    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2001, Book II)]
    [November 10, 2001]
    [Pages 1375-1379]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to the United Nations General Assembly in New York City
    November 10, 2001

        Thank you, Mr. Secretary-General, Mr.
    President, distinguished delegates, and ladies
    and gentlemen. We meet in a hall devoted to peace, in a city scarred by
    violence, in a nation awakened to danger, in a world uniting for a long
    struggle. Every civilized nation here today is resolved to keep the most
    basic commitment of civilization: We will defend ourselves and our
    future against terror and lawless violence.
        The United Nations was founded in this cause. In a Second World War,
    we learned there is no isolation from evil. We affirmed that some crimes
    are so terrible, they offend humanity itself. And we resolved that the
    aggressions and ambitions of the wicked must be opposed early,
    decisively, and collectively, before they threaten us all. That evil has
    returned, and that cause is renewed.
        A few miles from here, many thousands still lie in a tomb of rubble.
    Tomorrow the Secretary-General, the President of
    the General Assembly, and I will visit that
    site, where the names of every nation and region that lost citizens will
    be read aloud. If we were to read the names of every person who died, it
    would take more than 3 hours.
        Those names include a citizen of Gambia whose wife spent their
    fourth wedding anniversary, September the 12th, searching in vain for
    her husband. Those names include a man who supported his wife in Mexico,
    sending home money every week. Those names include a young Pakistani who

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    prayed toward Mecca five times a day and died that day trying to save
    others.
        The suffering of September the 11th was inflicted on people of many
    faiths and many nations. All of the victims, including Muslims, were
    killed with equal indifference and equal satisfaction by the terrorist
    leaders. The terrorists are violating the tenets of every religion,
    including the one they invoke.
        Last week the Sheikh of Al-Azhar University, the world's oldest Islamic institution of higher
    learning, declared that terrorism is a disease and that Islam prohibits
    killing innocent civilians. The terrorists call their cause holy, yet
    they fund it with drug dealing. They encourage murder and suicide in the
    name of a great faith that forbids both. They dare to ask God's blessing
    as they set out to kill innocent men, women, and children. But the God
    of Isaac and Ishmael would never answer such a prayer. And a murderer is
    not a martyr; he is just a murderer.
        Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will
    be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who
    died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We
    will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of
    the children.
        And the people of my country will remember those who have plotted
    against us. We are learning their names. We are coming to know their
    faces. There is no corner of the Earth distant or dark enough to protect
    them. However long it takes, their hour of justice will come.
        Every nation has a stake in this cause. As we meet, the terrorists
    are planning more murder--perhaps in my country, or perhaps in yours.
    They kill because they aspire to dominate. They seek to overthrow
    governments and destabilize entire regions. Last week, anticipating this
    meeting of the General Assembly, they denounced the United Nations. They
    called our Secretary-General a criminal and
    condemned all Arab nations here as traitors to Islam.
        Few countries meet their exacting standards of brutality and
    oppression. Every other country is a potential target. And all the world
    faces the most horrifying prospect of all: These same terrorists are
    searching for weapons of mass destruction, the tools to turn their
    hatred into holocaust. They can be expected to use chemical, biological,
    and nuclear weapons the moment they are capable of doing so. No hint of
    conscience would prevent it.
        This threat cannot be ignored. This threat cannot be appeased.
    Civilization itself, the civilization we share, is threatened. History
    will record our response and judge or justify every nation in this hall.
        The civilized world is now responding. We act to defend ourselves
    and deliver our children from a future of fear. We choose the dignity of
    life over a culture of death. We choose lawful change and civil
    disagreement over coercion, subversion, and chaos. These commitments--
    hope and order, law and life--unite people across cultures and
    continents. Upon these commitments depend all peace and progress. For
    these commitments, we are determined to fight.
        The United Nations has risen to this responsibility. On the 12th of
    September, these buildings opened for emergency meetings of the General
    Assembly and the Security Council. Before the Sun had set, these attacks
    on the world stood condemned by the world. And I want to thank you for
    this strong and principled stand.
        I also thank the Arab and Islamic countries that have condemned
    terrorist murder. Many of you have seen the destruction of terror in
    your own lands. The terrorists are increasingly isolated by their own
    hatred and extremism. They cannot hide behind Islam. The authors of mass
    murder and their allies have no place in any culture and no home in any
    faith.
        The conspiracies of terror are being answered by an expanding global
    coalition. Not every nation will be a part of every

