Military

DATE=12/11/01

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

NUMBER=2-284164

TITLE=BUSH / MILITARY (L)

BYLINE=SCOTT STEARNS

DATELINE=WHITE HOUSE

CONTENT:

VOICED AT:

INTRO: President Bush says the war on terrorism requires a "new way of thinking" for U-S armed forces. VOA's Scott Stearns reports Mr. Bush spoke to military cadets Tuesday, three-months to the day after the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

TEXT: While the threats to America have changed since the terrorist attacks three months ago, President Bush says the need for victory has not.

/// BUSH ACT ///

An illusion of immunity was shattered. A far-away evil became a present danger. And a great cause became clear: we will fight terror and those who sponsor it to save our children from a future of fear.

/// END ACT ///

The President spoke Tuesday to students at The Citadel, a private-military college in the state of South Carolina. He said winning this war against terrorism means defeating a different kind of enemy.

/// SECOND BUSH ACT ///

To win this war we have to think differently. The enemy who appeared on September the 11th seeks to evade our strength and constantly searches for our weaknesses. So America is required once again to change the way our military thinks and fights.

/// END ACT ///

President Bush said this new way of thinking includes greater use of military technology with forward troops calling-in precision air strikes on enemy targets. Combining un-manned aerial reconnaissance with the knowledge of local fighters on the ground, Mr. Bush says U-S troops in Afghanistan are learning more about military technology than they could in years of controlled tests.

The President vowed to rebuild America's network of intelligence agents by promising to attract the best people with what he called "the training they need and the compensation they deserve." Mr. Bush said it is also time to move ahead with plans for a controversial missile defense system to protect the country from terrorists seeking weapons of mass destruction.

/// REST OPT ///

/// BUSH ACT ///

Our enemies seek every chance and every means to do harm to our country, our forces, and our friends. And we will not permit it. Suppose the Taleban and the terrorists had been able to strike America or important allies with a ballistic misled. Our coalition would have become fragile, the stakes in our war much, much higher.

/// END ACT ///

President Bush says he planned to make these changes when he came to office less than one year ago. Now, he says, there is no time to lose.

/// BUSH ACT ///

What's different today is our sense of urgency, the need to build this future force while fighting a present war. It's like overhauling a car engine while you are going at 80 miles-per-hour. Yet we have no other choice. Our military has a new and essential mission. For states that support terror, it's not enough that the consequences be costly. They must be devastating

/// END ACT ///

President Bush says there is no negotiating with the terrorists. All they want is power, he said, and they must be defeated. (SIGNED)

NEB/SS/RH