    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2002, Book II)]
    [September 12, 2002]
    [Pages 1572-1576]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York City
    September 12, 2002

        Mr. Secretary-General, Mr. President, distinguished delegates, and ladies and gentlemen: We
    meet one year and one day after a terrorist attack brought grief to my
    country and brought grief to many citizens of our world. Yesterday we
    remembered the innocent lives taken that terrible morning. Today we turn
    to the urgent duty of protecting other lives, without illusion and
    without fear.
        We've accomplished much in the last year in Afghanistan and beyond.
    We have much yet to do in Afghanistan and beyond. Many nations
    represented here have joined in the fight against global terror, and the
    people of the United States are grateful.
        The United Nations was born in the hope that survived a world war,
    the hope of a world moving toward justice, escaping old patterns of
    conflict and fear. The founding members resolved that the peace of the
    world must never again be destroyed by the will and wickedness of any
    man. We created a United Nations Security Council so that, unlike the
    League of Nations, our deliberations would be more than talk, our
    resolutions would be more than wishes. After generations of deceitful
    dictators and broken treaties and squandered lives, we dedicated
    ourselves to standards of human dignity shared by all and to a system of
    security defended by all.
        Today, these standards and this security are challenged. Our
    commitment to human dignity is challenged by persistent poverty and
    raging disease. The suffering is great, and our responsibilities are
    clear. The United States is joining with the world to supply aid where
    it reaches people and lifts up lives, to extend trade and the prosperity
    it brings, and to bring medical care where it is desperately needed.
        As a symbol of our commitment to human dignity, the United States
    will return to UNESCO. This organization has been reformed, and America
    will participate fully in its mission to advance human rights and
    tolerance and learning.
        Our common security is challenged by regional conflicts, ethnic and
    religious strife that is ancient but not inevitable. In the Middle East,
    there can be no peace for either side without freedom for both sides.
    America stands committed to an independent and democratic Palestine,
    living

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    side by side with Israel in peace and security. Like all other people,
    Palestinians deserve a government that serves their interests and
    listens to their voices. My Nation will continue to encourage all
    parties to step up to their responsibilities as we seek a just and
    comprehensive settlement to the conflict.
        Above all, our principles and our security are challenged today by
    outlaw groups and regimes that accept no law of morality and have no
    limit to their violent ambitions. In the attacks on America a year ago,
    we saw the destructive intentions of our enemies. This threat hides
    within many nations, including my own. In cells and camps, terrorists
    are plotting further destruction and building new bases for their war
    against civilization. And our greatest fear is that terrorists will find
    a shortcut to their mad ambitions when an outlaw regime supplies them
    with the technologies to kill on a massive scale.
        In one place--in one regime--we find all these dangers in their most
    lethal and aggressive forms, exactly the kind of aggressive threat the
    United Nations was born to confront.
        Twelve years ago, Iraq invaded Kuwait without provocation, and the
    regime's forces were poised to continue their march to seize other
    countries and their resources. Had Saddam Hussein been appeased instead of stopped, he would have
    endangered the peace and stability of the world. Yet this aggression was
    stopped by the might of coalition forces and the will of the United
    Nations.
        To suspend hostilities, to spare himself, Iraq's dictator accepted a series of commitments. The terms were clear
    to him and to all, and he agreed to prove he is complying with every one
    of those obligations. He has proven instead only his contempt for the
    United Nations and for all his pledges. By breaking every pledge, by his
    deceptions, and by his cruelties, Saddam Hussein has made the case
    against himself.
        In 1991, Security Council Resolution 688 demanded that the Iraqi
    regime cease at once the repression of its own people, including the
    systematic repression of minorities, which the Council said threatened
    international peace and security in the region. This demand goes
    ignored.
        Last year, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights found that Iraq
    continues to commit extremely grave violations of human rights and that
    the regime's repression is all-pervasive. Tens of thousands of political
    opponents and ordinary citizens have been subjected to arbitrary arrest
    and imprisonment, summary execution, and torture by beating and burning,
    electric shock, starvation, mutilation, and rape. Wives are tortured in
    front of their husbands, children in the presence of their parents, and
    all of these horrors concealed from the world by the apparatus of a
    totalitarian state.
        In 1991, the U.N. Security Council, through Resolutions 686 and 687,
    demanded that Iraq return all prisoners from Kuwait and other lands.
    Iraq's regime agreed. It broke this promise. Last year, the Secretary-
    General's high-level coordinator for this
    issue reported that Kuwaiti, Saudi, Indian, Syrian, Lebanese, Iranian,
    Egyptian, Bahraini, and Omani nationals remain unaccounted for--more
    than 600 people. One American pilot is among them.
        In 1991, the U.N. Security Council, through Resolution 687, demanded
    that Iraq renounce all involvement with terrorism and permit no
    terrorist organizations to operate in Iraq. Iraq's regime agreed. It
    broke this promise. In violation of Security Council Resolution 1373,
    Iraq continues to shelter and support terrorist organizations that
    direct violence against Iran, Israel, and Western governments. Iraqi
    dissidents abroad are targeted for murder. In 1993, Iraq attempted to
    assassinate the Amir of Kuwait and a former American President. Iraq's Government openly praised the attacks of
    September the 11th,

