When I was growing up it was 'Communists'. Now it's 'Terrorists'. So you always have to have somebody to fight and be afraid of so the war machine can build more bombs guns and bullets and everything.

American credibility in the war on terrorism depends on a strong stand against all terrorist acts whether committed by foe or friend.

With those attacks the terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States. And war is what they got.

The terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States - and war is what they got.

Four years ago I promised to end the war in Iraq. We did. I promised to refocus on the terrorists who actually attacked us on 9/11. We have. We've blunted the Taliban's momentum in Afghanistan and in 2014 our longest war will be over. A new tower rises above the New York skyline al Qaeda is on the path to defeat and Osama bin Laden is dead.

To a considerable extent we are faced by a technology arms race with terrorists. The communications revolution has made it easier for terrorist groups to reach out to vulnerable individuals with their violent extremist ideology and propaganda. It has also facilitated fundraising recruitment and training.

Countries across the world are taking action now to help them track paedophiles and terrorists who abuse new technology to plot their horrific crimes.

This is technology that will not go away. And to risk it moving into the hands of a terrorist group like al Qaeda or to other focused enemies of the United States would have tragic consequences.

If the terrorists have the sympathy of people it's much harder to find them. So we need people on our side and that leads us to be responsible leaders of the world show some concern with the problems.

When terrorists attacked the symbols of our national unity and strength they failed to realize that they were just symbols of our strength. The real strength of our nation comes from our people - not our buildings.