    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
    [November 20, 2002]
    [Pages 2101-2104]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 2101]]

    Remarks to the Prague Atlantic Student Summit in Prague
    November 20, 2002

        Thank you all very much for that warm welcome. It's an honor to be
    here in Prague, home to so much of Europe's history and culture and the
    scene of so much courage in the service of freedom. After the recent
    floods, I know it's been tough on the citizens of the Czech Republic to
    not only recover, but to host this important gathering. So, on behalf of
    all the American delegation and all the Americans who are here, I
    express our gratitude for the fantastic hospitality we received. We
    thank the Czech people and their leadership for working hard to make
    sure this summit is a successful summit, and we wish them all the very
    best.
        I want to thank Jimmy for
    his kind words. Really proud of Jimmy, and we're proud to have him at
    West Point. He's a credit to the Academy; he's a credit to the people of
    Lithuania. And we wish him all the very best.
        I want to thank Alan Lee Williams,
    Antonio Borges Carvalho, for their
    tremendous work at the Atlantic Treaty Association. I'm grateful to
    Christopher Makins, who's the president
    of the Atlantic Council of the United States, for organizing this event.
    I want to thank Tom Dine, president of Radio Free
    Europe and Radio Liberty, for joining us. I want to thank all the good
    folks who work there for joining us as well. I appreciate your service.
        Dwight Eisenhower said this of Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty:
    ``The simplest and clearest charter in the world is what you have, which
    is to tell the truth.'' And for more than 50 years, the charter has been
    faithfully executed, and it's the truth that sets this continent free.
        I'm honored to be traveling with members of my senior staff: the
    Secretary of State of the United States Colin Powell, who's done such a fantastic job for our country and for
    world peace; Condoleezza Rice, who's my
    National Security Advisor, is here; Chief of Staff Andy Card, Ambassador Nick Burns
    to NATO; a few others who I don't particularly want to recognize for
    fear of damaging my reputation--[laughter]--but all of them doing a
    great job. Thank you all for coming.
        I also want to recognize Members of the Congress who are here. I'm
    thrilled to see Members of the Senate. I thought you were voting.
    [Laughter] But Senators Frist and
    Voinovich and their wives are with us. I see Lantos--yes--Gallegly--Elton,
    good to see you, buddy, from California. Who else? That's it, two
    Members of the House, two Members of the Senate. Thank you all for
    coming. I'm honored you're here.
        This NATO summit that convenes tomorrow will be the first ever held
    at the capital of a Warsaw Pact. The days of the Warsaw Pact seem
    distant--they must seem to you. After all, the Warsaw Pact ended a half
    a lifetime ago for you. It was a dark and distant era. The years since
    have brought great challenge and great hope to all of the countries on
    this continent. And tomorrow in Prague we will have reached a decisive
    moment, an historic moment, for tomorrow we will invite new members into
    our Alliance. It's a bold decision, to guarantee the freedom of millions
    of people.
        At the summit, we'll make the most significant reforms in NATO since
    1949, reforms which will allow our Alliance to effectively confront new
    dangers. And in the years to come, all of the nations of Europe will
    determine their place in world events. They will take up global
    responsibilities or choose to live in isolation from the challenges of
    our time.
        As for America, we made our choice. We are committed to work toward
    world peace, and we're committed to a close and permanent partnership
    with the nations of Europe. The Atlantic Alliance is America's

