Bush Vows Firm ‘Justice,’ Lists Demands to Taliban

President Bush, promising that “justice will be done” to the authors of last week’s attacks on New York and the Pentagon, ordered Afghanistan’s Islamic government Thursday to hand over every terrorist within its borders--or face destruction.

Asking Americans to steel themselves for a long and costly “war on terror,” Bush told a joint session of Congress: “Freedom and fear are at war. . . . Our nation--this generation--will lift a dark threat of violence from our people and our future. We will rally the world to this effort by our efforts and by our courage. We will not tire, we will not falter, and we will not fail.”

Bush said the evidence gathered by U.S. investigators “all points to” the Al Qaeda organization led by Saudi terrorist Osama bin Laden as the perpetrator of the suicide hijackings that killed an estimated 6,566 people on Sept. 11.

For the first time, he listed the specific demands that the United States is making of Afghanistan’s radical Taliban regime, which has provided Bin Laden his base of operations and formed a close alliance with his group:

* “Deliver to United States authorities all the leaders of Al Qaeda who hide in your land.”

* “Release all foreign nationals--including American citizens--you have unjustly imprisoned.” Two Americans are among eight foreign aid workers imprisoned in Afghanistan charged with preaching Christian beliefs to Muslims.

* “Close immediately and permanently every terrorist training camp in Afghanistan and hand over every terrorist, and every person in their support structure, to appropriate authorities.”

* “Give the United States full access to terrorist training camps, so we can make sure they are no longer operating.”

Those demands go far beyond any concessions that the Taliban have agreed to consider and seem unlikely to draw a positive response. On Thursday, Afghanistan’s Islamic leaders asked their government to “persuade” Bin Laden to leave the country, but U.S. officials said that was not enough.

“These demands are not open to negotiation or discussion,” Bush said bluntly. “The Taliban must act and act immediately. They will hand over the terrorists, or they will share in their fate.”

The president also said he will create a new Cabinet-level position, the Office of Homeland Security, to oversee domestic defenses against terrorism. He said he will name Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Ridge, a longtime Republican ally, as its first chief.

Bush’s 34-minute speech was more than another rallying cry to a nation both grieving and angry over the attacks. More important, it was his first extended description of how he wants to conduct the war he has proposed.

He asked Americans to be both fierce and patient, and to expect casualties in the field. At the same time, he suggested that the campaign against terrorism might include more secret intelligence operations and dogged law enforcement work than conventional military battles.

“We will direct every resource at our command--every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence, every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence and every necessary weapon of war--to the disruption and defeat of the global terror network,” he said.

“Americans should not expect one battle, but a lengthy campaign, unlike any other we have seen. It may include dramatic strikes, visible on television, and covert operations, secret even in success. We will starve terrorists of funding, turn them one against another, drive them from place to place, until there is no refuge or rest.”

Bush did not give any clue how soon military action against Al Qaeda or the Taliban might begin if they do not meet his demands.

Nor did he offer detailed or concrete evidence against Bin Laden. Instead, he said simply: “Al Qaeda is to terror what the mafia is to crime.”

In the nine days since the attacks, Bush has made a series of increasingly assertive statements vowing a U.S.-led “war on terrorism” around the globe.

But until Thursday evening, he had not been precise about how the United States would wage the war: whether it would focus principally on Osama bin Laden or aim at terrorists of every stripe, and whether the United States would move quickly to attack countries it considers sponsors of terrorism, like Iraq, Syria, Sudan and Iran.

The president did not give complete answers to all of those questions in his speech, but he offered more clarity than before.

He said the United States would extend its war on terrorism beyond Al Qaeda to “every terrorist group of global reach”--making a distinction between guerrilla organizations that fight only within their own homelands and those that seek victims in other countries.

And he warned other countries that aid terrorists that they now have a stark choice to make: “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.”

Some officials had proposed carrying the war to countries that have aided terrorists until now, like Iraq and Syria, but Bush offered those governments, in effect, an amnesty--if they join the U.S. campaign.

At the White House, a few aides floated a phrase for the new policy--the “Bush Doctrine”--that seemed intended to compare the president to great foreign policy leaders of the past.

As he has since the attack, Bush wore the role of war president with unaccustomed ease. His tone was steely, but not stilted. The winks and smirks of his campaign, the occasional awkwardness of his offhand remarks, were gone.

And members of Congress from both parties responded with bipartisan roars of support--unlike the customary show at a State of the Union address, where the opposition pointedly sits on its hands during passages it dislikes.

The president asked the politicians to join in a grim struggle requiring patience, courage and sacrifice, and they accepted with more than two dozen standing ovations.

Among those in the House chamber was Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Oakland), the sole member of Congress who voted against a resolution last week authorizing Bush to use force in response to terrorism. Clutching an American flag, Lee pressed forward after the speech to shake hands with Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld.

Also present were British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who spent the day in New York and Washington pledging his nation’s support; New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani and Gov. George Pataki; and Lisa Beamer, the widow of a passenger on one of the hijacked planes.

Her husband, Todd Beamer, 32, was aboard the hijacked United Airlines Flight 93, which crashed in western Pennsylvania. Officials believe the hijackers intended to fly the plane into a target in Washington, but passengers revolted and foiled the terrorists’ plan.

Using an on-board telephone, Beamer spoke with a long-distance operator, learned of the attacks against the World Trade Center in New York, and reported that he and others were planning to act against the terrorists on board.

Lisa Beamer, who is pregnant with their third child, blinked back tears as the president praised her husband’s courage.

Not present, unusually, was Vice President Dick Cheney, who stayed in an undisclosed location as a security measure--so that an assassination attempt on Bush would not disrupt the line of presidential succession. Cheney said this week that he believes the Capitol building may have been one of the terrorists’ intended targets.

Normally, the vice president sits on the podium at a joint session, and one Cabinet member stays away in case of disaster. Tommy G. Thompson, the secretary of health and human services, was absent in that role.

Security on the scene was perhaps the tightest ever seen in Washington, with the Capitol building effectively sealed off, helicopters whirring overhead, and jet fighters patrolling high above.

Members of Congress from both parties, who have forged a remarkable wartime truce since the Sept. 11 attacks, gave the speech nearly unanimous high marks.

Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle (D-S.D.) abandoned the tradition of offering an opposition response. Instead, he and Bush embraced on the House floor.

Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), a World War II veteran, said he thought it might be “the greatest speech ever given by any president.”

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), a frequent critic of the president, said Bush “grew up overnight with this challenge.”

“I think as a speech it was a 10,” said Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.). “He put forward a battle plan. He inspired Americans.”

And Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles), another critic, said Bush “did an excellent job. It was a home run. He used the speech to prepare people for a long engagement.”

Even Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), one of the most liberal members of the House, said he liked most of the speech.

“We’re no longer embarrassed about striking out and defending ourselves,” Frank said. “America has lost its guilt.”

But he said he wasn’t sure he liked Bush’s declaration that, in this struggle, “God is not neutral.”

“We’re suffering from too many people invoking God on their side,” Frank said.

Officials said Bush’s speech was drafted principally by the president’s chief speech writer, Michael Gerson, who has written most of the texts that have elevated Bush’s sometimes-awkward language to flashes of eloquence. But the president revised the speech himself, as he often does, they said, conferring with presidential counselor Karen P. Hughes.

“He’s been frequently calling Karen to talk about what it is that he wants to say, going over drafts and revisions to the speech,” said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

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Times staff writers Edwin Chen, Faye Fiore, James Gerstenzang, Robert L. Jackson and Greg Miller contributed to this report.