Terrorism is "a mortal danger to all humanity," Bush said at Bolling Air Force Base. He added that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States revealed the terrorists' destructive intent for the United States.

The terrorists would like to strike America again, Bush said. Yet, the United States will continue confronting terrorism and "will not rest or tire until the war on terror is won," he said.

Bush said terrorists also have attacked and killed innocents in Bali, Indonesia; London; Casablanca, Morocco; Baghdad; Istanbul, Turkey; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and elsewhere. The terrorists' goals "are evil, but not insane," he said.

Islamic radicals want to dominate the world, and they embrace an ideology that exploits Islam to serve a violent, political vision, Bush said.

Bush said the terrorists employ subversion and insurgency as part of their plan to establish "a totalitarian empire" that denies all political and religious freedom. The Islamic radicals twist the concept of jihad, or holy war, to call for the murder of Hindus, Christians, Jews, and other Muslims -- anyone who does not share their world view, Bush said. Terrorist networks like al Qaeda spread propaganda while financing splinter groups and assisting them to devise new, brutal attacks.

Regional terrorist groups often allied with al Qaeda operate in the Philippines; Somalia; Pakistan; Russia's separatist Chechnya region; Kashmir, the restive region along the border between India and Pakistan; and Algeria, Bush said.

Regardless of where they operate, the Islamic extremist groups have pledged to end Western and American influence in the broader Middle East, Bush said. Some terror leaders think America can be coerced into abandoning its interests in the Middle East, including Iraq, he said.

"The terrorists regard Iraq as the central front in their war against humanity," Bush said. Accordingly, Americans must recognize that Iraq "is the central front in our war on terror," he said.

Terrorist leaders want to expel U.S. and allied troops from Iraq, topple the new Iraqi government, and establish a radical Islamic empire "that spans from Spain to Indonesia," Bush said.

The terrorists' ruthless blueprint for global domination shouldn't be dismissed, because they are "utterly committed" to achieving their goals, Bush said. "We must stop them before their crimes can multiply," he said.

Bush said Islamic radicals recruit disillusioned young men and women to do their bidding. Terrorist ideology relies on a victim mentality that blames the West or Jews for complex economic and social problems that exist in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world, he said.

The terrorists also believe the only way that change can be achieved is through violence, Bush said.

He said there's only one effective response in confronting such an enemy. "We will never back down, never give in, and never accept anything less than complete victory" over terrorism, he said.

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