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    most important global relationship. We're tied to Europe by history. We
    are tied to Europe by the wars of liberty we have fought and won
    together. We're joined by broad ties of trade. And America is bound to
    Europe by the deepest convictions of our common culture, our belief in
    the dignity of every life and our belief in the power of conscience to
    move history.
        In this city and town squares across the Czech Republic are
    monuments to Jan Hus who said this: ``Stand in the truth you have
    learned, for it conquers all and is mighty to eternity.'' That ideal has
    given life to the Czech Republic, and it is shared by the Republic I
    lead.
        America believes that a strong, confident Europe is good for the
    world. We welcome the economic integration of Europe. We believe that
    integration will extend prosperity on both sides of the Atlantic. We
    welcome a democratic Russia as part of this new Europe, because a free
    and peaceful Russia will add to the security of this continent. We
    welcome the growing unity of Europe in commerce and currency and
    military cooperation, which is closing a long history of rivalry and
    violence. This continent, wounded by nazism and communism, is becoming
    peaceful and secure and democratic for the first time. And now that the
    countries of Europe are united in freedom, they will no longer fight
    each other and bring war to the rest of the world.
        Because America supports a more united Europe, we strongly support
    the enlargement of NATO, now and in the future. Every European democracy
    that seeks NATO membership and is ready to share in NATO's
    responsibilities should be welcome in our Alliance. The enlargement of
    NATO is good for all who join us. The standards for membership are high,
    and they encourage the hard work of political and economic and military
    reform.
        And nations in the family of NATO, old or new, know this: Anyone who
    would choose you for an enemy also chooses us for an enemy. Never again
    in the face of aggression will you stand alone.
        A larger NATO is good for Russia as well. Later this week I will
    visit St. Petersburg. I will tell my friend Vladimir Putin and the Russian people that they too will gain from
    the security and stability of nations to Russia's west. Russia does not
    require a buffer zone of protection. It needs peaceful and prosperous
    neighbors who are also friends. We need a strong and democratic Russia
    as our friend and partner to face the next century's new challenges.
    Through the NATO-Russia Council we must increase our cooperation with
    Russia for the security of all of us.
        Expansion of NATO also brings many advantages to the Alliance,
    itself. Every new member contributes military capabilities that add to
    our common security. We see this already in Afghanistan, for forces from
    Romania, Bulgaria, Estonia, Lithuania, Slovakia, and others have joined
    with 16 NATO Allies to help defeat global terror.
        And every new member of our Alliance makes a contribution of
    character. Tomorrow NATO grows larger. Tomorrow the soul of Europe grows
    stronger. Members recently added to NATO and those invited to join bring
    greater clarity to purposes of our Alliance, because they understand the
    lessons of the last century. Those with fresh memories of tyranny know
    the value of freedom. Those who have lived through a struggle of good
    against evil are never neutral between them. Czechs and Slovaks learned
    through the harsh experience of 1938 that when great democracies fail to
    confront danger, greater dangers follow. And the people of the Baltics
    learned that aggression left unchecked by the great democracies can rob
    millions of their liberty and their lives.
        In Central and Eastern Europe the courage and moral vision of
    prisoners and exiles and priests and playwrights caused tyrants to fall.
    This spirit now sustains these nations through difficult reforms. And
    this

