Bush defends domestic security measures, says US safer since 9/11

Sep 7, 2006, 15:59 GMT

Washington - US President George W Bush on Thursday defended security measures implemented to protect the US from terrorist attacks, saying that 'America is safer' since September 11, 2001.

'The war on terror is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century, and we're only in the opening stages,' Bush said in a speech in Atlanta, Georgia - the fourth in a series of speeches in the run-up to the fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks.

Bush defended a number of domestic initiatives that have caused controversy over the last five years, including the Patriot Act and the domestic surveillance programme, which allowed authorities to listen to telephone conversations between residents in the US and suspected terrorists abroad.

'The terrorist surveillance programme ... helps protect Americans, so we can learn about threats like the 9/11 plot before it's too late,' Bush said.

The US president also denied that the war in Iraq had diverted resources and time from the central fight against terror, saying it was necessary for the US to launch offensive as well as defensive measures to protect the country.

'Some say Iraq is a diversion from the war on terror. But the terrorists disagree,' Bush said. 'It is the central battlefield where the war on terror will be decided.'

'Five years after 9/11, America is safer, and America is winning the war on terror,' Bush said.