    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book I)]
    [April 17, 2002]
    [Pages 622-626]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia
    April 17, 2002

        Well, thank you all very much. At ease. Thank you all very much for
    that warm welcome. General Myers, thank
    you. General Bunting and General
    Casey, Secretary Marsh, Congressman Goodlatte, Albert
    Beveridge, members of the corps of
    cadets, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
        I want to thank you for your warm welcome and thank you for inviting
    me to one of America's great institutions. I brought along a little
    graduation present. I'm sure you'll like it; some of you will need it.
    [Laughter] As Commander in Chief, I hereby grant amnesty. [Applause]
    General Bunting, I'm sure you can tell
    who needed it. [Laughter] And I know you'll be generous in the
    interpretation of this doctrine. [Laughter]
        I want to congratulate the winners of the George C. Marshall ROTC
    Award. The more than 260 young men and women who represent--the winners
    represent the best of our country and the best future for the United
    States Army. You stand out among the nearly 30,000 young Americans who
    are today enrolled in the Army ROTC, the officers who will serve in the
    military of the future and one day will lead it.
        A majority of the Army's current officers started out in the ROTC.
    For nearly 90 years, this great program has developed leaders and shaped
    character. Those looking for idealism on the college campuses of America
    will find it in the men and women of the ROTC. ROTC's traditions and
    values are a contribution and a credit to every college and every
    university where they're found.
        Secretary of State Colin Powell was in
    the ROTC at City College of New York, an experience that helped set the
    course of his life. In his own words, he said this: ``The order, the
    self-discipline, the pride that had been instilled in me by our ROTC
    prepared me well for my Army career or, for that matter, any career I
    might have chosen.'' Colin Powell's career has taken him from service in
    Vietnam to the top rank in the military and now on a peace mission to
    the Middle East. America is fortunate and I am proud to have ROTC
    graduate Colin Powell serving our country.
        Only one other Army general has gone on to serve as Secretary of
    State, and that was George Marshall himself, VMI's highest ranking cadet
    in the class of 1901.
        As Army Chief of Staff, General Marshall became the architect of
    America's victory in the Second World War. He fought tenaciously against
    our enemies and then worked just as hard to secure the peace. President
    Truman considered George C. Marshall the greatest man he knew. Above
    all, said Winston Churchill, Marshall ``always fought victoriously
    against defeatism, discouragement, and disillusionment.'' The key to
    morale and to victory, Marshall said, is ``steadfastness and courage and
    hope.''
        And today, we are called to defend freedom against ruthless enemies.
    And once

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    again, we need steadfastness, courage, and hope. The war against terror
    will be long. And as George Marshall so clearly understood, it will not
    be enough to make the world safer; we must also work to make the world
    better.
        In the days just after September the 11th, I told the American
    people that this would be a different war, fought on many fronts. Today,
    around the world, we make progress on the many fronts. In some cases, we
    use military force. In others, we're fighting through diplomacy,
    financial pressure, or special operations. In every case, we will defeat
    the threats against our country and the civilized world.
        Our progress--our progress is measured day by day, terrorist by
    terrorist. We recently apprehended one of Al Qaida's top leaders, a man
    named Abu Zubaydah. He was spending a lot of
    time as one of the top operating officials of Al Qaida, plotting and
    planning murder. He's not plotting, and he's not planning anymore. He's
    under lock and key, and we're going to give him some company. We're
    hunting down the killers one by one.
        We're learning a lot about Al Qaida operations and their plans. As
    our enemies have fled their hideouts in Afghanistan, they left some
    things behind. We found laptop computers, drawings, and maps. And
    through them, we're gaining a clearer picture of the terrorists' targets
    and their methods.
        Our international coalition against these killers is strong and
    united and acting. European nations have frozen almost $50 million in
    suspected terrorist assets, and that's important. Many European states
    are taking aggressive and effective law enforcement action to join us in
    rounding up these terrorists and their cells. We're making good
    progress. Yet, it's important for Americans to know this war will not be
    quick, and this war will not be easy.
        The first phase of our military operation was in Afghanistan, where
    our Armed Forces continue to perform with bravery and with skill. You've
    got to understand that, as we routed out the Taliban, they weren't sent
    in to conquer; they were sent in to liberate. And they succeeded, and
    our military makes us proud.
        The battles in Afghanistan are not over. American and allied troops
    are taking risks today in what we call Operation Mountain Lion, hunting
    down the Al Qaida and Taliban forces and keeping them on the run.
    Coalition naval forces, in the largest combined flotilla since World War
    II, are patrolling escape routes and intercepting ships to search for
    terrorists and their supplies.
        As the spring thaw comes, we expect cells of trained killers to try
    to regroup, to murder, create mayhem, and try to undermine Afghanistan's
    efforts to build a lasting peace. We know this from not only
    intelligence but from the history of military conflict in Afghanistan.
    It's been one of initial success followed by long years of floundering
    and ultimate failure. We're not going to repeat that mistake.
        In the United States of America, the terrorists have chosen a foe
    unlike they have any--they have never faced before. They've never faced
    a country like ours before: We're tough; we're determined; we're
    relentless. We will stay until the mission is done.
        We know that true peace will only be achieved when we give the
    Afghan people the means to achieve their own aspirations. Peace--peace
    will be achieved by helping Afghanistan develop its own stable
    government. Peace will be achieved by helping Afghanistan train and
    develop its own national army. And peace will be achieved through an
    education system for boys and girls which works.
        We're working hard in Afghanistan. We're clearing minefields. We're
    rebuilding roads. We're improving medical care. And we will work to help
    Afghanistan to develop an economy that can feed its people without
    feeding the world's demand for drugs.
        And we help the Afghan people recover from the Taliban rule. And as
    we do so,

