President Bush's new National Security Strategy offers a bold vision for protecting our nation that captures today's new realities and opportunities.

It calls on America to use our position of unparalleled strength and influence to create a balance of power that favors freedom. As the president says in the cover letter: we seek to create the "conditions in which all nations and all societies can choose for themselves the rewards and challenges of political and economic liberty." This strategy has three pillars:

* We will defend the peace by opposing and preventing violence by terrorists and outlaw regimes.

* We will preserve the peace by fostering an era of good relations among the world's great powers.

* And we will extend the peace by seeking to extend the benefits of freedom and prosperity across the globe.

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We will break up terror networks, hold to account nations that harbor terrorists and confront aggressive tyrants holding or seeking nuclear, chemical and biological weapons that might be passed to terrorist allies.
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We are on notice. The danger from Saddam Hussein's arsenal is far more clear than anything we could have foreseen prior to 9/11. And history will judge harshly any leader or nation that saw this dark cloud and sat by in complacency or indecision.
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To support all these means of defending the peace, the United States will build and maintain 21st century military forces that are beyond challenge.
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Because of our own history, the United States knows we must be patient - and humble. Change - even if it is for the better - is often difficult. And progress is sometimes slow. America has not always lived up to our own high standards. When the Founding Fathers said, "We, the people," they didn't mean me. Democracy is hard work. And 226 years later, we are still practicing each day to get it right.

WE have the ability to forge a 21st century that lives up to our hopes and not down to our fears. But only if we go about our work with purpose and clarity. Only if we are unwavering in our refusal to live in a world governed by terror and chaos. Only if we are unwilling to ignore growing dangers from aggressive tyrants and deadly technologies.

» TO A FREE WORLD By CONDOLEEZZA RICE