Bush Sees Terrorists as ‘Heirs to Fascism’

Calling terrorists “heirs to fascism,” President Bush heaped scorn on their leaders Friday for dispatching their followers on suicide missions while they “run into caves to save their own hides.”

With the Taliban and Osama bin Laden on the run, the president all but reveled in the successes of the war on terrorism as he delivered one of his more bellicose speeches since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon--even as he reminded Americans that the Afghanistan phase is only a beginning of what could be a years-long campaign.

Commemorating the 60th anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor, Bush addressed more than 8,000 sailors and Marines and their families on the vast deck of the Enterprise, the country’s largest aircraft carrier and the first to deliver naval airstrikes against Afghanistan.

The nuclear-powered Enterprise was in the Arabian Sea on Sept. 11, bound for home as it neared the end of a six-month stint at sea. But upon learning of the attacks--from television--Capt. James A. Winnefeld Jr. turned the ship around even before being ordered to do so.

Also on the deck of “The Big E” were 25 veterans of Pearl Harbor, whom Bush greeted with a sharp salute as he mounted the stage to deliver his speech.

The president eloquently recounted some of the acts of heroism performed on that day, when 2,403 Americans died in the surprise Japanese attack. But he sought, above all, to connect Dec. 7, 1941, to Sept. 11, telling his cheering, flag-waving audience that it had been “commissioned by history” to fight what he likes to call “the first war of the 21st century.”

“We’re fighting to protect ourselves and our children from violence and fear,” Bush said. “We’re fighting for the security of our people and the success of liberty. We’re fighting against men without conscience but full of ambition to remake the world in their own brutal images. For all the reasons, we’re fighting to win, and win we will.”

The president also served notice that the war will end only on America’s terms, saying: “This struggle will not end in a truce or a treaty; it will end in victory for the United States, our friends, and for the cause of freedom.”

In describing terrorists as the heirs to fascism, Bush said their goals are virtually indistinguishable from those of the country’s World War II enemies.

“They have the same will to power, the same disdain for the individual, the same mad global ambitions. And they will be dealt with in just the same way. . . . Like all fascists, the terrorists cannot be appeased; they must be defeated.”

Bush seemed especially energized, brimming with confidence and resolve as a Navy band struck up “Hail to the Chief.”

Rep. Robert C. Scott (D-Va.), who represents a portion of Norfolk and flew here aboard Air Force One, later described Bush’s speech as “a real morale booster” and said the president was quite upbeat during the brief flight from Washington.

This clearly has been a good week for the president, with the war seeming to go well despite the deaths of three U.S. soldiers this week in a “friendly fire” incident. At home, he won a narrow, hard-fought vote Thursday as the House granted him expanded authority to negotiate trade treaties.

Nevertheless, Bush, as is his wont, counseled patience even as he boasted: “Not long ago, that regime controlled most of Afghanistan. Today they control not much more than a few caves.”

Throughout the two-month military campaign, the president has said that the counter-terrorism war with its many fronts may go on for years. He underscored that message Friday.

“We’re a long way from finished in Afghanistan,” Bush said. “Much difficult and dangerous work is yet to come. Many terrorists are still hiding in heavily fortified bunkers in very rugged territory. They’re said to be prepared for a long stay underground.

“But they’re in for a sudden change of plans because one by one, we’re going to find them, and piece by piece, we’ll tear their terrorist network apart.”

In mocking the terrorists, Bush described them as “a movement, an ideology that respects no boundary of nationality or decency.”

“They celebrate death, making a mission of murder and a sacrament of suicide,” he added. “Yet . . . for some reason, only young followers are ushered down this deadly path to paradise while terrorist leaders run into caves to save their own hides.”

Today, the president is scheduled to visit a site in rural Maryland to ceremonially dispatch the first shipment of relief supplies for Afghan children--part of a campaign he announced in October in which he urged children here to send a dollar each for the effort.

On Tuesday, exactly three months after the terrorist attacks in New York and near Washington, Bush is scheduled to deliver a military policy speech at the Citadel, the military college in South Carolina. He gave a preview here, telling the sailors and Marines: “You’ll have every resource, every weapon, every tool you need to win the long battle that lies ahead.”

To further mark the attacks, the Bush administration is encouraging a worldwide moment of commemoration at 5:46 a.m. PST, the time the first hijacked plane hit the World Trade Center.