice a fringe form of Islamic extremism that has been rejected by Muslim scholars and the vast majority of Muslim clerics; a fringe movement that perverts the peaceful teachings of Islam. The terrorists' directive commands them to kill Christians and Jews, to kill all Americans and make no distinctions among military and civilians, including women and children. This group and its leader, a person named Osama bin Laden, are linked to many other organizations in different countries, including the Egyptian Islamic Jihad, the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan. There are thousands of these terrorists in more than 60 countries. They are recruited from their own nations and neighborhoods and brought to camps in places like Afghanistan where they are trained in the tactics of terror. They are sent back to their homes or sent to hide in countries around the world to plot evil and destruction. The leadership of Al Qaeda has great influence in Afghanistan and supports the Taliban regime in controlling most of that country. In Afghanistan we see Al Qaeda's vision for the world. Afghanistan's people have been brutalized, many are starving and many have fled. Women are not allowed to attend school. You can be jailed for owning a television. Religion can be practiced only as their leaders dictate. A man can be jailed in Afghanistan if his beard is not long enough. The United States respects the people of Afghanistan--after all, we are currently its largest source of humanitarian aid--but we condemn the Taliban regime. (APPLAUSE) It is not only repressing its own people, it is threatening people everywhere by sponsoring and sheltering and supplying terrorists. By aiding and abetting murder, the Taliban regime is committing murder. And tonight the United States of America makes the following demands on the Taliban. Deliver to United States authorities all of the leaders of Al Quaeda who hide in your land. (APPLAUSE) Release all foreign nationals, including American citizens you have unjustly imprisoned. Protect foreign journalists, diplomats and aid workers in your country. Close immediately and permanently every terrorist training camp in Afghanistan. And hand over every terrorist and every person and their support structure to appropriate authorities. (APPLAUSE) Give the United States full access to terrorist training camps, so we can make sure they are no longer operating. These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion. (APPLAUSE) The Taliban must act and act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists or they will share in their fate. I also want to speak tonight directly to Muslims throughout the world. We respect your faith. It's practiced freely by many millions of Americans and by millions more in countries that America counts as friends. Its teachings are good and peaceful, and those who commit evil in the name of Allah blaspheme the name of Allah. (APPLAUSE) The terrorists are traitors to their own faith, trying, in effect, to hijack Islam itself. The enemy of America is not our many Muslim friends. It is not our many Arab friends. Our enemy is a radical network of terrorists and every government that supports them. (APPLAUSE) Our war on terror begins with Al Qaeda, but it does not end there. It will not end until every terrorist group of global reach has been found, stopped and defeated. (APPLAUSE) Americans are asking ``Why do they hate us?'' They hate what they see right here in this chamber: a democratically elected government. Their leaders are self-appointed. They hate our freedoms: our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech, our freedom to vote and assemble and disagree with each other. They want to overthrow existing governments in many Muslim countries such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan. They want to drive Israel out of the Middle East. They want to drive Christians and Jews out of vast regions of Asia and Africa. These terrorists kill not merely to end lives, but to disrupt and end a way of life. With every atrocity, they hope that America grows fearful, retreating from the world and forsaking our friends. They stand against us because we stand in their way. We're not deceived by their pretenses to piety. We have seen their kind before. They're the heirs of all the murderous ideologies of the 20th century. By sacrificing human life to serve their radical visions, by abandoning every value except the will to power, they follow in the path of fascism, Nazism and totalitarianism. And they will follow that path all the way to where it ends in history's unmarked grave of discarded lies. (APPLAUSE) Americans are asking, "How will we fight and win this war?'' We will direct every resource at our command--every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence, and every necessary weapon of war--to the destruction and to the defeat of the global terror network. Now, this war will not be like the war against Iraq a decade ago, with a decisive liberation of territory and a swift conclusion. It will not look like the air war above Kosovo two years ago, where no ground troops were used and not a single American was lost in combat. Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes. Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign unlike any other we have ever seen. It may include dramatic strikes visible on TV and covert operations secret even in success. We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place until there is no refuge or no rest. And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation in every region now has a decision to make: Either you are with us or you are with the terrorists. (APPLAUSE) From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime. Our nation has been put on notice, we're not immune from attack. We will take defensive measures against terrorism to protect Americans. Today, dozens of federal departments and agencies, as well as state and local governments, have responsibilities affecting homeland security. These efforts must be coordinated at the highest level. So tonight, I announce the creation of a Cabinet-level position reporting directly to me, the Office of Homeland Security. And tonight, I also announce a distinguished American to lead this effort, to strengthen American security: a military veteran, an effective governor, a true patriot, a trusted friend, Pennsylvania's Tom Ridge. (APPLAUSE) He will lead, oversee and coordinate a comprehensive national strategy to safeguard our country against terrorism and respond to any attacks that may come. These measures are essential. The only way to defeat terrorism as a threat to our way of life is to stop it, eliminate it and destroy it where it grows. (APPLAUSE) Many will be involved in this effort, from FBI agents, to intelligence operatives, to the reservists we have called to active duty. All deserve our thanks, and all have our prayers. And tonight a few miles from the damaged Pentagon, I have a message for our military: Be ready. I have called the armed forces to alert, and there is a reason. The hour is coming when America will act, and you will make us proud. This is not, however, just America's fight. And what is at stake is not just America's freedom. This is the world's fight. This is civilization's fight. This is the fight of all who believe in progress and pluralism, tolerance and freedom. We ask every nation to join us. We will ask and we will need the help of police forces, intelligence service and banking systems around the world. The United States is grateful that many nations and many international organizations have already responded with sympathy and with support--nations from Latin America to Asia to Africa to Europe to the Islamic world. Perhaps the NATO charter reflects best the attitude of the world: An attack on one is an attack on all. The civilized