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    spirit is needed in the councils of a new Europe.
        Our NATO Alliance faces dangers very different from those it was
    formed to confront, yet never has our need for collective defense been
    more urgent. The Soviet Union is gone, but freedom still has enemies.
    We're threatened by terrorism. Bred within failed states, it's present
    within our own cities. We're threatened by the spread of chemical and
    biological and nuclear weapons which are produced by outlaw regimes and
    could be delivered either by missile or terrorist cell. For terrorists
    and terrorist states, every free nation--every free nation--is a
    potential target, including the free nations of Europe.
        We're making progress on this, the first war of the 21st century.
    Today, more than 90 nations are joined in a global coalition to defeat
    terror. We're sharing intelligence. We're freezing the assets of terror
    groups. We're pursuing the terrorists wherever they plot and train. And
    we're finding them and bringing them to justice, one person at a time.
        Today, the world is also uniting to answer the unique and urgent
    threat posed by Iraq. A dictator who has used
    weapons of mass destruction on his own people must not be allowed to
    produce or possess those weapons. We will not permit Saddam Hussein to
    blackmail and/or terrorize nations which love freedom.
        Last week Saddam Hussein accepted U.N.
    inspectors. We've heard those pledges before and seen them violated time
    and time again. We now call an end to that game of deception and deceit
    and denial. Saddam Hussein has been given a very short time to declare
    completely and truthfully his arsenal of terror. Should he again deny
    that this arsenal exists, he will have entered his final stage with a
    lie. And deception this time will not be tolerated. Delay and defiance
    will invite the severest of consequences.
        America's goal, the world's goal is more than the return of
    inspectors to Iraq. Our goal is to secure the peace through the
    comprehensive and verified disarmament of Iraq's weapons of mass
    destruction. Voluntary or by force, that goal will be achieved.
        To meet all of this century's emerging threats, from terror camps in
    remote regions to hidden laboratories of outlaw regimes, NATO must
    develop new military capabilities. NATO forces must become better able
    to fight side by side. Those forces must be more mobile and more swiftly
    deployed. The Allies need more special operations forces, better
    precision strike capabilities, and more modern command structures.
        Few NATO members will have state-of-the-art capabilities in all of
    these areas. I recognize that. But every nation should develop some.
    Ours is a military alliance, and every member must make a military
    contribution to that alliance. For some Allies, this will require higher
    defense spending. For all of us, it will require more effective defense
    spending, with each nation adding the tools and technologies to fight
    and win a new kind of war.
        And because many threats to the NATO members come from outside of
    Europe, NATO forces must be organized to operate outside of Europe. When
    forces were needed quickly in Afghanistan, NATO's options were limited.
    We must build new capabilities, and we must strengthen our will to use
    those capabilities.
        The United States proposes the creation of a NATO response force
    that will bring together well-equipped, highly ready air, ground, and
    sea forces from NATO Allies, old and new. This force will be prepared to
    deploy on short notice wherever it is needed. A NATO response force will
    take time to create, and we should begin that effort here in Prague.
        Yet, security against new threats requires more than just new
    capabilities. Free nations must accept our shared obligations to keep
    the peace. The world needs the nations of this continent to be active in
    the

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    defense of freedom, not inward-looking or isolated by indifference.
    Ignoring dangers or excusing aggression may temporarily avert conflict,
    but they don't bring true peace.
        International stability must be actively defended, and all nations
    that benefit from that stability have a duty to help. In this noble
    work, America and the strong democracies of Europe need each other, each
    playing our full and responsible role. The good we can do together is
    far greater than the good we can do apart.
        Great evil is stirring in the world. Many of the young here are
    coming up in a different world, different era, a different time, a
    different series of threats. We face perils we've never thought about,
    perils we've never seen before. But they're dangerous. They're just as
    dangerous as those perils that your fathers and mothers and grandfathers
    and grandmothers faced.
        The hopes of all mankind depend on the courage and the unity of
    great democracies. In this hour of challenge, NATO will do what it has
    done before: We will stand firm against the enemies of freedom, and
    we'll prevail.
        The transatlantic ties of Europe and America have met every test of
    history, and we intend to again. U-boats could not divide us. The
    threats and standoffs of the cold war did not make us weary. The
    commitment of my Nation to Europe is found in the carefully tended
    graves of young Americans who died for this continent's freedom. That
    commitment is shown by the thousands in uniforms still serving here,
    from the Balkans to Bavaria, still willing to make the ultimate
    sacrifice for this continent's future.
        For 100 years, place names of Europe have often stood for conflict
    and tragedy and loss. Single words evoke sad and bitter experience:
    Verdun, Munich, Stalingrad, Dresden, Nuremberg, and Yalta. We have no
    power to rewrite history. We do have the power to write a different
    story for our time.
        When future generations look back at this moment and speak of Prague
    and what we did here, that name will stand for hope. In Prague, young
    democracies will gain new security; a grand alliance will gather its
    strength and find new purpose. And America and Europe will renew the
    historic friendship that still keeps the peace of the world.
        Thank you for your interest. May God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 4:40 p.m. at the Hilton Prague. In his
    remarks, he referred to U.S. Military Academy cadet Gedrimas ``Jimmy''
    Jaglinskas, who introduced the President; Alan Lee Williams, chairman,
    and Antonio Borges Carvalho, secretary general, Atlantic Treaty
    Association; Karyn Frist, wife of Senator Bill Frist; Janet Voinovich,
    wife of Senator George V. Voinovich; President Vladimir Putin of Russia;
    and President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.