Bush vows no let-up in war-on-terror
Foreign Desk Report

NORFOLK (Virginia)—President George W. Bush on Friday called Iran and Syria “outlaw regimes” and said countries that support terrorism are just as guilty of murder as those who commit the violence. “We’re determined to deny radical groups the support and sanctuary of outlaw regimes. State sponsors like Syria and Iran have a long history of collaboration with terrorists and they deserve no patience from the victims of terror,” Bush said. During the president’s speech on terrorism, a heckler yelled: “Mr. President, what is terrorism? What is terrorism? Step down now.” The man was escorted out and others in the audience booed the heckler. The United States has repeatedly expressed concern over Iran and its nuclear energy program, which it suspects could be a cover for nuclear weapons development. Iran insists the program is intended for civilian electricity generation.
And Western countries condemned recent comments by Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad calling for Israel to be wiped off the map. Last year, the United States and its allies, in fighting proliferation of deadly weapons, “have stopped more than a dozen shipments of suspected weapons technology including equipment for Iran’s ballistic missile program,” Bush said. “This progress has reduced the danger to free nations, but it has not removed it,” he said. “Evil men who want to use horrendous weapons against us are working in deadly earnest to gain them. And we are working urgently to keep weapons of mass murder out of the hands of the fanatics,” Bush said.