world is rallying to America's side. They understand that if this terror goes unpunished, their own cities, their own citizens may be next. Terror unanswered can not only bring down buildings, it can threaten the stability of legitimate governments. And you know what? We're not going to allow it. (APPLAUSE) Americans are asking, ``What is expected of us?'' I ask you to live your lives and hug your children. I know many citizens have fears tonight, and I ask you to be calm and resolute, even in the face of a continuing threat. I ask you to uphold the values of America and remember why so many have come here. We're in a fight for our principles, and our first responsibility is to live by them. No one should be singled out for unfair treatment or unkind words because of their ethnic background or religious faith. (APPLAUSE) I ask you to continue to support the victims of this tragedy with your contributions. Those who want to give can go to a central source of information, Libertyunites.org, to find the names of groups providing direct help in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. The thousands of FBI agents who are now at work in this investigation may need your cooperation, and I ask you to give it. I ask for your patience with the delays and inconveniences that may accompany tighter security and for your patience in what will be a long struggle. I ask your continued participation and confidence in the American economy. Terrorists attacked a symbol of American prosperity; they did not touch its source. America is successful because of the hard work and creativity and enterprise of our people. These were the true strengths of our economy before September 11, and they are our strengths today. And finally, please continue praying for the victims of terror and their families, for those in uniform and for our great country. Prayer has comforted us in sorrow and will help strengthen us for the journey ahead. Tonight I thank my fellow Americans for what you have already done and for what you will do. And ladies and gentlemen of the Congress, I thank you, their representatives, for what you have already done and for what we will do together. Tonight we face new and sudden national challenges. We will come together to improve air safety, to dramatically expand the number of air marshals on domestic flights and take new measures to prevent hijacking. We will come together to promote stability and keep our airlines flying with direct assistance during this emergency. (APPLAUSE) We will come together to give law enforcement the additional tools it needs to track down terror here at home. (APPLAUSE) We will come together to strengthen our intelligence capabilities to know the plans of terrorists before they act and to find them before they strike. (APPLAUSE) We will come together to take active steps that strengthen America's economy and put our people back to work. Tonight, we welcome two leaders who embody the extraordinary spirit of all New Yorkers, Governor George Pataki and Mayor Rudolf Giuliani. (APPLAUSE) As a symbol of America's resolve, my administration will work with Congress and these two leaders to show the world that we will rebuild New York City. (APPLAUSE) After all that has just passed, all the lives taken and all the possibilities and hopes that died with them, it is natural to wonder if America's future is one of fear. Some speak of an age of terror. I know there are struggles ahead and dangers to face. But this country will define our times, not be defined by them. As long as the United States of America is determined and strong, this will not be an age of terror. This will be an age of liberty here and across the world. (APPLAUSE) Great harm has been done to us. We have suffered great loss. And in our grief and anger we have found our mission and our moment. Freedom and fear are at war. The advance of human freedom, the great achievement of our time and the great hope of every time, now depends on us. Our nation, this generation, will lift the dark threat of violence from our people and our future. We will rally the world to this cause by our efforts, by our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter and we will not fail. (APPLAUSE) It is my hope that in the months and years ahead life will return almost to normal. We'll go back to our lives and routines and that is good. Even grief recedes with time and grace. But our resolve must not pass. Each of us will remember what happened that day and to whom it happened. We will remember the moment the news came, where we were and what we were doing. Some will remember an image of a fire or story or rescue. Some will carry memories of a face and a voice gone forever. And I will carry this. It is the police shield of a man named George Howard who died at the World Trade Center trying to save others. It was given to me by his mom, Arlene (ph), as a proud memorial to her son. It is my reminder of lives that ended and a task that does not end. (APPLAUSE) I will not forget the wound to our country and those who inflicted it. I will not yield, I will not rest, I will not relent in waging this struggle for freedom and security for the American people. The course of this conflict is not known, yet its outcome is certain. Freedom and fear, justice and cruelty, have always been at war, and we know that God is not neutral between them. (APPLAUSE) Fellow citizens, we'll meet violence with patient justice, assured of the rightness of our cause and confident of the victories to come. In all that lies before us, may God grant us wisdom and may he watch over the United States of America. Thank you. (APPLAUSE)

Sunday, September 23, 2001 A Prayer for America - Mayor Rudolph W. Giuliani Citywide Prayer Service at Yankee Stadium On September 11th, New York City suffered the darkest day in our history. It is now up to us to make it its finest hour. Today we come together in the Capital of the World, as a united City. We're accompanied by religious leaders of every faith, to offer a prayer for the families of those who have been lost... to offer a prayer for our City... and to offer a prayer for America The proud Twin Towers that once crowned our famous skyline - no longer stand. But our skyline will rise again. In the words of President George W. Bush, "we will rebuild New York City." To those who say that our City will never be the same, I say you are right. It will be better. Now we understand much more clearly why people from all over the globe want to come to New York, and to America... why they always have, and why they always will. It's called freedom, equal protection under law, respect for human life, and the promise of opportunity. All of the victims of this tragedy were innocent. All of them were heroes. The Bible says [John 15:13] "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends." Our brave New York City Firefighters . . . New York City Police Officers . . . Port Authority Police Officers . . . EMS workers . . . health care workers . . . court officers . . . and uniformed service members . . . They laid down their lives for strangers. They were inspired by their sense of duty and their love for humanity. As they raced into the Twin Towers and the other buildings to save lives, they didn't stop to ask how rich or poor the person was, they didn't stop to ask what religion, what race, what nationality. They just raced in to save their fellow human beings. They are the best example of live that we have in our society. The people they were trying to rescue - the people who worked in the World Trade Center and the buildings around it - were each engaged in the quiet heroism of supporting their families, pursuing their dreams and playing their own meaningful part in a diverse, dynamic and free society. They represented more than 60 different nations. They will also occupy a permanent and sacred place