    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book I)]
    [January 28, 2003]
    [Pages 82-90]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 82]]

    Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union
    January 28, 2003

        Mr. Speaker,  Dennis Vice President
    Cheney, Members of Congress, distinguished
    citizens and fellow citizens: Every year, by law and by custom, we meet
    here to consider the state of the Union. This year, we gather in this
    Chamber deeply aware of decisive days that lie ahead.
        You and I serve our country in a time of great consequence. During
    this session of Congress, we have the duty to reform domestic programs
    vital to our country. We have the opportunity to save millions of lives
    abroad from a terrible disease. We will work for a prosperity that is
    broadly shared, and we will answer every danger and every enemy that
    threatens the American people.
        In all these days of promise and days of reckoning, we can be
    confident. In a whirlwind of change and hope and peril, our faith is
    sure; our resolve is firm; and our Union is strong.
        This country has many challenges. We will not deny, we will not
    ignore, we will not pass along our problems to other Congresses, to
    other Presidents, and other generations. We will confront them with
    focus and clarity and courage.
        During the last 2 years, we have seen what can be accomplished when
    we work together. To lift the standards of our public schools, we
    achieved historic education reform, which must now be carried out in
    every school and in every classroom so that every child in America can
    read and learn and succeed in life. To protect our country, we
    reorganized our Government and created the Department of Homeland
    Security, which is mobilizing against the threats of a new era. To bring
    our economy out of recession, we delivered the largest tax relief in a
    generation. To insist on integrity in American business, we passed tough
    reforms, and we are holding corporate criminals to account.
        Some might call this a good record. I call it a good start. Tonight
    I ask the House and the Senate to join me in the next bold steps to
    serve our fellow citizens.
        Our first goal is clear: We must have an economy that grows fast
    enough to employ every man and woman who seeks a job. After recession,
    terrorist attacks, corporate scandals, and stock market declines, our
    economy is recovering. Yet, it's not growing fast enough or strongly
    enough. With unemployment rising, our Nation needs more small businesses
    to open, more companies to invest and expand, more employers to put up
    the sign that says ``Help Wanted.''
        Jobs are created when the economy grows. The economy grows when
    Americans have more money to spend and invest, and the best and fairest
    way to make sure Americans have that money is not to tax it away in the
    first place.
        I am proposing that all the income-tax reductions set for 2004 and
    2006 be made permanent and effective this year. And under my plan, as
    soon as I've signed the bill, this extra money will start showing up in
    workers' paychecks. Instead of gradually reducing the marriage penalty,
    we should do it now. Instead of slowly raising the child credit to
    $1,000, we should send the checks to American families now.
        The tax relief is for everyone who pays income taxes, and it will
    help our economy immediately. Ninety-two million Americans will keep,
    this year, an average of almost $1,100 more of their own money. A family
    of four with an income of $40,000 would see their Federal income taxes
    fall from $1,178 to $45 per year. Our plan will improve the bottom line
    for more than 23 million small businesses.
        You, the Congress, have already passed all these reductions and
    promised them for future years. If this tax relief is good for

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    Americans 3 or 5 or 7 years from now, it is even better for Americans
    today.
        We should also strengthen the economy by treating investors equally
    in our tax laws. It's fair to tax a company's profits. It is not fair to
    again tax the shareholder on the same profits. To boost investor
    confidence and to help the nearly 10 million seniors who receive
    dividend income, I ask you to end the unfair double taxation of
    dividends.
        Lower taxes and greater investment will help this economy expand.
    More jobs mean more taxpayers and higher revenues to our Government. The
    best way to address the deficit and move toward a balanced budget is to
    encourage economic growth and to show some spending discipline in
    Washington, DC.
        We must work together to fund only our most important priorities. I
    will send you a budget that increases discretionary spending by 4
    percent next year, about as much as the average family's income is
    expected to grow. And that is a good benchmark for us. Federal spending
    should not rise any faster than the paychecks of American families.
        A growing economy and a focus on essential priorities will be
    crucial to the future of Social Security. As we continue to work
    together to keep Social Security sound and reliable, we must offer
    younger workers a chance to invest in retirement accounts that they will
    control and they will own.
        Our second goal is high quality, affordable health for all
    Americans. The American system of medicine is a model of skill and
    innovation, with a pace of discovery that is adding good years to our
    lives. Yet for many people, medical care costs too much, and many have
    no health coverage at all. These problems will not be solved with a
    nationalized health care system that dictates coverage and rations care.
        Instead, we must work toward a system in which all Americans have a
    good insurance policy, choose their own doctors, and seniors and low-
    income Americans receive the help they need. Instead of bureaucrats and
    trial lawyers and HMOs, we must put doctors and nurses and patients back
    in charge of American medicine.
        Health care reform must begin with Medicare. Medicare is the binding
    commitment of a caring society. We must renew that commitment by giving
    seniors access to preventive medicine and new drugs that are
    transforming health care in America.
        Seniors happy with the current Medicare system should be able to
    keep their coverage just the way it is. And just like you, the Members
    of Congress, and your staffs and other Federal employees, all seniors
    should have the choice of a health care plan that provides prescription
    drugs.
        My budget will commit an additional $400 billion over the next
    decade to reform and strengthen Medicare. Leaders of both political
    parties have talked for years about strengthening Medicare. I urge the
    Members of this new Congress to act this year.
        To improve our health care system, we must address one of the prime
    causes of higher cost, the constant threat that physicians and hospitals
    will be unfairly sued. Because of excessive litigation, everybody pays
    more for health care, and many parts of America are losing fine doctors.
    No one has ever been healed by a frivolous lawsuit. I urge the Congress
    to pass medical liability reform.
        Our third goal is to promote energy independence for our country
    while dramatically improving the environment. I have sent you a
    comprehensive energy plan to promote energy efficiency and conservation,
    to develop cleaner technology, and to produce more energy at home. I
    have sent you Clear Skies legislation that mandates a 70-percent cut in
    air pollution from powerplants over the next 15 years. I have sent you a
    Healthy Forests Initiative, to help prevent the catastrophic fires that
    devastate communities, kill wildlife, and burn away millions of acres of
    treasured forests.

