W’s Rough Draft
[The following text was reportedly obtained through
unauthorized access to President George W. Bush’s desktop
computer in the Oval Office. White House officials dismiss
the text and insist that the security of the presidential
hard drive cannot be compromised. Dated 9/11/01 and headed
“W’s Rough Draft” as it proliferated through cyberspace, the
text cannot be authenticated, and in any case varies greatly
from the address that President Bush delivered before
Congress on the evening of September 20. MF]
Tuesday, September 11, 2001, will forevermore be
remembered with horror. The crimes committed on that day
against the people of the United States of America and
indeed against all the world have sickened us, enraged us,
summoned us to immediate and unwavering action. On that day
the human imagination stood dumbstruck before a new form of
depravity.
We condemn this crime and all those responsible, those
who would blaspheme the Creator by claiming divine sanction
for murder and hatred. We know that all civilized nations —
their people and their leaders — will join the American
people in our demand for swift justice and the security of
all who love peace and honor humanity.
We will employ every means at our disposal to seek out,
apprehend, try, and punish all of those responsible for this
crime. We hope that this will be accomplished through
diplomacy, law, respect for legitimate authority, and appeal
to both the common good and the higher good. If need be, we
will employ our economic and, yes, military might. Nothing
will hinder our resolve. We will not be hampered by our
grief, though our grief is immense, or our rage, though our
rage is immeasurable. Justice will be done.
For the remainder of my term as President of the United
States, I will resist the counsel of those who would have me
use this grave national emergency as an occasion to pursue
selfish or partisan ends. I will do nothing to enflame
further the passions of those who would have our military
strike blindly, risking the lives of people as innocent as
ourselves, and I will not countenance the scapegoating of
honest citizens of any nation, especially the United States
of America. I will never utter the word “war” to dignify the
criminals who perpetrated this infamy. Nothing will deter
our mission to exact justice.
I will pursue this goal untiringly. I will honor my oath
of office and my campaign pledge to restore the honor and
dignity of that office. On the final day of my term as your
president, immediately following my successor’s swearing-in,
I will reveal all I know of the conspiracy that so wrongly
delivered to me the office of the Presidency and then remand
myself to the custody of United States marshals to face the
charges of treason that will, nay, must be made against
those who would subvert American democracy. My conscience will not
permit me to continue pretending to an office for which I am
not qualified and which I obtained by fraudulent means.
I am deeply humbled by the magnitude of the challenge
before our nation. In this hour when America must be brave,
resolute, unrelenting, and wise, our beloved nation cries
out for leadership that is quite beyond anything I have
hitherto been able to provide.
But let us now face the great challenge before our nation
with courage, strength, wisdom, and the unwavering knowledge
that our cause is just.
Thank you. God bless the United States of America.
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