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    action against the enemy. But every nation in our coalition has duties.
    These duties can be demanding, as we in America are learning. We have
    already made adjustments in our laws and in our daily lives. We're
    taking new measures to investigate terror and to protect against
    threats.
        The leaders of all nations must now carefully consider their
    responsibilities and their future. Terrorist groups like Al Qaida depend
    upon the aid or indifference of governments. They need the support of a
    financial infrastructure and safe havens to train and plan and hide.
        Some nations want to play their part in the fight against terror,
    but tell us they lack the means to enforce their laws and control their
    borders. We stand ready to help. Some governments still turn a blind eye
    to the terrorists, hoping the threat will pass them by. They are
    mistaken. And some governments, while pledging to uphold the principles
    of the U.N., have cast their lot with the terrorists. They support them
    and harbor them, and they will find that their welcomed guests are
    parasites that will weaken them and eventually consume them.
        For every regime that sponsors terror, there is a price to be paid.
    And it will be paid. The allies of terror are equally guilty of murder
    and equally accountable to justice.
        The Taliban are now learning this lesson. That regime and the
    terrorists who support it are now virtually indistinguishable. Together,
    they promote terror abroad and impose a reign of terror on the Afghan
    people. Women are executed in Kabul's soccer stadium. They can be beaten
    for wearing socks that are too thin. Men are jailed for missing prayer
    meetings.
        The United States, supported by many nations, is bringing justice to
    the terrorists in Afghanistan. We're making progress against military
    targets, and that is our objective. Unlike the enemy, we seek to
    minimize, not maximize, the loss of innocent life.
        I'm proud of the honorable conduct of the American military. And my
    country grieves for all the suffering the Taliban have brought upon
    Afghanistan, including the terrible burden of war. The Afghan people do
    not deserve their present rulers. Years of Taliban misrule have brought
    nothing but misery and starvation. Even before this current crisis, 4
    million Afghans depended on food from the United States and other
    nations, and millions of Afghans were refugees from Taliban oppression.
        I make this promise to all the victims of that regime: The Taliban's
    days of harboring terrorists and dealing in heroin and brutalizing women
    are drawing to a close. And when that regime is gone, the people of
    Afghanistan will say with the rest of the world, ``Good riddance.''
        I can promise, too, that America will join the world in helping the
    people of Afghanistan rebuild their country. Many nations, including
    mine, are sending food and medicine to help Afghans through the winter.
    America has airdropped over 1.3 million packages of rations into
    Afghanistan. Just this week, we airlifted 20,000 blankets and over 200
    tons of provisions into the region. We continue to provide humanitarian
    aid, even while the Taliban try to steal the food we send.
        More help eventually will be needed. The United States will work
    closely with the United Nations and development banks to reconstruct
    Afghanistan after hostilities there have ceased and the Taliban are no
    longer in control. And the United States will work with the U.N. to
    support a post-Taliban Government that represents all of the Afghan
    people.
        In this war of terror, each of us must answer for what we have done
    or what we have left undone. After tragedy, there is a time for sympathy
    and condolence. And my country has been very grateful for both. The
    memorials and vigils around the world will not be forgotten. But the
    time for sympathy has now passed; the time for action has now arrived.