in our history and in our hearts. Even in the midst of the darkest tragedy there are miracles that help our faith to go on. I would like to share one miracle of September 11th with you. St. Paul's Chapel is one of the oldest and most historic buildings in the City of New York. It was built in 1766, when the surrounding area was still countryside. The Chapel survived our war of independence - including seven years of wartime occupation. After George Washington was inaugurated the first President of the United States, in New York City on April 30th, 1789, he walked to St. Paul's, and he kneeled down to pray. The pew where he worshipped is still there. Framed on the wall beside it is the oldest known representation of the Great Seal of the United States of America - it's a majestic eagle, holding in one talon an olive branch, proclaiming our abiding desire for peace . . . and in the other, a cluster of arrows, a forewarning of our determination to defend our liberty. On a banner above the Eagle is written E Pluribus Unum, "Out of Many, One." For the past 25 years, the chapel stood directly in the shadow of the World Trade Center Towers. When the Towers fell, more than a dozen modern buildings were destroyed and damaged. Yet somehow, amid all the destruction and devastation, St. Paul's Chapel still stands . . . without so much as a broken window. It's a small miracle in some ways, but the presence of that chapel standing defiant and serene amid the ruins of war sends an eloquent message about the strength and resilience of the people of New York City, and the people of America. We unite under the banner of E Pluribus Unum. We find strength in our diversity. We're a city where people look different, talk different, think different. But we're a City at one with all of the people at the World Trade Center, and with all of America. We love our diversity, and we love our freedom. Like our founding fathers who fought and died for freedom . . . like our ancestors who fought and died to preserve our union and to end the sin of slavery . . . like our fathers and grandfathers who fought and died to liberate the world from Nazism, and Fascism, and Communism . . . the cluster of arrows to defend our freedom, and the olive branch of peace have now been handed to us. We will hold them firmly in our hands, honor their memory, and lift them up toward heaven to light the world. In the days since this attack, we have met the worst of humanity with the best of humanity. We pray for our President, George W. Bush . . . and for our Governor George Pataki . . . who have provided us with such inspiring leadership during these very, very difficult times. We pray for all of those whose loved ones are lost or missing . . . we pray for our children, and we say to them: "Do not be afraid. It's safe to live your life." Finally, we pray for America . . . and for all of those who join us in defending freedom, law, and humanity. We humbly bow our heads and we ask God to bless the City of New York, and we ask God to bless the United States of America. Thank You.

Sunday, October 7, 2001 President Bush's speech from the Treaty Room regarding the beginning of the strikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan. "On my orders, the United States military has begun strikes against Al Qaeda terrorist training camps and military installations of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. "These carefully targeted actions are designed to disrupt the use of Afghanistan as a terrorist base of operations and to attack the military capability of the Taliban regime. "We are joined in this operation by our staunch friend, Great Britain. Other close friends, including Canada, Australia, Germany and France, have pledged forces as the operation unfolds. "More than 40 countries in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and across Asia have granted air transit or landing rights. Many more have shared intelligence. We are supported by the collective will of the world. "More than two weeks ago, I gave Taliban leaders a series of clear and specific demands: Close terrorist training camps. Hand over leaders of the Al Qaeda network. And return all foreign nationals, including American citizens, unjustly detained in their country. "None of these demands was met. And now, the Taliban will pay a price. "By destroying camps and disrupting communications, we will make it more difficult for the terror network to train new recruits and coordinate their evil plans. "Initially the terrorists may burrow deeper into caves and other entrenched hiding places. Our military action is also designed to clear the way for sustained, comprehensive and relentless operations to drive them out and bring them to justice. "At the same time, the oppressed people of Afghanistan will know the generosity of America and our allies. As we strike military targets, we will also drop food, medicine and supplies to the starving and suffering men and women and children of Afghanistan. "The United States of America is a friend to the Afghan people, and we are the friends of almost a billion worldwide who practice the Islamic faith. "The United States of America is an enemy of those who aid terrorists and of the barbaric criminals who profane a great religion by committing murder in its name. "This military action is a part of our campaign against terrorism, another front in a war that has already been joined through diplomacy, intelligence, the freezing of financial assets and the arrests of known terrorists by law-enforcement agents in 38 countries. "Given the nature and reach of our enemies, we will win this conflict by the patient accumulation of successes, by meeting a series of challenges with determination and will and purpose. "Today we focus on Afghanistan, but the battle is broader. Every nation has a choice to make. In this conflict, there is no neutral ground. If any government sponsors the outlaws and killers of innocence, they have become outlaws and murderers themselves. And they will take that lonely path at their own peril. "I'm speaking to you today from the Treaty Room of the White House, a place where American presidents have worked for peace. "We're a peaceful nation. Yet, as we have learned, so suddenly and so tragically, there can be no peace in a world of sudden terror. In the face of today's new threat, the only way to pursue peace is to pursue those who threaten it. "We did not ask for this mission, but we will fulfill it. "The name of today's military operation is Enduring Freedom. We defend not only our precious freedoms, but also the freedom of people everywhere to live and raise their children free from fear. "I know many Americans feel fear today. And our government is taking strong precautions. All law enforcement and intelligence agencies are working aggressively around America, around the world and around the clock. "At my request, many governors have activated the National Guard to strengthen airport security. We have called up reserves to reinforce our military capability and strengthen the protection of our homeland. "In the months ahead, our patience will be one of our strengths -- patience with the long waits that will result from tighter security, patience and understanding that it will take time to achieve our goals, patience in all the sacrifices that may come. "Today, those sacrifices are being made by members of our armed forces who now defend us so far from home, and by their proud and worried families. "A commander-in-chief sends America's sons and daughters into battle in a foreign land only after the greatest care and a lot of prayer. "We ask a lot of those who wear our uniform. We ask them to leave their loved ones, to travel great distances, to risk injury, even to be prepared to make the ultimate sacrifice of their lives. "They are dedicated. They are honorable. They represent the best of our country, and we are grateful. "To all the men and women in our military -- every sailor, every soldier, every airman, every Coast Guardsman, every Marine -- I say this: Your mission is defined. The objectives are clear. Your goal is just. You have my full confidence, and you will have every tool you need to carry out your duty. "I recently received a touching letter that says a lot about the state of America in these difficult times, a letter from a fourth-grade girl with a father in the military. "'As much as I don't want my dad to fight,' she wrote, 'I'm willing to give him to you.' "This is a precious gift. The greatest she could give. This young girl knows what America is all about. "Since September 11, an entire generation of young Americans has gained new understanding of the value of freedom and its cost and duty and its sacrifice. "The battle is now joined on many fronts. We will not waiver, we will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail. Peace and freedom will prevail. "Thank you. May God continue to bless America."