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    and Al Qaida terrorists escaped from Afghanistan and are known to be in
    Iraq.
        In 1991, the Iraqi regime agreed to destroy and stop developing all
    weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles and to prove to the
    world it has done so by complying with rigorous inspections. Iraq has
    broken every aspect of this fundamental pledge.
        From 1991 to 1995, the Iraqi regime said it had no biological
    weapons. After a senior official in its weapons program defected and
    exposed this lie, the regime admitted to producing tens of thousands of
    liters of anthrax and other deadly biological agents for use with Scud
    warheads, aerial bombs, and aircraft spray tanks. U.N. inspectors
    believe Iraq has produced 2 to 4 times the amount of biological agents
    it declared and has failed to account for more than 3 metric tons of
    material that could be used to produce biological weapons. Right now,
    Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the
    production of biological weapons. United Nations inspections also
    revealed that Iraq likely maintains stockpiles of VX, mustard, and other
    chemical agents and that the regime is rebuilding and expanding
    facilities capable of producing chemical weapons.
        And in 1995, after 4 years of deception, Iraq finally admitted it
    had a crash nuclear weapons program prior to the Gulf war. We know now,
    were it not for that war, the regime in Iraq would likely have possessed
    a nuclear weapon no later than 1993.
        Today, Iraq continues to withhold important information about its
    nuclear program, weapons design, procurement logs, experiment data, an
    accounting of nuclear materials, and documentation of foreign
    assistance. Iraq employs capable nuclear scientists and technicians. It
    retains physical infrastructure needed to build a nuclear weapon. Iraq
    has made several attempts to buy high-strength aluminum tubes used to
    enrich uranium for a nuclear weapon. Should Iraq acquire fissile
    material, it would be able to build a nuclear weapon within a year. And
    Iraq's state-controlled media has reported numerous meetings between
    Saddam Hussein and his nuclear scientists,
    leaving little doubt about his continued appetite for these weapons.
        Iraq also possesses a force of Scud-type missiles with ranges beyond
    the 150 kilometers permitted by the U.N. Work at testing and production
    facilities shows that Iraq is building more long-range missiles, that it
    can inflict mass death throughout the region.
        In 1990, after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the world imposed economic
    sanctions on Iraq. Those sanctions were maintained after the war to
    compel the regime's compliance with Security Council resolutions. In
    time, Iraq was allowed to use oil revenues to buy food. Saddam
    Hussein has subverted this program, working
    around the sanctions to buy missile technology and military materials.
    He blames the suffering of Iraq's people on the United Nations, even as
    he uses his oil wealth to build lavish palaces for himself and to buy
    arms for his country. By refusing to comply with his own agreements, he
    bears full guilt for the hunger and misery of innocent Iraqi citizens.
        In 1991, Iraq promised U.N. inspectors immediate and unrestricted
    access to verify Iraq's commitment to rid itself of weapons of mass
    destruction and long-range missiles. Iraq broke this promise, spending 7
    years deceiving, evading, and harassing U.N. inspectors before ceasing
    cooperation entirely. Just months after the 1991 ceasefire, the Security
    Council twice renewed its demand that the Iraqi regime cooperate fully
    with inspectors, condemning Iraq's serious violations of its
    obligations. The Security Council again renewed that demand in 1994 and
    twice more in 1996, deploring Iraq's clear violations of its
    obligations. The Security Council renewed its demand three more times in
    1997, citing flagrant violations, and three more times in 1998, calling
    Iraq's behavior totally unacceptable. And in 1999, the demand was
    renewed yet again.

