The work we are in is not easy; yet it is essential. The failure of democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq will condemn every advocate of freedom in those two countries to prison or death, and would extinguish the democratic hopes of millions in the Middle East. The failure of democracy in those two countries would provide new basis for the terrorist network and embolden terrorists and their allies around the world. The failure of democracy in those two countries would convince terrorists that America backs down under attack, and more attacks on America would surely follow.
The terrorists cite the examples of Beirut and Somalia as evidence that America can be made to run. Five years ago one of the terrorists said that an attack could make America retreat in less than 24 hours. The terrorists are mistaken. The United States will complete our work in Iraq and in Afghanistan. Democracy in those two countries will succeed. And that success will be a great milestone in the history of liberty. A democratic revolution that has reached across the globe will finally take root in the Middle East. The stagnation and isolation and anger of that region will give way to progress and opportunity. America and the world will be safer from catastrophic violence because terror is not the tool of the free.
Address by President Bush, November 11th 2003
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