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The Price of Freedom Is High, but Never too High
Wednesday, January 30, 2002
By Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service

Bush singled out North Korea, Iran and Iraq as regimes that sponsor terrorism and have active chemical, biological and nuclear weapons programs. "States like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil, arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger," he said. "They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means to match their hatred. They could attack our allies or attempt to blackmail the United States.”

WASHINGTON -- AFIS
"It is both our responsibility and our privilege to fight freedom's fight," President Bush said Jan. 29 during his first State of the Union address.

The United States will dedicate whatever resources it takes to defeat terrorism and make America safe, Bush said to the joint session of Congress at the Capitol.

"As we gather tonight, our nation is at war, our economy is in recession and the civilized world faces unprecedented dangers, yet the state of our Union has never been stronger," he said.

Bush told the gathered legislators that the United States is committed to a long war against terrorists. And, he said, the United States will work with coalition partners to blunt the threat of weapons of mass destruction.

"All nations should know that America will do what is necessary to ensure our nation's security," he said. "I will not wait on events while dangers gather. I will not stand by as peril draws closer and closer. The United States of America will not permit the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us with the world's most destructive weapons."

Bush listed the accomplishments of America since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. He said the United States has buried its dead, comforted the victims, begun to rebuild, built a coalition against terror and liberated and fed Afghanistan. He said the United States and its allies have captured, arrested and rid the world of thousands of terrorists.
(More: DoD News Source)
2002 © The United States Department of Defense.

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