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        As we meet today, it's been almost 4 years since the last U.N.
    inspectors set foot in Iraq, 4 years for the Iraqi regime to plan and to
    build and to test behind the cloak of secrecy.
        We know that Saddam Hussein pursued
    weapons of mass murder even when inspectors were in his country. Are we
    to assume that he stopped when they left? The history, the logic, and
    the facts lead to one conclusion: Saddam Hussein's regime is a grave and
    gathering danger. To suggest otherwise is to hope against the evidence.
    To assume this regime's good faith is to bet the lives of millions and
    the peace of the world in a reckless gamble. And this is a risk we must
    not take.
        Delegates to the General Assembly, we have been more than patient.
    We've tried sanctions. We've tried the carrot of oil for food and the
    stick of coalition military strikes. But Saddam Hussein has defied all these efforts and continues to develop
    weapons of mass destruction. The first time we may be completely certain
    he has a--nuclear weapons is when, God forbids, he uses one. We owe it
    to all our citizens to do everything in our power to prevent that day
    from coming.
        The conduct of the Iraqi regime is a threat to the authority of the
    United Nations and a threat to peace. Iraq has answered a decade of U.N.
    demands with a decade of defiance. All the world now faces a test and
    the United Nations a difficult and defining moment. Are Security Council
    resolutions to be honored and enforced or cast aside without
    consequence? Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its founding,
    or will it be irrelevant?
        The United States helped found the United Nations. We want the
    United Nations to be effective and respectful and successful. We want
    the resolutions of the world's most important multilateral body to be
    enforced. And right now those resolutions are being unilaterally
    subverted by the Iraqi regime. Our partnership of nations can meet the
    test before us by making clear what we now expect of the Iraqi regime.
        If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately and
    unconditionally forswear, disclose, and remove or destroy all weapons of
    mass destruction, long-range missiles, and all related material.
        If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately end all
    support for terrorism and act to suppress it, as all states are required
    to do by U.N. Security Council resolutions.
        If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will cease persecution of its
    civilian population, including Shi'a, Sunnis, Kurds, Turkomans, and
    others, again as required by Security Council resolutions.
        If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will release or account for all
    Gulf war personnel whose fate is still unknown. It will return the
    remains of any who are deceased, return stolen property, accept
    liability for losses resulting from the invasion of Kuwait, and fully
    cooperate with international efforts to resolve these issues, as
    required by Security Council resolutions.
        If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately end all
    illicit trade outside the oil-for-food program. It will accept U.N.
    administration of funds from that program, to ensure that the money is
    used fairly and promptly for the benefit of the Iraqi people.
        If all these steps are taken, it will signal a new openness and
    accountability in Iraq. And it could open the prospect of the United
    Nations helping to build a government that represents all Iraqis, a
    government based on respect for human rights, economic liberty, and
    internationally supervised elections.
        The United States has no quarrel with the Iraqi people. They've
    suffered too long in silent captivity. Liberty for the Iraqi people is a
    great moral cause and a great strategic goal. The people of Iraq deserve
    it; the security of all nations requires it. Free societies do not
    intimidate through cruelty and conquest, and open societies do not

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    threaten the world with mass murder. The United States supports
    political and economic liberty in a unified Iraq.
        We can harbor no illusions, and that's important today to remember.
    Saddam Hussein attacked Iran in 1980 and
    Kuwait in 1990. He's fired ballistic missiles at Iran and Saudi Arabia,
    Bahrain, and Israel. His regime once ordered the killing of every person
    between the ages of 15 and 70 in certain Kurdish villages in northern
    Iraq. He has gassed many Iranians and 40 Iraqi villages.
        My Nation will work with the U.N. Security Council to meet our
    common challenge. If Iraq's regime defies us again, the world must move
    deliberately, decisively to hold Iraq to account. We will work with the
    U.N. Security Council for the necessary resolutions. But the purposes of
    the United States should not be doubted. The Security Council
    resolutions will be enforced, the just demands of peace and security
    will be met, or action will be unavoidable. And a regime that has lost
    its legitimacy will also lose its power.
        Events can turn in one of two ways. If we fail to act in the face of
    danger, the people of Iraq will continue to live in brutal submission.
    The regime will have new power to bully and dominate and conquer its
    neighbors, condemning the Middle East to more years of bloodshed and
    fear. The regime will remain unstable--the region will remain unstable,
    with little hope of freedom, and isolated from the progress of our
    times. With every step the Iraqi regime takes toward gaining and
    deploying the most terrible weapons, our own options to confront that
    regime will narrow. And if an emboldened regime were to supply these
    weapons to terrorist allies, then the attacks of September the 11th
    would be a prelude to far greater horrors.
        If we meet our responsibilities, if we overcome this danger, we can
    arrive at a very different future. The people of Iraq can shake off
    their captivity. They can one day join a democratic Afghanistan and a
    democratic Palestine, inspiring reforms throughout the Muslim world.
    These nations can show by their example that honest government and
    respect for women and the great Islamic tradition of learning can
    triumph in the Middle East and beyond. And we will show that the promise
    of the United Nations can be fulfilled in our time.
        Neither of these outcomes is certain. Both have been set before us.
    We must choose between a world of fear and a world of progress. We
    cannot stand by and do nothing while dangers gather. We must stand up
    for our security and for the permanent rights and the hopes of mankind.
    By heritage and by choice, the United States of America will make that
    stand. And delegates to the United Nations, you have the power to make
    that stand as well.
        Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:39 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 Jan Kavan of
    the United Nations; President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; Yuli Vorontsov,
    High-Level Coordinator for the Return of Missing Property and Missing
    Persons from Iraq to Kuwait; missing American pilot Lt. Comdr. Michael
    S. Speicher, USN; Amir Jabir al-Ahmad al-Jabir Al Sabah of Kuwait; and
    former President George Bush. The Office of the Press Secretary also
    released a Spanish language transcript of these remarks.