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Bush urges Americans to meet national challenge

US President George W. Bush acknowledges applause at the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Bush urged US citizens to help meet the `great national challenge' of eradicating terrorism and cherish the national unity and sense of purpose that emerged from the ashes of Sept. 11 terror strikes. PHOTO: AFP

US President George W. Bush urged Americans to help meet the "great national challenge" of defeating terrorism and cherish the national unity and sense of purpose that emerged from the ashes of the Sept. 11 terror strikes.

"Our great national challenge is to hunt down the terrorists and strengthen our protections against future attacks; our great national opportunity is to preserve forever the good that has resulted," the president said late Thursday.

Bush urged a US public jittery from warnings of persistent threats and a criminal anthrax outbreak to return to their normal lives but stay vigilant -- nearly two months after the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center that left around 5,000 lives dead and missing.

"We are a different country that we were on September 10th: sadder and less innocent; stronger and more united; and in the face of ongoing threats, determined and more courageous," he declared during a day trip here.

He said the US government was doing its utmost to thwart new attacks and called for the creation of a new civil defense force, modeled on volunteer fire departments, to respond to local emergencies when officials are stretched thin.

"We have entered a new era. This new era requires new responsibilities -- both for the government and for our people," he told a rowdily supportive crowd of about 5,000 people crammed into the Georgia World Congress Center.

Tributes to police and firefighters, teachers, the US military, health care workers, and even the postal service drew applause, cheers, flag-waving and standing ovations.

One senator said the speech had "some of the qualities of a pep rally."

But the president had little new progress to offer in the search for those responsible for a wave of anthrax-laced letters. Four people have died in the wake of the bioterrorism assault, and more than a dozen others have been infected.

"We do not know whether this attack came from the same terrorists, we don't know the origin of the anthrax -- but whoever did this unprecedented and uncivilized act is a terrorist," he said.

He also underlined that US$40 billion in additional budget to meet costs incurred by the Sept. 11 attacks was "ample" to meet US homeland security and defense needs.
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