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    we find mounting horror--evidence of horror. In the Hazarajat region,
    the Red Cross has found signs of massacres committed by the Taliban last
    year, victims who lie in mass graves. This is the legacy of the first
    regime to fall in the war against terror. These mass graves are a
    reminder of the kind of enemy we have fought and have defeated. And they
    are the kind of evil we continue to fight.
        By helping to build an Afghanistan that is free from this evil and
    is a better place in which to live, we are working in the best
    traditions of George Marshall. Marshall knew that our military victory
    against enemies in World War II had to be followed by a moral victory
    that resulted in better lives for individual human beings.
        After 1945, the United States of America was the only nation in the
    world strong enough to help rebuild a Europe and a Japan that had been
    decimated by World War II. Today, our former enemies are our friends,
    and Europe and Japan are strong partners in the rebuilding of
    Afghanistan. This transformation is a powerful testimony to the success
    of Marshall's vision and a beacon to light the path that we too must
    follow.
        In the second phase of the war on terror, our military and law
    enforcement intelligence officers are helping countries around the world
    in their efforts to crack down on terror within their borders. Global
    terrorism will be defeated only by global response. We must prevent Al
    Qaida from moving its operations to other countries. We must deny
    terrorists the funds they need to operate. We must deny them safe havens
    to plan new horrors and indoctrinate new recruits.
        We're working with Yemen's Government to prevent terrorists from
    reassembling there. We sent troops to help train local forces in the
    Philippines, to help them defeat terrorists trying to establish a
    militant regime. And in the Republic of Georgia, we provide temporary
    help to its military as it routs out a terrorist cell near the Russian
    border. Wherever global terror threatens the civilized world, we and our
    friends and our allies will respond and will respond decisively.
        Every nation that joins our cause is welcome. Every nation that
    needs our help will have it. And no nation can be neutral. Around the
    world, the nations must choose: They are with us, or they're with the
    terrorists.
        And in the Middle East, where acts of terror have triggered mounting
    violence, all parties have a choice to make. Every leader, every state
    must choose between two separate paths, the path of peace or the path of
    terror. In the stricken faces of mothers, Palestinian mothers and
    Israeli mothers, the entire world is witnessing the agonizing cost of
    this conflict. Now, every nation and every leader in the region must
    work to end terror.
        All parties have responsibilities. These responsibilities are not
    easy, but they're clear. And Secretary of State Powell is helping make them clear. I want to thank Secretary
    Powell for his hard work at a difficult task. He returns home having
    made progress towards peace.
        We're confronting hatred that is centuries old, disputes that have
    lingered for decades. But I want you to know, I will continue to lead
    toward a vision of peace.
        We will continue to remind folks they have responsibilities in the
    short run to defuse the current crisis. The Palestinian Authority must
    act--must act on its words of condemnation against terror. Israel must
    continue its withdrawals. And all Arab states must step up to their
    responsibilities. The Egyptians and Jordanians and Saudis have helped in
    the wider war on terrorism, and they must help confront terrorism in the
    Middle East. All parties have a responsibility to stop funding or
    inciting terror. And all parties must say clearly that a murderer is not
    a martyr; he or she is just a murderer.
        And all parties must realize that the only vision for a long-term
    solution is for two

