"And then on September the 11th, the country got attacked. A vicious attack by brutal killers that affected the nation's psychology. It affected how I view the world, by the way. When we see gathering threats, the country now must take them very seriously. We can't let threats become imminent. We can't trust madmen with the security of the American people."
GW Bush, Feb. 16, 2004
"We started to come out of the recession and then the enemy hit us. And that hurt. It hurt a lot. It hurt our economy, of course, but it also hurt our national psychology, because we thought oceans could protect us from harm. It caused me to look at the world in different ways. It meant I couldn't look at a threat and hope it would go away. And when I saw a threat, that we couldn't take the goodwill of madmen and dictators, that my most solemn duty is to protect the American people. So when we saw gathering threats, we had to deal with them. That's what September the 11th said."
GW Bush, Jul. 18, 2002
"Whether in the Balkans or in Afghanistan, Polish and American soldiers cooperate everywhere where the peace is threatened and human rights are violated. Together we have undertaken a decisive fight against global terror. We shall not allow madmen to threaten our values."
Bush, Washington, D.C., Sep. 5, 2006
I'll explain the strategy we're pursuing to protect America, by defeating the terrorists on the battlefield, and defeating their hateful ideology in the battle of ideas. The terrorists who attacked us on September the 11th, 2001, are men without conscience -- but they're not madmen. They kill in the name of a clear and focused ideology, a set of beliefs that are evil, but not insane.
DOUG
But at least the mad/not mad people are not unrelenting...
It's important to have members of the United States Senate who understand the call of history and are willing to stand strong in the face of an enemy who is relenting.
-- Bush, Salt Lake City, Utah, Aug. 31, 2006
