IHT : Bush to bring diplomats from countries targeted by terrorists to hear his next anti-terror speech

Bush to bring diplomats from countries targeted by terrorists to hear his next anti-terror speech

The Associated Press | September 1, 2006

WASHINGTON The Bush administration is inviting diplomats from countries that have suffered terror attacks to sit in on President George W. Bush's next anti-terror speech, a ploy to emphasize the global nature of terrorism.

Bush often ticks off a list of attacks from recent years, such as those in London, Madrid, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, to demonstrate a need for world unity against Islamic militants who the administration is emphasizing share a purpose if not an organization.

In a speech on Thursday that launched a new offensive to build support for the Iraq war and for Republicans in November's U.S. elections, Bush said disparate factions of terrorists belong under the same umbrella, even though many terrorism experts do not agree. The president included under that large tent Sunnis who swear allegiance to al-Qaida, Shiite adherents to groups such as Hezbollah, and so-called "homegrown" terrorists with local grievances.

Speaking to former U.S. soldiers at a convention, Bush said the global war against these terrorists, whom he said share "the rigid conviction that free societies are a threat to their twisted view of Islam," is today's successor to last century's fights against Nazism, fascism and communism.

On Tuesday, the president plans to expand on this description of the enemy America faces, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. The speech is being delivered to the Military Officers Association of America. Members of the diplomatic corps who represent countries that have been attacked will be there as well, she said.

Bush will describe how these Islamic extremists think, what they have said about their aims and why the world should take them seriously, Perino said.

The speech is to be the second in Bush's latest round of addresses on Iraq and the war on terror. This round is to culminate in remarks on Sept. 19 before the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

Other speeches are expected to focus on successes and setbacks in the fight against terror and on the Bush administration's war-fighting strategy.