This time of adversity offers a unique moment of opportunity—­a moment we must seize to change our culture.  Through the gathering momentum of millions of acts of service and decency and kindness, I know we can overcome evil with greater good. (Applause.) And we have a great opportunity during this time of war to lead the world toward the values that will bring lasting peace.

All fathers and mothers, in all societies, want their children to be educated, and live free from poverty and violence.  No people on Earth yearn to be oppressed, or aspire to servitude, or eagerly await the midnight knock of the secret police.

If anyone doubts this, let them look to Afghanistan, where the Islamic “street” greeted the fall of tyranny with song and celebration.  Let the skeptics look to Islam’s own rich history, with its centuries of learning, and tolerance and progress.  America will lead by defending liberty and justice because they are right and true and unchanging for all people everywhere. (Applause.)

No nation owns these aspirations, and no nation is exempt from them.  We have no intention of imposing our culture.  But America will always stand firm for the non-negotiable demands of human dignity:  the rule of law; limits on the power of the state; respect for women; private property; free speech; equal justice; and religious tolerance. (Applause.)

America will take the side of brave men and women who advocate these values around the world, including the Islamic world, because we have a greater objective than eliminating threats and containing resentment.  We seek a just and peaceful world beyond the war on terror.

In this moment of opportunity, a common danger is erasing old rivalries.  America is working with Russia and China and India, in ways we have never before, to achieve peace and prosperity.  In every region, free markets and free trade and free societies are proving their power to lift lives.  Together with friends and allies from Europe to Asia, and Africa to Latin America, we will demonstrate that the forces of terror cannot stop the momentum of freedom. (Applause.)

The last time I spoke here, I expressed the hope that life would return to normal.  In some ways, it has.  In others, it never will.  Those of us who have lived through these challenging times have been changed by them.  We’ve come to know truths that we will never question:  evil is real, and it must be opposed. (Applause.) Beyond all differences of race or creed, we are one country, mourning together and facing danger together.  Deep in the American character, there is honor, and it is stronger than cynicism.  And many have discovered again that even in tragedy—­especially in tragedy—­God is near. (Applause.)

In a single instant, we realized that this will be a decisive decade in the history of liberty, that we’ve been called to a unique role in human events.  Rarely has the world faced a choice more clear or consequential.