Presidential Debate

[Chaerophon]

Wrong speech...

Transcript of President Bush's address to a joint session of Congress on Thursday night, September 20, 2001.

...Americans are asking:  How will we fight and win this war?  We will direct every resource at our command -- every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence, and every necessary weapon of war -- to the disruption and to the defeat of the global terror network.

This war will not be like the war against Iraq a decade ago, with a decisive liberation of territory and a swift conclusion.  It will not look like the air war above Kosovo two years ago, where no ground troops were used and not a single American was lost in combat.

Our response involves far more than instant retaliation and isolated strikes.  Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have ever seen.  It may include dramatic strikes, visible on TV, and covert operations, secret even in success.  We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place, until there is no refuge or no rest.  And we will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism.  Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. (Applause.) 

From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime....

Ambiguous enough for you? Is Canada supporting the terrorists by not endorsing the war in Iraq? France? Germany? Is not being "with" the US in this instance, then, an act that "supports" terrorism? Let's not forget that all those many moons ago, before the many strategical shifts in rhetoric, Iraq was invaded as a part of the war on terror. If we refuse to deport Canadian citizens to Guatanamo, are we then 'supporting terrorism'? Who are we allowed to trade with? Do we have to ask permission?

It was a very deliberate choice of words and its coercive intentions were quite clear.