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        The most basic obligations in this new conflict have already been
    defined by the United Nations. On September the 28th, the Security
    Council adopted Resolution 1373. Its requirements are clear: Every
    United Nations member has a responsibility to crack down on terrorist
    financing. We must pass all necessary laws in our own countries to allow
    the confiscation of terrorist assets. We must apply those laws to every
    financial institution in every nation.
        We have a responsibility to share intelligence and coordinate the
    efforts of law enforcement. If you know something, tell us. If we know
    something, we'll tell you. And when we find the terrorists, we must work
    together to bring them to justice. We have a responsibility to deny any
    sanctuary, safe haven, or transit to terrorists. Every known terrorist
    camp must be shut down, its operators apprehended, and evidence of their
    arrest presented to the United Nations. We have a responsibility to deny
    weapons to terrorists and to actively prevent private citizens from
    providing them.
        These obligations are urgent, and they are binding on every nation
    with a place in this chamber. Many governments are taking these
    obligations seriously, and my country appreciates it. Yet, even beyond
    Resolution 1373, more is required, and more is expected of our coalition
    against terror.
        We're asking for a comprehensive commitment to this fight. We must
    unite in opposing all terrorists, not just some of them. In this world,
    there are good causes and bad causes, and we may disagree on where that
    line is drawn. Yet, there is no such thing as a good terrorist. No
    national aspiration, no remembered wrong can ever justify the deliberate
    murder of the innocent. Any government that rejects this principle,
    trying to pick and choose its terrorist friends, will know the
    consequences.
        We must speak the truth about terror. Let us never tolerate
    outrageous conspiracy theories concerning the attacks of September the
    11th, malicious lies that attempt to shift the blame away from the
    terrorists, themselves, away from the guilty. To inflame ethnic hatred
    is to advance the cause of terror.
        The war against terror must not serve as an excuse to persecute
    ethnic and religious minorities in any country. Innocent people must be
    allowed to live their own lives, by their own customs, under their own
    religion. And every nation must have avenues for the peaceful expression
    of opinion and dissent. When these avenues are closed, the temptation to
    speak through violence grows.
        We must press on with our agenda for peace and prosperity in every
    land. My country is pledged to encouraging development and expanding
    trade. My country is pledged to investing in education and combating
    AIDS and other infectious diseases around the world. Following September
    11th, these pledges are even more important. In our struggle against
    hateful groups that exploit poverty and despair, we must offer an
    alternative of opportunity and hope.
        The American Government also stands by its commitment to a just
    peace in the Middle East. We are working toward a day when two states,
    Israel and Palestine, live peacefully together within secure and
    recognize borders as called for by the Security Council resolutions. We
    will do all in our power to bring both parties back into negotiations.
    But peace will only come when all have sworn off forever incitement,
    violence, and terror.
        And finally, this struggle is a defining moment for the United
    Nations, itself. And the world needs its principled leadership. It
    undermines the credibility of this great institution, for example, when
    the Commission on Human Rights offers seats to the world's most
    persistent violators of human rights. The United Nations depends, above
    all, on its moral authority, and that authority must be preserved.
        The steps I described will not be easy. For all nations, they will
    require effort. For

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    some nations, they will require great courage. Yet, the cost of inaction
    is far greater. The only alternative to victory is a nightmare world
    where every city is a potential killing field.
        As I've told the American people, freedom and fear are at war. We
    face enemies that hate not our policies but our existence, the tolerance
    of openness and creative culture that defines us. But the outcome of
    this conflict is certain: There is a current in history, and it runs
    toward freedom. Our enemies resent it and dismiss it. But the dreams of
    mankind are defined by liberty: the natural right to create and build
    and worship and live in dignity. When men and women are released from
    oppression and isolation, they find fulfillment and hope, and they leave
    poverty by the millions.
        These aspirations are lifting up the peoples of Europe, Asia,
    Africa, and the Americas, and they can lift up all of the Islamic world.
        We stand for the permanent hopes of humanity, and those hopes will
    not be denied. We're confident, too, that history has an author who
    fills time and eternity with His purpose. We know that evil is real, but
    good will prevail against it. This is the teaching of many faiths, and
    in that assurance we gain strength for a long journey.
        It is our task, the task of this generation, to provide the response
    to aggression and terror. We have no other choice, because there is no
    other peace.
        We did not ask for this mission, yet there is honor in history's
    call. We have a chance to write the story of our times, a story of
    courage defeating cruelty and light overcoming darkness. This calling is
    worthy of any life and worthy of every nation. So let us go forward,
    confident, determined, and unafraid.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:38 a.m. in the General Assembly Hall at
    the United Nations Headquarters. In his remarks, he referred to
    Secretary-General Kofi Annan and General Assembly President Han Seung-
    soo of the United Nations; and Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, Sheikh of Al-Azhar
    University.