President Bush yesterday declared the terror attacks on America were “acts of war” and vowed: “Make no mistake about it – we will win.”
A day after the attacks, amid reports that the White House itself was one of the targets, Bush and his aides spoke openly of war, not just terror attacks.
“This will be a monumental struggle of good versus evil. But good will prevail,” the president said.
Secretary of State Colin Powell said: “It is a war.”
He added: “It’s a war not against the United States, it’s a war against civilization.”
To speak of war is to pledge devastating U.S. retaliation and the goal, as Bush made clear, isn’t simply drawing blood but outright victory and surrender – even if Bush wasn’t yet ready to speak the enemy’s name.
But the harsher words could mark a dramatic shift in U.S. policy.
In the past, U.S. officials followed the principle of “proportional” retaliation – an eye for an eye without going for ultimate victory.
Critics said Bush’s father made a mistake when he was president in failing to take out Iraq’s Saddam Hussein in the Gulf War and Bill Clinton erred in targeting terror kingpin Osama bin Laden’s troops but failing to kill bin Laden.
Bush’s talk of war also underscored the growing suspicion that if bin Laden was behind America’s day of terror, he may well have had help from a state sponsor of terror – another country.
Bush asked Congress to approve “whatever it takes” in emergency spending to help New York cope with the tragedy – and to strike back.
The president spoke to the nation as he met with his national-security team, sitting flanked by Vice President Dick Cheney and Powell.
But both Bush and Powell – who made the TV talk-show rounds on behalf of the president – seemed to be warning an outraged nation that retaliation could take time.
“This is an enemy that tries to hide, but they won’t able to hide forever,” Bush said.
The president also vowed that “we will rally the world,” as he sought to build the kind of international alliance that his father once built for the Gulf War – but this time to counter an attack against America.
The president phoned world leaders, including Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Jiang Zemin, Britain’s Tony Blair, France’s Jacques Chirac, Canada’s Jean Chretien and Germany’s Gerhard Schroeder.
Powell said no action is imminent, but no targets have been rejected.
“I would not remove any of the options available to the president,” Powell said.
White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer said Bush wants to come to New York “to be with those who need comfort” and to show his gratitude to rescue workers.
But he said “the first priority has got to be not to do anything that would interfere with the rescue efforts that are currently under way.”
Military analyst Dan Goure said the new talk about war reflects the sense that even bin Laden would have needed a state sponsor.