WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 (UPI) -- U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has warned against underestimating the terrorism threat, saying extremists want to rule the world.
Laying out broad strategies at a National Press Club speech for what the Bush administration calls the "long war," Rumsfeld likened al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden to Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin, reports The Washington Post.
Rumsfeld warned that liberty is at stake and asked Americans not to give in on the battle of wills that could stretch for years, the newspaper said.
"Compelled by a militant ideology that celebrates murder and suicide with no territory to defend, with little to lose, they will either succeed in changing our way of life, or we will succeed in changing theirs," Rumsfeld said.
The speech precedes the release of Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review (QDR), outlining plans for how the U.S. military will address major security challenges 20 years into the future.
Rumsfeld stressed three strategies in the war which include preventing terrorists from obtaining weapons of mass destruction, defending the U.S. homeland and helping allies fight terrorism.
