Iran Focus
Speaking at a luncheon at the Bolling Air Force Base Officers Club in the U.S. capital, Bush said that the influence of Islamic radicalism was magnified by helpers and enablers such as the two states.
Islamic radicals were sheltered by authoritarian regimes — allies of convenience like Syria and Iran — that share the goal of hurting America and moderate Muslim governments, and use terrorist propaganda to blame their own failures on the West, on America, and on the Jews, Bush said.
The U.S. President said that his administration was determined to deny radical groups the support and sanctuary of outlaw regimes. State sponsors like Syria and Iran have a long history of collaboration with terrorists, and they deserve no patience from the victims of terror.
The United States makes no distinction between those who commit acts of terror and those who support and harbour them — because they are equally guilty of murder, Bush said, adding, Any government that chooses to be an ally of terror has chosen to be an enemy of civilisation, and the civilized world must hold those regimes to account.
Touching on Tehrans nuclear program, the U.S. President said that Washington had taken the initiative to hinder Irans atomic efforts. In the last year, America and our partners in the Proliferation Security Initiative have stopped more than a dozen shipments of suspected weapons technology, including equipment for Iran’s ballistic missile program.
He said that the international effort had reduced the danger to free nations, but it has not removed it. Evil men who want to use horrendous weapons against us are working in deadly earnest to gain them. And we’re working urgently to keep weapons of mass murder out of the hands of those fanatics.
