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Thursday, April 08, 2004
Condolezza Rice
'This Country Simply Was not on War Footing'
Rice went through a list of events where the United States or Americans were targeted: the 1983 attacks on the Marine barracks in Lebanon, the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center and the attack on the USS Cole in 2000.
"The terrorist threat to our nation did not emerge on Sept. 11, 2001. Long before that day, radical, freedom-hating terrorists declared war on America and on the civilized world," Rice said.
"The terrorists were at war with us, but we were not yet at war with them. For more than 20 years, the terrorist threat gathered and Americans' response across several administrations of both parties was insufficient."
But that period of inaction has halted, Rice said.
Prior to Sept. 11, "this country simply was not on war footing," she said. "Since then, America has been at war. And under President Bush's leadership, we will remain at war until the terrorist threat to our nation has ended."
4/08/2004 09:00:00 AM by Todd Bacon
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