NSA Hadley on the War on Terrorism

He didn't take the easy way

President has been candid about the challenges of war on terrorism.

By Stephen J. Hadley

After our nation was attacked on 9/11, President Bush made clear that America had a choice — to root out the terrorists, or wait to be attacked again. He decided that to protect the American people, our nation must go on the offense and destroy the terror networks.

The president has chosen a difficult path, and he has been honest with the American people about the challenges. He has said the enemy we face is determined and ruthless. He has been blunt about intelligence failures and stains on our national honor such as the Abu Ghraib facility in Iraq. He has highlighted the courage of our men and women in uniform who have served — and sacrificed — for freedom. He has called this war a long struggle, and a generational conflict.

The president is fully engaged in leading this long war. He is well aware of both the good news and the bad. He reviews intelligence reports. He reads stories in the news media. He meets with families of the fallen.

Our strategy is far from “stay the course.” The president continually challenges all of us to learn from experience, adapt to change and improve our performance. In Iraq, we have modified our approach to training the Iraqi army so Iraqi soldiers can be more effective in defeating terrorists and insurgents. We have redoubled our efforts to train Iraqi police so that they can earn the confidence of all the Iraqi people. We have sought new approaches to reconstruction and economic development.

Yet our objective has not changed. We will fight alongside the Iraqi people to win this war. We will refuse to surrender to the terrorists who view Iraq as the central front in their war against their fellow Muslims and the entire free world. We are determined to deny them a platform from which to launch attacks on America and our allies.

The president has said this war will not be dictated by domestic politics. A drawdown of our troops in Iraq right before U.S. elections in November would be the politically expedient thing to do. But our military commanders believe it would be the wrong thing to do. Based on their advice, we have actually increased our troops in Iraq.

The president will continue to speak directly and candidly to the American people — about this war, about the enemy we face, and about why we can and must see this war through to victory.

Stephen J. Hadley is the National Security adviser.