Sunday, October 7, 2001 Prime Minister, Tony Blair's speech regarding the beginning of the strikes against the Taliban in Afghanistan. As you all know from the announcement by President (George W.) Bush, military action against targets inside Afghanistan have begun. I can confirm that UK forces are engaged in this action. "I want to pay tribute at the outset to Britain's armed forces. There is no greater strength for a British Prime Minister and the British nation at a time like this to know that the forces we are calling upon are amongst the best in the world. "They and their families are of course carrying an immense burden at this moment and will be feeling deep anxiety, as will the British people, but we can take great pride in their courage, their sense of duty, and the esteem with which they are held throughout the world. "No country lightly commits forces to military action and the inevitable risks involved. We made clear following the attacks upon the U.S. on September 11 that we would take action once it was clear who was responsible. There is no doubt in my mind, nor in the mind of anyone who has been through all the available evidence, including intelligence material, that these attacks were carried out by the al Qaeda network headed by Osama bin Laden. "Equally it is clear that they are harbored and supported by the Taliban regime inside Afghanistan. "It is now almost a month since the atrocity occurred. It is more than two weeks since an ultimatum was delivered to the Taliban to yield up the terrorists or face the consequences. It is clear beyond doubt that the Taliban will not do this. They were given the choice of siding with justice, or siding with terror. They chose terror. "There are three parts, all equally important, to the operation in which we are engaged -- military, diplomatic and humanitarian. "The military action we are taking will be targeted against places we know to be involved in the al Qaeda network of terror or against the military apparatus of the Taliban. The military plan has been put together mindful of our determination to do all we humanly can to avoid civilian casualties. "I cannot disclose how long this wave of action will last. But we will act with reason and resolve. We have set the objective to pursue those responsible for the attacks, to eradicate bin Laden's network of terrorism and to take action against the Taliban regime that is sponsoring him. After the precise British involvement, I can confirm that last Wednesday the U.S. government made a specific request that a number of UK military assets be used in the operation which has now begun, and that I gave the authority for these assets to be deployed. "They include the base at Diego Garcia, reconnaissance and other aircraft and missile-firing submarines. The missile-firing submarines are in use tonight. The air assets will be available for use in the coming days. The U.S. are obviously providing the bulk of the force required and leading the operation. But this is an international effort. As well as the UK, France, Germany, Australia and Canada have also committed themselves to take part in it. "On the diplomatic and political fronts, in the time I have been prime minister, I cannot recall a situation that has commanded so quickly such a powerful coalition of support -- not just from those countries directly involved in military action but from many others in all parts of the world. "That coalition has strengthened not weakened in the 26 days since the atrocity occurred. This is no small measure due to the statesmanship of President Bush. The world understands that whilst of course there are dangers in acting as we are, the dangers of inaction are far, far greater -- the threat of further such outrages, the threats to our economies, the threat to the stability of the world. "On the humanitarian front, we are assembling a coalition of support for refugees in and outside Afghanistan, which is as vital as the military coalition. Even before September 11, four million Afghans were on the move. There are two million refugees in Pakistan and one-and-a-half million in Iran. "We have to ask for humanitarian reasons to alleviate the appalling suffering of the Afghan people and to deliver stability so that people from that region stay in that region. We have already contributed £36 million ($48 million) to the humanitarian effort and stand ready to do more. So we are taking action therefore on three fronts -- military, diplomatic and humanitarian. "I also want to say very directly to the British people why this matters so much to Britain. 'No credible threat' "First, let us not forget that the attacks of September 11 represented the worst terrorist outrage against British citizens in our history. The murder of British citizens, whether it happened overseas or not, is an attack upon Britain. But even if no British citizen had died, we would be right to act. This atrocity was an attack on us all, on people of all faiths and people of none. We know the al Qaeda network threatens Europe, including Britain, and indeed any nation throughout the world that does not share their fanatical views. So we have a direct interest in acting in our self-defense to protect British lives. "It was an attack on lives and livelihoods. The airlines, tourism and other industries have been affected, and economic confidence has suffered with all that means to British jobs and business. Our prosperity and standard of living require us to deal with the terrorist threat. We act also because the al Qaida network and the Taliban regime are funded in large parts on the drugs trade -- 90 percent of all heroin sold in Britain originates from Afghanistan. Stopping that trade is again directly in our interests. "I wish to say finally as I have said many times before that this is not a war with Islam. "It angers me, as it angers the vast majority of Muslims, to hear bin Laden and his associates described as Islamic terrorists. They are terrorists pure and simple. Islam is a peaceful and tolerant religion, and the acts of these people are contrary to the teachings of the Koran. "These are difficult and testing times for us all. People are bound to be concerned about what the terrorists may seek to do in response. I should say there is at present no specific credible threat to the United Kingdom that we know of and that we have in place tried and tested contingency plans which are the best possible response to any further attempts at terror. "This is a moment of utmost gravity for the world. None of the leaders involved in this action want war. None of our nations want it. We are peaceful people. But we know that sometimes to safeguard peace, we have to fight. Britain has learned that lesson many times in our history. We only do it if the cause is just. This cause is just.

