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Bush exhorts Americans: 'Let's roll'

Bush: "We wage a war to save civilization itself."

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- President Bush used a prime-time speech Thursday night to praise Americans for how they have responded to the September 11 attacks and to issue the marching order of "let's roll" in the war on terrorism.

"We wage a war to save civilization itself," Bush said, noting Americans have refused to give terrorists the power to intimidate them.

The president also spoke of American "courage and caring," which he said was demonstrated in millions of dollars given to help not only U.S. citizens but also the children of Afghanistan.

Bush spoke to an invited audience of thousands at the Georgia World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta. Among those in the audience were police, other law enforcement officers and firefighters. They repeatedly interrupted his speech with applause.

He told them the United States has learned that out of the evil of the terrorist attacks came good.

He cited new interest among young people to serve their the country and new priorities of parents to spend more time with children and more time in prayer.

Bush also warned, "our great national challenge is to hunt down the terrorists and strengthen our protections against future attacks."

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The president quoted a man who led passengers to battle terrorists for control of a hijacked plane on September 11. Before he ended a phone call warning that the plane had been hijacked, the man was heard saying, "Let's roll."

Then Bush ended his speech by saying, "We have our marching orders. My fellow Americans, let's roll."

Earlier in the day, the president toured the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta and thanked what he called the "vast army to fight off the terrorist attacks in America."

Bush said that in the wake of the recent cases of anthrax CDC employees "saved a lot of lives in America" by working "endless hours to provide good public health information, remedy and quick response to people who have been affected by this evil attack."

He described public health officials as "real heroes of America," a phrase he repeated in his evening speech. (Full story)

In Afghanistan, meanwhile, the opposition Northern Alliance said Thursday its forces have advanced to within a few miles south of the strategic Taliban-held town of Mazar-e Sharif in north Afghanistan. (Full story)

Gen. Tommy Franks, commander of U.S. troops in the region, said Mazar-e Sharif is "interesting to us" because it would provide a land bridge to Uzbekistan for both troops and humanitarian aid. (Full story)

The Alliance claimed 500 Taliban troops have defected and another 280 have been captured in the latest fighting. Those claims could not be independently verified.

North of Kabul, U.S. warplanes targeted Taliban frontline troops Thursday in intensifying attacks along the Shalami Plains and the Safy mountain range near strategic Bagram air base. Attacks were also reported around Kandahar into Thursday night.

Latest developments

• Two U.S. military fighter jets forced a small propeller-driven plane to at land Ocala International Airport in central Florida Thursday afternoon. FBI agents were on the scene and interviewing the pilot. Sgt. Russ Kern with the Ocala Police Department said the Federal Aviation Administration called for the plane to be forced down. In Washington, FAA spokesman Paul Takemoto confirmed his agency intervened because it had "questions about his [the pilot's] flight plan."

• President Bush will announce new aviation security measures Friday that include an expanded role for the National Guard at airport security checkpoints, senior administration officials told CNN. Administration officials say the move is a "necessary stopgap" while legislation to improve airport and airline security is bogged down in Congress.

• U.S. bombing south of Mazar-e Sharif has killed 85 fighters from a Pakistani group allied with the Taliban, a spokesman for the group said Thursday in a report broadcast on the Arabic-language TV station Al-Jazeera. The report could not be independently confirmed.

• Attorney General John Ashcroft announced Thursday a restructuring of the Justice Department, nearly two months after the terrorist attacks on the United States. Ashcroft said the reorganization will emphasize restructuring to eliminate overlapping work in the department's divisions. (Full story)

• Three Japanese warships will depart for the Indian Ocean early Friday to provide non-combat support to the U.S.-led war on terrorism. It will mark the first time since World War II that Japanese forces will operate outside of Japanese territory. (Full story)

• Pakistan's president appeared to take a small step back Thursday from his previous comments that a continuation of the allied campaign in Afghanistan during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan could damage Islamic support of the war on terrorism. "I would just like to say that sensibilities of the month of Ramadan have to be considered in the decisions of the military campaign," said Gen. Pervez Musharraf, after meeting with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in London. (Full story)

• The border area shared by Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay is being used as a haven and source of funding for terrorists linked to Iran's Party of God and to organizations that work closely with Osama bin Laden, sources tell CNN. (Full story)

• A day after asking the Taliban ambassador to stop disparaging other countries in his almost daily news conferences, Pakistan has asked Afghanistan's rulers to close their consulate in the southern port city of Karachi. (Full story)

• The U.S. Central Command has requested that the aircraft carrier USS John C. Stennis be deployed earlier than planned to the Arabian Sea, officials said. If the Pentagon approves, the carrier from San Diego could be sent as soon as next week, about a month ahead of its scheduled deployment.

• President Bush's top political strategist Karl Rove plans to meet with an array of entertainment executives Sunday to discuss the war on terrorism and ways that Hollywood stars and films might work in concert with the administration's communications strategy.

• Pentagon sources said a search is under way for a sailor from the USS Kitty Hawk who apparently fell overboard into the Arabian Sea. The Kitty Hawk is serving as a floating base for U.S. Special Operations troops participating in Operation Enduring Freedom.

• U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Ruud Lubbers Thursday called on Afghanistan's neighbors to open their borders to hundreds of thousands of refugees trying to flee the fighting. He stressed "the commitment made by coalition leaders to the Afghan people that the war is not against them, and that the humanitarian effort will remain a priority." (Full story)

• German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder is urging his country to approve use of its military in the war on terrorism, saying it's time for Germans to repay the United States for security and solidarity given their country since World War II. (Full story)