WASHINGTON, Nov 9: In a speech billed as an effort to reassure Americans that the administration was in control of events both at home and abroad, President George Bush said on Thursday night America was a different country since the Sept 11 attacks, “sadder and less innocent”, but stronger, more united, determined and more courageous.

In a hark back to his earlier innuendoes about a civilizational clash, references that had been toned down since the military campaign began in Afghanistan with the backing of several Muslim states, Mr Bush said: “Our nation faces a threat to our freedoms and the stakes could not be higher. We are the target of enemies who boast they want to kill: kill all Americans, kill all Jews and kill all Christians.”

This comment is bound to be seized upon by hard-line elements abroad to cast further doubts about American assertions that the current campaign is directed against terrorism and not against Islam. Perhaps conscious of the interpretation that might be put on his words, Mr Bush accused

Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda of trying to hide behind a “peaceful faith” and said: “We respect people of all faiths and welcome the free practice of religion; our enemy wants to dictate how to think and how to worship, even to their fellow Muslims.”

Those who “celebrate the murder of innocent men, women and children have no religion, have no conscience and have no mercy. We wage a war to save civilization itself.”

Amidst doubts about the progress of the military campaign in Afghanistan, the president declared that the US and its allies were deliberately and systematically “hunting down the terrorists and would bring them to justice.”