NewsMax.com Wires
Saturday, Jan. 17, 2004

In a major address to the Los Angeles World Affairs Council, Cheney devoted a good portion of his significant speech to a grim picture of the war on terrorism and the new kind of mobilization he said it demanded.

Sounding a strident alarm about the increasing prospects of a major new terrorist attack and the extraordinary responses that are required, the vice president suggested that only an administration of proven ability could manage the dramatic overhaul necessary for the nation's security apparatus:

"One of the legacies of this administration will be some of the most sweeping changes in our military, and our national security strategy as it relates to the military and force structure, and how we're based, and how we used it in the last 50 or 60 years, probably since World War II. I think the changes are that dramatic."

Cheney added that the administration was planning to expand the military into even more overseas bases so the United States could wage war quickly around the globe:

"Scattered in more than 50 nations, the al-Qaeda network and other terrorist groups constitute an enemy unlike any other that we have ever faced," he said. "And as our intelligence shows, the terrorists continue plotting to kill on an ever-larger scale, including here in the United States."

Cheney provided no specifics, saying only that the network was a priority and confronted the United States with its gravest threat:

"Instead of losing thousands of lives, we might lose tens or even hundreds of thousands of lives as the result of a single attack, or a set of coordinated attacks," Cheney said.

While polls show that many Americans support the president's aggressive war on terrorism, an expert at the U.S. Army War College, Jeffrey Record, recently released a report that concluded the war in Iraq might have set back American efforts to stop terrorists by diverting precious resources to a battle that will do little to prevent new attacks.

Record concluded that the war on terrorism "lacks strategic clarity, embraces unrealistic objectives and may not be sustainable over the long haul."

In his speech, Cheney compared the current crisis to the challenges faced by President Harry Truman at the beginning of the Cold War, adding that Bush – like Truman – was establishing a new structure for a new long-term war and spreading the military into new areas of the globe.

"On September 11, 2001, our nation made a fundamental commitment that will take many years to see through," Cheney said.

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Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
Al-Qaeda
Bush Administration
War on Terrorism