A grinning Bush poses beneath giant "Protecting America" sign [View All]

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

"President George W. Bush receives applause during remarks on homeland security at Northeastern Illinois Public Training Academy in Glenview, Illinois on Thursday July 22, 2004."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/07/images/20040722-12_w9w2403-515h.html



"President George W. Bush addresses police and firemen after a demonstration by first responders at Northeastern Illinois Public Training Academy in Glenview, Illinois on Thursday July 22, 2004."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/07/images/20040722-12_p8c2168-515h.html





"President George W. Bush greets firemen after remarks on homeland security at Northeastern Illinois Public Training Academy in Glenview, Illinois on Thursday July 22, 2004."

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/07/images/20040722-12_p8c2218-515h.html

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/07/20040722-12.html

Our country faces new and unprecedented threats. The American people are counting on all who wear our nation's uniform. We are counting on the brave men and women of our armed forces, who are serving in distant corners of the world. We're counting on those who wear the uniform here at home -- the police, the firefighters, the emergency rescue personnel, and others who risk their lives each day to protect our homeland and its citizens. The nation is proud of your service. We're grateful for your sacrifices. (Applause.)

The events of September the 11th, 2001, demonstrated the threats of a new era. We found that oceans which separated us from other continents no longer separate us from danger. We saw the cruelty of the terrorists, and we glimpsed the future they intend for us. They intend to strike the United States again. They're seeking increasingly powerful weapons that would allow them to kill our citizens on an unprecedented scale. That's the reality of the world we live in today. We didn't ask for it -- it came to our shores because of what we believe in. It came to our shores because we're the beacon of freedom, and we're not going to change. (Applause.)

A new kind of threat has required a new kind of war, a new kind of response -- and we are prosecuting the war on many fronts. Our military has captured or killed hundreds of terrorists, removed terrorist regimes in Iraq and Afghanistan that had harbored terrorists and threatened our people. Our intelligence community helped uncover the A.Q. Khan network that had supplied nuclear weapons-related equipment and plans to Libya and Iran and North Korea -- and we put them out of business. Our diplomats, working with Great Britain, convinced Libya to give up its weapons of mass destruction. Our law enforcement officials, working with friends and allies around the world, have disrupted terrorist financing, and broken up terrorist cells virtually on every continent.

The results of these efforts are solid, and they're clear: In just three years, we've captured or killed about two-thirds of al Qaeda's known leadership -- (applause) -- we've removed two terrorist regimes from power and convinced a third to voluntarily disarm. We helped eliminate the world's most dangerous nuclear trading network. Because of these achievements, America and the world are safer. (Applause.)