George W. Bush sworn in for second term

WASHINGTON — George W. Bush swore the presidential oath for a second term in turbulent times Thursday and issued a sweeping pledge to spread liberty and freedom "to the darkest corners of the world."

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BORDER="1"> FACE="Verdana,Helvetica,Arial" SIZE="2">Additional information: FACE="Verdana,Helvetica,Arial" SIZE="2"> Complete text of President Bush's inaugural address

"Our country has accepted obligations that are difficult to fulfill and would be dishonorable to abandon," said the president, who led the nation to war in Iraq in a first term marked by terrorist attacks on the United States.

In a speech delivered before a vast throng of fellow Americans spilling away from the steps of the Capitol, Bush said he would place the nation on the side of the world's oppressed people. "All who live in tyranny and hopelessness can know: the United States will not ignore your oppression, or excuse your oppressors. When you stand for your liberty, we will stand with you."

Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist, 80 and ailing with thyroid cancer, administered the oath of office. The 58-year-old president placed one hand on a family Bible and raised the other as he recited an oath as old as the Republic.

The weather was cold; security extraordinarily tight for the nation's 55th inauguration, first since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Sharpshooters scanned the vast crowd from rooftops and hundreds of police stood shoulder to shoulder along the route of the mid-afternoon inaugural parade.

Newly sworn in, Bush offered an implied rebuttal to critics of his foreign policy and the war in Iraq. "Some, I know, have questioned the global appeal of liberty," he said, "though this time in history, four decades defined by the swiftest advance of freedom ever seen, is an odd time for doubt."

"We go forward with complete confidence in the eventual triumph of freedom," he said in remarks that were shorn of all but the most glancing references to the dominant political issues of the day.