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        I urge you to pass these measures, for the good of both our
    environment and our economy. Even more, I ask you to take a crucial step
    and protect our environment in ways that generations before us could not
    have imagined.
        In this century, the greatest environmental progress will come about
    not through endless lawsuits or command-and-control regulations but
    through technology and innovation. Tonight I'm proposing $1.2 billion in
    research funding so that America can lead the world in developing clean,
    hydrogen-powered automobiles.
        A simple chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen generates
    energy which can be used to power a car, producing only water, not
    exhaust fumes. With a new national commitment, our scientists and
    engineers will overcome obstacles to taking these cars from laboratory
    to showroom, so that the first car driven by a child born today could be
    powered by hydrogen and pollution-free. Join me in this important
    innovation to make our air significantly cleaner and our country much
    less dependent on foreign sources of energy.
        Our fourth goal is to apply the compassion of America to the deepest
    problems of America. For so many in our country, the homeless and the
    fatherless, the addicted, the need is great. Yet there's power, wonder-
    working power, in the goodness and idealism and faith of the American
    people.
        Americans are doing the work of compassion every day, visiting
    prisoners, providing shelter for battered women, bringing companionship
    to lonely seniors. These good works deserve our praise. They deserve our
    personal support, and when appropriate, they deserve the assistance of
    the Federal Government.
        I urge you to pass both my Faith-Based Initiative and the ``Citizen
    Service Act,'' to encourage acts of compassion that can transform
    America, one heart and one soul at a time.
        Last year, I called on my fellow citizens to participate in the USA
    Freedom Corps, which is enlisting tens of thousands of new volunteers
    across America. Tonight I ask Congress and the American people to focus
    the spirit of service and the resources of Government on the needs of
    some of our most vulnerable citizens, boys and girls trying to grow up
    without guidance and attention and children who have to go through a
    prison gate to be hugged by their mom or dad. I propose a $450 million
    initiative to bring mentors to more than a million disadvantaged junior
    high students and children of prisoners. Government will support the
    training and recruiting of mentors. Yet it is the men and women of
    America who will fill the need. One mentor, one person, can change a
    life forever, and I urge you to be that one person.
        Another cause of hopelessness is addiction to drugs. Addiction
    crowds out friendship, ambition, moral conviction and reduces all the
    richness of life to a single destructive desire. As a government, we are
    fighting illegal drugs by cutting off supplies and reducing demand
    through antidrug education programs. Yet for those already addicted, the
    fight against drugs is a fight for their own lives. Too many Americans
    in search of treatment cannot get it. So tonight I propose a new $600
    million program to help an additional 300,000 Americans receive
    treatment over the next 3 years.
        Our Nation is blessed with recovery programs that do amazing work.
    One of them is found at the Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge,
    Louisiana. A man in the program said, ``God does miracles in people's
    lives, and you never think it could be you.'' Tonight let us bring to
    all Americans who struggle with drug addiction this message of hope: The
    miracle of recovery is possible, and it could be you.
        By caring for children who need mentors and for addicted men and
    women who need treatment, we are building a more welcoming society, a
    culture that values

