NOW HEAR THIS

Terrorist groups and nations have successfully stirred up violence against civilization in many countries of the world...and it should not have been a surprise that they were able to do so, and to maintain it. The reasons for their success seem clear:

* most of the people in most of the victimized countries lead poor, impoverished lives with little hope of ever escaping them;

* they are not solidly rooted in the rule of law, but in the rule of man, whether it be imposed by a terrorist organization or by "elected" officials;

* their political leaders are often corrupt;

* many are believers in fanatic mysticism that can be interpreted to urge them to war;

* they have no defense to the force, and threat of force, exerted against them by terrorists, and are given one choice: join or be targets;

* they generally are envious of, and share a common hatred of, the symbol of civilization, the United States;

* they correctly believe that the U.S. does not understand their culture, their religion, their way of life;

* they perceive any presence by the U.S. in their country as unwanted "occupation".

All of the above goes back thousands of years. We are incapable of changing it. If those countries are to change, they must be changed by themselves, from within.

We have no need to have forces there...we can do little and all will likely be reversed the day we leave. And they are not a threat to us while they are in their countries, and not in our country. We have the military might, particularly air power and advanced technological weaponry, and nuclear weapons, that can contest and be victorious against any nation on the face of the globe. Our enemies see talk as weakness, and weakness as an opportunity for aggression. We should make it crystal clear to ally and foe alike that we will do whatever needs to be done to protect the safety of the American people. Whatever.

To our allies we say: "Join with us to preserve civilization, or we will, and can, do it alone".

To our enemies we say: "Make a move against us and we will use every weapon at our command to destroy you...we will not respond to your violence 'two times over' or 'ten times over'...we will annihilate you, we will destroy your headquarters, your airports and seaports, your industrial plants, your weapons caches...and it will all be done from the air, not one American soldier will set foot on the ground, and, no, we do not recognize any responsibility to later rebuild what we have destroyed...many innocent people will die, you will have killed them...we do not accept the 'nobility' of our innocent people dying so that innocent people elsewhere may live...test us at your peril".

To our people we say: "We will stop engaging our enemies fighting their battles, on their terms...we will stop the unnecessary loss of lives in our Armed Forces and the wasting of billions of our dollars in foreign wars that do not directly serve our security...and with unbounded commitment, we will forever preserve the blessings of the American way of life."