regardless of their goals and no matter where they operate.

For our terrorist enemies, violence is not only justified, it is
necessary and even glorified--judged the only means to achieve a world
vision darkened by hate, fear, and oppression. They use suicide
bombings, beheadings, and other atrocities against innocent people as a
means to promote their creed. Our enemy's demonstrated indifference to
human life and desire to inflict catastrophic damage on the United
States and its friends and allies around the world have fueled their
desire for weapons of mass destruction. We cannot permit the world's
most dangerous terrorists and their regime sponsors to threaten us with
the world's most destructive weapons.

For the enemy, there is no peaceful coexistence with those who do not
subscribe to their distorted and violent view of the world. They accept
no dissent and tolerate no alternative points of view. Ultimately, the
terrorist enemy we face threatens global peace, international security
and prosperity, the rising tide of democracy, and the right of all
people to live without fear of indiscriminate violence.

+Strategic Vision for the War on Terror+

From the beginning, the War on Terror has been both a battle of arms
and a battle of ideas--a fight against the terrorists and their
murderous ideology. In the short run, the fight involves the
application of all instruments of national power and influence to kill
or capture the terrorists; deny them safehaven and control of any
nation; prevent them from gaining access to WMD; render potential
terrorist targets less attractive by strengthening security; and cut
off their sources of funding and other resources they need to operate
and survive. In the long run, winning the War on Terror means winning
the battle of ideas. Ideas can transform the embittered and
disillusioned either into murderers willing to kill innocents, or into
free peoples living harmoniously in a diverse society.

The battle of ideas helps to define the strategic intent of our
National Strategy for Combating Terrorism. The United States will
continue to lead an expansive international effort in pursuit of a
two-pronged vision:

--The defeat of violent extremism as a threat to our way of life as a
free and open society; and

--The creation of a global environment inhospitable to violent
extremists and all who support them.

+Strategy for Winning the War on Terror+

+_Long-term approa