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    states--Israel, Palestine--to live side by side in security and in
    peace. That will require hard choices and leadership by Israelis,
    Palestinians, and their Arab neighbors. The time is now for all to make
    the choice for peace.
        And finally, the civilized world faces a grave threat from weapons
    of mass destruction. A small number of outlaw regimes today possess and
    are developing chemical and biological and nuclear weapons. They're
    building missiles to deliver them and at the same time cultivating ties
    to terrorist groups. In their threat to peace, in their mad ambitions,
    in their destructive potential, and in the repression of their own
    people, these regimes constitute an axis of evil, and the world must
    confront them.
        America, along with other nations, will oppose the proliferation of
    dangerous weapons and technologies. We will proceed with missile
    defenses to protect the American people, our troops, and our friends and
    allies. And America will take the necessary action to oppose emerging
    threats.
        We'll be deliberate, and we will work with our friends and allies.
    And as we do so, we will uphold our duty to defend freedom. We will
    fight against terrorist organizations in different ways, with different
    tactics, in different places. And we will fight the threat from weapons
    of mass destruction in different ways, with different tactics, in
    different places.
        Yet, our objective is always the same: We will defeat global terror,
    and we will not allow the world's most dangerous regimes to threaten us
    with the world's most dangerous weapons.
        America has a much greater purpose than just eliminating threats and
    containing resentment, because we believe in the dignity and value of
    every individual. America seeks hope and opportunity for all people in
    all cultures. And that is why we're helping to rebuild Afghanistan. And
    that is why we've launched a new compact for development through the
    Millennium Challenge Account. And that is why we work for free trade, to
    lift people out of poverty throughout the world.
        A better world can seem very distant when children are sent to kill
    other children and old hatreds are stoked and carefully passed from one
    generation to another and a violent few love death more than life. Yet
    hatred, fanaticism are not the way of the future, because the hopes of
    humanity are always stronger than its hatreds.
        And these hopes are universal in every country and in every
    country--in every culture. Men and women everywhere want to live in
    dignity, to create and build and own, to raise their children in peace
    and security.
        The way to a peaceful future can be found in the nonnegotiable
    demands of human dignity. Dignity requires the rule of law, limits on
    the power of the state, respect for women, private property, equal
    justice, religious tolerance. No nation owns these principles. No nation
    is exempt from them.
        Sixty years ago, few would have predicted the triumph of these
    values in Germany and Japan. Fifteen years ago, few would have predicted
    the advance of these values in Russia. Yet, Americans are not surprised.
    We know that the demands of human dignity are written in every heart.
    The demands have a power and momentum of their own, defying all
    pessimism. And they are destined to change lives and nations on every
    continent.
        America has acted on these hopes throughout our history. General
    George Marshall is admired for the war he fought, yet best remembered
    for the peace he secured. The Marshall plan, rebuilding Europe and
    lifting up former enemies, showed that America is not content with
    military victory alone. Americans always see a greater hope and a better
    day, and America sees a just and hopeful world beyond the war on terror.
        Many of you will help achieve this better world. At a young age,
    you've taken up

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    a great calling. You'll serve your country and our values. You'll
    protect your fellow citizens. And by your effort and example, you will
    advance the cause of freedom around the world. And so I'm here to thank
    you for your commitment and congratulate you on the high honor you have
    received.
        May God bless you all, and may God bless America.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:15 a.m. in Cameron Hall as part of the
    George C. Marshall ROTC Award Seminar. In his remarks, he referred to
    Gen. Richard B. Myers, USAF, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Maj.
    Gen. (Virginia militia) Josiah Bunting III, superintendent, Virginia
    Military Institute; Maj. Gen. John T.D. Casey, USA, commanding general,
    U.S. Army Cadet Command; former Secretary of the Army John O. Marsh,
    Jr.; Albert J. Beveridge III, president and chief executive officer,
    George C. Marshall Foundation; and Abu Zubaydah, a leader of the Al
    Qaida terrorist organization who was captured March 28.