December 27, 2001 - Thanks to The Washington Post Partial text of New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani's farewell speech. Giuliani used the speech to call for turning the area into a "soaring, beautiful memorial" rather than new office space: GIULIANI: ... Very often, in the past three months plus, people will ask me, where do I get my energy? Where does it come from? Well, it's really simple: It comes from you. And it comes from here. What I mean by that, my strength and energy comes entirely from the people of the city of New York, and it comes from a place like this, Saint Paul's Chapel. This is a house of God, and it's one of the homes of our republic. Although I have to leave you as the mayor soon, I resume the much more honorable title of citizen, citizen of New York and citizen of the United States. (APPLAUSE) You get to be mayors and council members and congressmen and senators and governors and, you know, presidents for short periods of time, but you always remain a citizen.  And the people of the city should understand that all of the sources of my strength absolutely endure, because you have it and you have that strength and you've displayed it. As I stand in this church, which is hallowed ground, my mind wanders back well over a hundred years ago when my grandfather, Rudolpho, left Italy. I keep wondering at the very tremendous chance that four different people, my grandfather and grandmother and my other grandfather and grandmother, all of them have decided to leave. If one of them hadn't, I wouldn't be here. And of course, that's truly probably for all of you.  I think about my grandfather who left his family, and he left the country of his birth. He left everything that was familiar, everything that was safe, had to have seen the obstacles, couldn't possibly have not seen the obstacles that faced him, a treacherous journey across a very dangerous ocean, coming to a place in which he didn't understand the language, couldn't speak it, wouldn't understand him.  But somehow, he and his wife and my other grandfather and grandmother made the choice to come here. Their hopes and their dreams and their optimism overcame their fears. When I was given the manifest of the ship on which he went back to Italy to pick up his sister, there's one part of it that has always absolutely fascinated me. He had only $20 in his pocket. He didn't have any American Express travelers checks hidden away. He didn't have a Mastercard. He had only $20. So how did he do it? How did he overcome all the fears that must have existed?  It's very, very simple how he did it and how millions of other people did it, and it's the reason we all have such strength: They were able to do it because they kept thinking about this idea in their head, this ideal of America, America, America, the land of the free and the home of the brave--this very, very special place that was probably romanticized. And by coming here, they made it even a more special place because they worked very hard to make this a better place for themselves and their children. When my grandfather's native country went to war against the country of his choice, it was very, very simple for him. He was an American now ,and if you had to die for America, that's what you were supposed to do. His youngest son--my uncle Rudy is sitting over there, and he has no idea that I'm going to talk about him, but I am. And when he was 17 years old, he volunteered to fight in the Second World War, almost died in the Pacific. He came back, worked as a New York City police officer in the Emergency Services Unit. And on the last day that he was a police officer, if I may say of the middle-aged man, he went up on top of the Brooklyn Bridge and took someone down and saved them from suicidal depression; almost lost his life then. And he's been my hero and one of the reasons why I have this love of our police department and our fire department and the people who do that, because I saw it very directly. My grandfather, Rudolpho and my Uncle Rudy are just like your fathers, mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers, uncles, aunts; you all have that in your background and in your families. Doesn't matter if you came here rich or poor, if you came here voluntarily or involuntarily, if you came here in freedom or in bondage, all that matters is that you embrace America and understand its ideals and what it's all about. Abraham Lincoln used to say that, ``The test of your Americanism was not your family tree. The test of your Americanism was how much you believed in America.'' Because we're like a religion, really--secular religion. We believe in ideas and ideals. We're not one race; we're many. We're not one ethnic group; we're everyone. We're not one language; we're all of these people. So what ties us together? We're tied together by our belief in political democracy. We're tried together by our belief in religious freedom. We're tied together by our belief in capitalism, a free economy, where people make their own choices about the spending of their money. We're tied together because we respect human life. We're tied together because we respect the rule of law. Those are the group of ideas that make us Americans. And being in this chapel is very, very appropriate. The reason I chose this chapel is because it has wonderful Christmas decorations... (LAUGHTER)  ...and whatever that thing is. (LAUGHTER) The reason I chose this chapel is because this chapel is twice hallowed ground. This is a place of really special importance to people who have a feeling and a sense and an emotion and an understanding of patriotism. This is hallowed by the fact that it was consecrated as a house of God in 1766. That's a long time ago.  And then, in 1789, in April of 1789, George Washington came, and after he was inaugurated as the first president of our republic, he prayed right here in this church, which makes it very sacred ground to people who feel what America is all about.  But then it was consecrated one more time, in 2001, on September 11. When I walked in here, from the back, I looked up, because every time I've walked in this church, when I looked up, I saw the Twin Towers, just way, way above. This church existed for many years in the shadow of the Twin Towers.   