Bush: Al-Qaida plots have been thwarted
WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. and allied forces have stopped at least three al-Qaida plots for attacks in the United States since Sept. 11, 2001, President Bush said.
Bush, speaking in Washington Thursday, said the United States had partners "in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Asia and beyond" in the war on terror and that there have been instances in which attempted attacks were thwarted.
"Overall the United States and our partners have disrupted at least 10 serious al-Qaida terrorist plots since September 11, including three al-Qaida plots to attack inside the United States. We stopped at least five more al-Qaida efforts to case targets in the United States or infiltrate operatives into our country," the president said.
However, Bush said while "the enemy is wounded but the enemy is still capable of global operations.
"Our commitment is clear," Bush said. "We will not relent until the organized international terror networks are exposed and broken and their leaders held to account for their acts of murder."
Bush vows U.S. stance against terrorism
WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- President Bush Thursday vowed again that the United States would not "tire or rest until the war on terror is won."
In what the White House characterized as major speech on the war on terrorism, Bush said groups such as al-Qaida have made Iraq the "central front" in their "war on humanity," and so he considers Iraq the central front on the war on terror.
The president recalled several terror attacks, starting with the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States and continuing through bombings in London and Bali. Bush said the acts may seem random but "the attacks serve a clear and focused ideology, a set of beliefs with goals that are evil."
He said those carrying out such attacks seek to fashion an empire, while those who are fighting terrorism are battling "a global campaign of fear with a global campaign of freedom and once again we will see freedom's victory."
"We will confront this mortal danger to all humanity," he said. "We will not tire or rest until the war on terror is won."
Bush made the remarks before the National Endowment for Democracy in Washington.
Blair vows troops will remain in Iraq
LONDON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- British Prime Minister Tony Blair told Iraqi president Jalal Talabani in London Thursday British troops will remain in Iraq as long as necessary.
In his first official visit to Europe since becoming Iraq's president in April, Talabani thanked Blair and British troops for their role in overcoming the regime of Saddam Hussein. He described the country under Saddam as "a concentration camp above ground and a mass grave beneath it."
With regard to reports Wednesday that Iran was helping arm Iraqi insurgents, Blair said devices that killed eight British troops last summer looked like those used by Iran, but stressed "we cannot be sure," the BBC said.
Blair said Britain would "not be intimidated" into giving up its demand that Iran abandon its nuclear program, The Guardian reported.
The talks came ahead of next week's referendum on a new Iraqi constitution, which will be followed by new elections.
Bush: Terror attacks are only to 'enslave'
WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- President Bush claims terror attacks that target U.S. interests and allies are not an answer to previous perceived wrongs but an attempt to "enslave."
Bush, speaking Thursday in Washington, said extremists have issued a series of reasons for attacks against the United States, including the war in Iraq, but, he pointed out, the United States wasn't in Iraq on Sept. 11, 2001.
"Over the years, these extremists have used a litany of excuses for violence: the Israeli presence on the West Bank or the U.S. military presence in Saudi Arabia or the defeat of the Taliban or the Crusades of a thousand years ago," Bush said.
"In fact, we're not facing a set of grievances that can be soothed and addressed. We're facing a radical ideology with inalterable objectives to enslave whole nations and intimidate the world. No act of ours invited the rage of the killers, and no concession, bribe or act of appeasement would change or limit their plans for murder. On the contrary, they target nations whose behavior they believe they can change through violence."
Leaders meet to forge German coalition
BERLIN, Oct. 6 (UPI) -- German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder met Thursday with conservative rival Angela Merkel to determine how a governing coalition will be structured.
Neither Schroeder's Social Democrats nor Merkel's Christian Democrats secured a majority in the Sept. 18 voting, although Merkel's party took 226 seats in the Bundestag to Schroeder's 222.
After a 2 1/2-hour talk Wednesday, the two rivals said Thursday's meeting could resolve "personnel issues," the BBC said.
"We have a strong basis for a grand coalition," Schroeder said, referring to an arrangement where the two main rival parties would govern without needing to call on three smaller parties for support.
The Free Democrats control 61 seats, the Left Party 54, and the Green Party 51.
Public pressure on the two parties to resolve the deadlock has been mounting, with 71-year-old Berlin resident Achim Hassmann telling The Times of London: "The whole world must be laughing at Germany. We've never had this situation before."
