President Bush's Charleston AFB Speech

President Bush should give a speech like this every month. What follows below is a subset of his full speech he gave at Charleston Airforce Base July 24:

Our top commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, has said that Al-Qaeda is public enemy number one in Iraq. Fellow citizens, these people have sworn allegiance to the man who ordered the death of nearly 3,000 people on our soil. Al-Qaeda is public enemy number one for the Iraqi people. Al-Qaeda is public enemy number one for the American people, and that is why for the security of our country, we will stay on the hunt, we will deny them safe haven, and we will defeat them where they have made their stand.

Some note that Al-Qaeda in Iraq did not exist until the US invasion and argue that it is a problem of our own making. The argument follows the flawed logic that terrorism is caused by American actions.

Iraq's not the reason that the terrorists are at war with us.

We were not in Iraq when the terrorists bombed the World Trade Center in 1993.

We were not in Iraq when they attacked our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.

We were not in Iraq when they attacked the USS Cole in 2000, and we were not in Iraq on September the 11th, 2001. Our action to remove Saddam Hussein did not start the terrorist violence. An American withdrawal from Iraq would not end it.

Our troops are now working to replicate the success in Anbar and other parts of the country. Our brave men and women are taking risks, and they're showing courage, and we're making progress for the security of our citizens and the peace of the world. We must give General Petraeus and his troops the time and the resources they need so they can defeat Al-Qaeda in Iraq.

President Bush could have added:

We were not in Iraq when Barbary pirates who happened to be Militant Jihadists attacked our American ships back in colonial days.

The Barbary pirates were referenced in the Marine hymn with this line: "To the shores of Tripoli." There were two Barbary Wars back then. Here's the interesting part. The Americans asked Adja why his government was hostile to American ships, even though there had been no provocation. The ambassador's response was reported to the Continental Congress:

"That it was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as Prisoners, and that every Musselman [Muslim] who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise."

Does that quote above sound familiar?

Actually, the militant Jihadists can be traced back further. The main reason the Knights of Templar were created was to protect Christians from militant Muslims. The Christians were making a pilgrimage to Jerusalem at the time when they were being attacked.