And on September 11, when the Twin Towers were viciously attacked and came crashing to the ground, in the worst on America--destroyed buildings all around, did damage as far away as City Hall, all the way south, in the southern part of Battery Park City, and covered this whole area with debris, body parts, and in many, many ways damaged buildings--this chapel remained not only not destroyed, not a single window was broken, not a single thing hurt. And I think there's some very, very special significance in that: The place where George Washington prayed when he first became president of the United States stood strong, powerful, untouched, undaunted by the attacks of these people who hate what we stand for, because what we stand for is so much stronger than they are. So this chapel stands for our values. And it's a very important place. And I hope you return here often to reflect on what it means to be an American and a New Yorker. When I became mayor of New York City in 1993, with the help of many of you that are here, it seemed to me that I had to do something different than other mayors. It seemed to me that what I had to do was to totally change the direction and course of New York City. Maybe, I was right about that; maybe I was wrong about it, but that's the way I felt I had to operate. I saw this city deteriorating. I saw this city on the front page of Time Magazine--is this working? I saw the city on the--now it is. See what God can do? (LAUGHTER) (APPLAUSE)  I saw this city on the front page of Time Magazine, in 1990, in which the front cover said, ``New York City: The Rotting Apple.'' And then, several years worth of terrible, terrible publicity about the city: 2,000 murders a year; people fleeing; 320,000 fewer jobs; Fortune 500 companies leaving in record numbers. A poll in 1993 said that over 65 percent of New Yorkers wanted to leave the city if they could afford to do it. When I saw that poll, I became really concerned about the future of the city. And then another one that said that the overwhelming majority of New Yorkers believed that although we would survive as a city, our best days were behind us; our best days were history, that our future would not be nearly as bright as our past.  And then I remember Senator Moynihan saying, in 1993, that we were engaged in defining deviancy down, rather than creating higher standards for our people. So I felt that my job as the mayor--I didn't know if I would succeed or not--but I felt that my job as the mayor was to turn around the city, because I believe, rightly or wrongly, that we had one last chance to do that, to really turn it around in a totally opposite direction from the direction it was going in. And that created a lot of hostility and a lot of anger. I knew it would, because the city was headed in the direction that it was in because of ideas. There were people who had political philosophies and political creeds and ideologies, and those were the reasons behind all of the things that had the city headed in the wrong direction, in my view.  And I had a different group of ideas about what should lie behind where the city was going. For example, it seemed to me that we had to change the way in which we did policing in New York City. We had to make it accountable. We had to make it responsible. We couldn't let politics guide decision making. We had to have reason, thought and analysis guide decision making.  Let me give you an example that I pulled out of the paper this morning, because very, very fortuitously, this morning's newspaper illustrates this point better than I think I could have done. It's an article in the Daily News. It says ``Murders, Shootings Fall in City, Dip Scene for Second Week.'' The city's crime wave may be washed up. The crime wave about which the writer speaks was for one week, by the way.  (LAUGHTER)   You're laughing, but that's good. That's really good. And that's very, very different--this would not have been possible eight years ago. This article couldn't have been written.  For the second week in a row, the police department logged a drop in murders and shootings, according to the latest crime statistics: From December 20--from December 17 to 23, there were nine murders, three fewer than in the same period a year ago; and 25 shootings, six fewer, than in the same major--same week in 2000.  Overall, major crime was down 17 percent last week, compared with the year before. Crime fell 13 percent the previous week, as well. Police commanders have been feeling the heat this month, Commissioner.  (LAUGHTER) ... when violent crime was on the upswing, a disturbing trend officials attributed to the diversion of thousands of cops and detectives to World Trade Center-related duties after the September 11 terrorist attack. The weekly COMSTAT crime strategy meetings showed where the problems were, largely in Brooklyn North. So Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik ordered detectives return to assignments in narcotics, warrants and gang enforcement. Notice, it doesn't say he returned them to assignments in community policing.  (LAUGHTER)  (APPLAUSE)  Nor does it say that he increased patrol strength in all of the precincts in which the City Council members get angry that you don't have enough patrol strength. What it says is, he returned them to assignments in the special units, much maligned, but enormously important if you really want to reduce crime--to the special units: narcotics, warrants and gang enforcement. ``Substantial reductions in the last two weeks results from our ability,'' said Bernard Kerick, ``through COMSTAT to monitor trends and deploy resources to areas where spikes occur.'' None of that would have been possible eight years ago. That's a rational, reasonable, sensible, strategic response to crime, rather than a political response: Put cops out on the streets so people can see them, and politicians are happy. I remember once somebody suggesting that we should put a police officer on every subway train. And I thought, ``That was a great idea.'' Kind of, it emotes, right? Put one in every subway car. However, 65 percent of the crime that occurs on the subway occurs on the platform.  (LAUGHTER)   So I had this image of the cops in the cars going by and the muggers waving to them.  (LAUGHTER)  You have to think about how to reduce crime rather than emote.  Another example, this is from an article that I kept. Said (ph) they want to know if there's a new Rudy or an old Rudy. It's really the same one.  (LAUGHTER)  This one I kept, because this goes back to March 4, 2000. It was in the New York Times. And it reads as follows: ``In the eyes of many police chiefs and criminologists, San Diego and Boston have become the national models of policing. And while New York's accomplishments are also studied and admired, there's a sense of sadness that a great opportunity has been squandered.'' It kind of annoyed me when it was written, but I waited.  (LAUGHTER)   I say this only because one of the things that we've had to deal with in the last 7-3/4 years, first with Commissioner Bratton, then with Commissioner Safir, now with Commissioner Kerik, is this notion that, yes, crime goes down in New York, but it goes down all over the country, and it really isn't about policing, it isn't about our theories, our ideas, our policies or our approach or our management. Well, let's do a little check on how San Diego and Boston have done since then. In the last statistics put out by the FBI, there has been a 67 percent increase in murder in Boston. During that same period of time, there was a 12 percent decrease in the city of New York. I don't know, which policing theory would you want to follow?  Boston has 82 percent more crime than New York. San Diego has 16 percent more crime than New York. And in the last six-month statistic, San Diego had crime go up by 3.9 percent, New York City had it go down by 7.6 percent.  The article then goes on to say the following: ``The Boston model, which evolved over time, has succeeded in several other cities.'' The Boston model. This doesn't have to do with baseball, it has to do with policing.  (LAUGHTER) This is where the article says the Boston model was used: New Haven, New Haven has 124.3 percent more crime than New York City; Indianapolis, 50 percent more crime; The Boston model is used in Memphis, 204 percent; and in Portland, Oregon, 131 percent.  The reality is that the model that was adopted for dealing with crime in New York City is the very, very best way to assure that you can keep a city safe. It includes relying on COMSTAT to make your decisions of how to deploy police officers. It also includes putting a lot of emphasis on quality of life, on the broken window theory. Those are the two major pillars of it. These are ideas. These are ideas that replaced bad ideas. The broken windows theory replaced the idea that we were too busy to pay attention to street-level prostitution, too busy to pay attention to panhandling, too busy to pay attention to graffiti, too busy to pay attention to street-level drug dealing. Well, you can't be too busy to pay attention to those things, because those are the things that underlie the problems of crime that you have in your society.  And I would like to say that another idea that we changed was the approach to hopelessness, which is something that comes up, over and over again. Here's my feeling about hopelessness, and its very much the same about welfare: I think there was something wrong, seriously wrong, in the idea that people in this city had that there was something good about watching someone laying on the street and sort of creating a right for people to live on the streets. And somehow, they thought there was--that inhered an individual liberty or individual rights. Think about this for a moment: If your brother, cousin, friend, was sleeping on the streets day after day, what would you do about it, if it was somebody you loved and cared about, not somebody that you're kind of, like, dealing with out of your own guilt, maybe?  How would you feel about it? What you would want to do is help them, right? You'd want to help them. And if they insisted on living on the streets at 20 degrees and 25 degrees and 30 degrees and rain and where they can be attacked, you would do everything you could to get them off the street. Because a person--if you see someone that wants to live on the street and is laying there, you should see a sign on them that says, ``I have a very big problem, and I need help. And you shouldn't ignore me. You should try to help me.'' And ``try to help me'' means, first of all, dealing with the basic idea, you have to be indoors, not out on the street.  And then, the second thing, then you have to figure out: What kind of problem does the person have? What is it? What makes them live on the street? It isn't normal behavior. It isn't healthy behavior for them or for society. If you ignore it, it's a problem that only gets worse. It gets worse for them, and it gets worse for society, because the problem is one of these things: The person doesn't have a place to live.  Well, you let that person live on the street, the problem of not having a place to live is going to become one of the next problems that people have that live on the street, alcoholism. And it only gets worse if you ignore or enable it, which is what people who encourage people to live on the streets are doing: They're enabling people to be alcoholics.   Or you have a problem of drug addiction. Or you have a problem of mental illness. Or maybe you're a violent criminal. All of those things have to be dealt with; all of them have to be dealt with differently. None of them are helped by ignoring homelessness, by doing the kind of thing that the judge allowed last week. That's cruel. He doesn't think it's cruel, but he's having a hard time thinking through the ideology that he brings with it to analyzing his decisions. It's a cruel thing to do, to have people laying on the street. It's a much kinder, more generous, much more mature and much more responsible thing to go, take them, try to help them, and put them in facilities where they can get help, which is what we've done, but it really has to continue if we really care about people.   Similarly, welfare. Again, a big change in ideas. The idea in this city used to be that people should be encouraged to be on welfare, that you were helping them by putting them on welfare, that somehow you felt better about yourself the more people there were on welfare. The reality is: You're not helping anybody by putting them in a state of dependency. We substituted for that the idea that people should work and take care of themselves and that we should do everything we could to help people to work: Encourage them, suggest it to them, and even require it if you have to in order to keep them in the work force, because the kindest, most generous and most loving way to take care of someone is to respect their independence and give them the ability to take care of themselves.  (APPLAUSE) I promised not to use numbers very much in this speech. I have to use one, Jason. No way I would have believed this eight years ago, and I'm a big optimist and generally look at things--almost everything--from the positive point of view. I don't think you can get through life if you don't look at everything, no matter how difficult it is, from the positive point of view. There are right now, as we close this administration, 695,000 fewer people on welfare--695,000.  (APPLAUSE)  We'll end the administration with less than 500,000 people on welfare. Last year, we created about 130,000 jobs for them. This year, I hope we're going to do even better than that. And we're already at about 120,000, and we still have a few days to go, so we're going to pick up the rest of those jobs for them.  But just think about that? The city used to pick up about 8,000, 9,000 jobs a year for people on welfare and then put 100,000 more people on welfare. We're helping people to help themselves.  And believe me, that's had a lot to do--at the core, at the grassroots level--with the change of morale in the city. Fiscal discipline. We've worked very, very hard to try to straighten out the budget of the city of New York. And I think the budget is in much better shape than it was in eight years ago. When I came into office, we had a $2.3 billion current year deficit. Right now, the new mayor will take over with what looks to be a surplus of over $1 billion.  (APPLAUSE)  I checked this morning. As of a week ago, when we finished the budget bond with the City Council, we had a budget stabilization account and reserves--budget stabilization account is something we created, that we urge very strongly should be continued, that gave us about a $600 million surplus.  Since then, two things have happened: Unfortunately, the income tax reduction we wanted wasn't passed. That's the unfortunate part. The good part of that is, the new mayor picks up $500 million in gap reduction that he didn't have before, which will bring the gap down below $3 billion. And the second thing is that the receipts, the tax receipts, because Wall Street did better than we anticipated, will probably bring in another $500 million. Which is another principle that we changed, and this is why we have surpluses every year: We always have underestimated tax receipts. We always conservatively estimate how well the economy is going to do.  What that means is that, in spite of the destruction of the World Trade Center, the tremendous impact that it's had on us emotionally and the tremendous impact that it's had on us economically, we're probably going to end up pretty much where we estimated the economy was going to be by the time we end the year.  It's a great credit to--I have, let's see, three budget directors here: Joe Lhota, Bob Harding, and Adam Barsky.  (APPLAUSE)  And there's just one last thing I have to say about that--the whole idea of retiring long-term debt. You know, if I had taken the advice of some of the monitors in The New York Times editorial board and retired--that's a good thing to actually do: not take their advice. (LAUGHTER)  You can write that down as a rule.  (APPLAUSE)  Not take their--now actually, political officials should not be so affected by editorial boards, whether it's The New York Times or even The New York Post, that I much more often agree with, or the Daily News or Izvestia (ph).  (LAUGHTER)  Do they still have Izvestia (ph)? I don't know. Do they still have that anymore? No. OK. You should not be so affected by editorial boards, because you should make up your own mind. Now editorial boards have a place and they have a purpose, but they don't really understand the inner workings of government. They don't understand budgets, they really don't understand how you balance the budget, because they don't have to do it. And they certainly don't understand how you balance a $40 billion budget, because they've never had to do anything like that.  And the reality is that that advice about retiring long-term debt would have resulted in the city being in bankruptcy right now, because it would not have had the ability to--what we did, instead of paying off long-term debt, is retire short-term debt. That's why this new mayor inherits a surplus, rather than an immediate-year tremendous gap.  A gap a year from now or two years from now, you can deal with because you can plan. You can plan through attrition, to reduce the size of government. You can look for new resources of revenue. You can look for areas of privatization, where you can pick up revenues. You can look for more help from the federal government.  But if you have an immediate gap, if it happens right now, in this year, then the only thing this city used to do in the past is lay people off, and then it affects your bond rating. So I would also urge to go a little deeper in thinking about how the budget operates.  And one last piece of advice on budget and the economy and one thing that we changed dramatically: I would not let the anti-development philosophy rule my decision. This city has a strain in it, a very dangerous one, that opposes development of any kind, anywhere, anyplace, and then it wonders why unemployment is high.  Well, if you're not building and rebuilding and building again, and recreating, then the city just atrophies, it just dies. The physical structure of the city has to be rebuilt, like the human structure of the city is rebuilt. And the city should never again go back into the anti-development philosophy.  We did more developing in the last eight years than in probably the last 30 or 35 years combined. I won't list all the projects, you know them: Time Square; 125th Street; just the first hotel in Brooklyn in 50 years. Nobody had built a hotel in Brooklyn in 50 years. I don't know what they were doing in Brooklyn in 50 years, Mary...  (LAUGHTER)  ... but no hotel in Brooklyn in 50 years.  We brought baseball back to Brooklyn...  (APPLAUSE) ... and Staten Island. And the one that I'm the most proud of now and keep going to look at is the AOL Time Warner headquarters on Columbus Circle. That's a grand new project that was mired in the anti-development philosophy and letting it rule, for 15 or 20 years. And I can give you all kinds of examples like that. Hotels that were built; office buildings that have gone up; courthouses--Judge Kay (ph)--courthouses in every borough with the very, very support and help of Chief Judge Kay (ph). Thank you.   (APPLAUSE) But you have to fight--you have to fight the anti-development philosophy, because it's there, and it can be very, very harmful, particularly now, where the city has to work its way out of two things.  And I think it's the second more than the first, actually. The attack on the World Trade Center and the impact that that's had on our economy. I'm not sure that some of that wasn't exaggerated now that I look at our tax receipts--the impact of the World Trade Center.  But the second part, which is--and that is the national economy--no matter how we try to out perform it--and we do nowadays--it's still going to affect us. So given that, this would be the worst time to go back into an anti-development, high tax philosophy, because it would flip us back to where we were.