President Bush urged Americans last night to help meet the "great national challenge" of eradicating terrorism and cherish the national unity and sense of purpose that emerged from the ashes of September 11th terror strikes.
"Our great national challenge is to hunt down the terrorists and strengthen our protections against future attacks; our great national opportunity is to preserve the good that has resulted," he said in a prime-time address. Nearly two months after the attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center, Mr Bush urged a US public left jittery by warnings of renewed threats and a criminal anthrax outbreak to return to their normal lives but stay vigilant.
"We are a different country than we were on September 10th: sadder and less innocent; stronger and more united; and in the face of ongoing threats, determined and more courageous," he declared. "We have entered a new era. This new era requires new responsibilities - both for the government and for our people," he told a crowd of about 5,000 people in the Georgia World Congress Center in Atlanta. The speech was seen as a rallying cry to the American people.
The president had little new progress to offer in the search for those responsible for a wave of anthrax-laced letters. Four people have died in the wake of the bio-terrorism assault, out of 17 infected, he noted.