Uniting the World Against Terrorism 

Day 10 (September 20th, 2001)




Today British Prime Minister Tony Blair visited the devastation in New York with his wife, then visited Washington D.C. for a meeting and dinner with President Bush at the White House. Blair has pledged Britain’s support for America in the war on terrorism stating that, ‘America stood by us during the Blitz, and now we stand by America.’ Over 80 nations have lost nationals, tragically Great Britain has lost over 200 of it’s citizens in the terrorist attacks.

Mr. Blair, First Lady Laura Bush and Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge sat together as the President gave his address to the full Congress and the nation…

President Bush spoke to a united Congress this evening, receiving several ovations by Congress and watched by millions of American’s across the country. Everywhere people paused to see what the President had to say, stores like Best Buy and Good Guys had crowds in front of every television in the store, the nation listened in their homes or at work. American’s found strength and encouragement, and we now have more information about "the faceless cowards.." that attacked us, the new war we are in, and the security work ahead.

The President described the sole reason why the terrorists want our destruction; they hate our freedom: "Afghanistan’s people have been brutalized — many are starving and many have fled. Women are not allowed to attend school. You can be jailed for owning a television. Religion can be practiced only as their leaders dictate. A man can be jailed in Afghanistan if his beard is not long enough." (Full Text)

President Bush embraces Senator Tom Daschle after giving his speech to Congress. Full Text of Speech

The President is opening a new cabinet office to track and destroy terrorism where we work and live –to protect our safety and liberty. The new cabinet position was given to Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge and has been appropriately named the Office of Homeland Security. Mayor Giuliani, said that the President couldn’t have picked anyone better to run the office. In regards to the president’s speech Giuliani said "the …speech was very patriotic, explained what we are facing as to how different this war is going to be than what we had been through in the past…. I am very very proud to be an American and very glad, and I thank God that George W. Bush is our President."

Governor Pataki too had encouraging words: "It was a forceful speech by a strong President, rallying a strong country. It was… effective. He made a brilliant distinction between Islam and fundamentalist radicals that we are fighting in this new crusade for freedom ..and tolerance at a very critical time."