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    every life. And in this work, we must not overlook the weakest among us.
    I ask you to protect infants at the very hour of their birth and end the
    practice of partial-birth abortion. And because no human life should be
    started or ended as the object of an experiment, I ask you to set a high
    standard for humanity and pass a law against all human cloning.
        The qualities of courage and compassion that we strive for in
    America also determine our conduct abroad. The American flag stands for
    more than our power and our interests. Our Founders dedicated this
    country to the cause of human dignity, the rights of every person, and
    the possibilities of every life. This conviction leads us into the world
    to help the afflicted and defend the peace and confound the designs of
    evil men.
        In Afghanistan, we helped to liberate an oppressed people. And we
    will continue helping them secure their country, rebuild their society,
    and educate all their children, boys and girls. In the Middle East, we
    will continue to seek peace between a secure Israel and a democratic
    Palestine. Across the Earth, America is feeding the hungry. More than 60
    percent of international food aid comes as a gift from the people of the
    United States. As our Nation moves troops and builds alliances to make
    our world safer, we must also remember our calling as a blessed country
    is to make the world better.
        Today, on the continent of Africa, nearly 30 million people have the
    AIDS virus, including 3 million children under the age 15. There are
    whole countries in Africa where more than one-third of the adult
    population carries the infection. More than 4 million require immediate
    drug treatment. Yet across that continent, only 50,000 AIDS victims--
    only 50,000--are receiving the medicine they need. Because the AIDS
    diagnosis is considered a death sentence, many do not seek treatment.
    Almost all who do are turned away. A doctor in rural South Africa
    describes his frustration. He says, ``We have no medicines. Many
    hospitals tell people, `You've got AIDS. We can't help you. Go home and
    die.''' In an age of miraculous medicines, no person should have to hear
    those words.
        AIDS can be prevented. Antiretroviral drugs can extend life for many
    years. And the cost of those drugs has dropped from $12,000 a year to
    under $300 a year, which places a tremendous possibility within our
    grasp. Ladies and gentlemen, seldom has history offered a greater
    opportunity to do so much for so many.
        We have confronted and will continue to confront HIV/AIDS in our own
    country. And to meet a severe and urgent crisis abroad, tonight I
    propose the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a work of mercy beyond all
    current international efforts to help the people of Africa. This
    comprehensive plan will prevent 7 million new AIDS infections, treat at
    least 2 million people with life-extending drugs, and provide humane
    care for millions of people suffering from AIDS and for children
    orphaned by AIDS. I ask the Congress to commit $15 billion over the next
    5 years, including nearly $10 billion in new money, to turn the tide
    against AIDS in the most afflicted nations of Africa and the Caribbean.
        This Nation can lead the world in sparing innocent people from a
    plague of nature. And this Nation is leading the world in confronting
    and defeating the manmade evil of international terrorism.
        There are days when our fellow citizens do not hear news about the
    war on terror. There's never a day when I do not learn of another threat
    or receive reports of operations in progress or give an order in this
    global war against a scattered network of killers. The war goes on, and
    we are winning.
        To date, we've arrested or otherwise dealt with many key commanders
    of Al Qaida. They include a man who directed logistics and funding for
    the September the 11th attacks, the chief of Al Qaida operations in the
    Persian Gulf who planned the

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    bombings of our embassies in east Africa and the U.S.S. Cole, an Al
    Qaida operations chief from Southeast Asia, a former director of Al
    Qaida's training camps in Afghanistan, a key Al Qaida operative in
    Europe, a major Al Qaida leader in Yemen. All told, more than 3,000
    suspected terrorists have been arrested in many countries. Many others
    have met a different fate. Let's put it this way: They are no longer a
    problem to the United States and our friends and allies.
        We are working closely with other nations to prevent further
    attacks. America and coalition countries have uncovered and stopped
    terrorist conspiracies targeting the Embassy in Yemen, the American
    Embassy in Singapore, a Saudi military base, ships in the Straits of
    Hormuz and the Straits of Gibraltar. We've broken Al Qaida cells in
    Hamburg, Milan, Madrid, London, Paris, as well as Buffalo, New York.
        We have the terrorists on the run. We're keeping them on the run.
    One by one, the terrorists are learning the meaning of American justice.
        As we fight this war, we will remember where it began: Here, in our
    own country. This Government is taking unprecedented measures to protect
    our people and defend our homeland. We've intensified security at the
    borders and ports of entry, posted more than 50,000 newly trained
    Federal screeners in airports, begun inoculating troops and first-
    responders against smallpox, and are deploying the Nation's first early
    warning network of sensors to detect biological attack. And this year,
    for the first time, we are beginning to field a defense to protect this
    Nation against ballistic missiles.
        I thank the Congress for supporting these measures. I ask you
    tonight to add to our future security with a major research and
    production effort to guard our people against bioterrorism, called
    Project BioShield. The budget I send you will propose almost $6 billion
    to quickly make available effective vaccines and treatments against
    agents like anthrax, botulinum toxin, Ebola, and plague. We must assume
    that our enemies would use these diseases as weapons, and we must act
    before the dangers are upon us.
        Since September the 11th, our intelligence and law enforcement
    agencies have worked more closely than ever to track and disrupt the
    terrorists. The FBI is improving its ability to analyze intelligence and
    is transforming itself to meet new threats. Tonight I am instructing the
    leaders of the FBI, the CIA, the Homeland Security, and the Department
    of Defense to develop a Terrorist Threat Integration Center, to merge
    and analyze all threat information in a single location. Our Government
    must have the very best information possible, and we will use it to make
    sure the right people are in the right places to protect all our
    citizens.
        Our war against terror is a contest of will in which perseverance is
    power. In the ruins of two towers, at the western wall of the Pentagon,
    on a field in Pennsylvania, this Nation made a pledge, and we renew that
    pledge tonight: Whatever the duration of this struggle and whatever the
    difficulties, we will not permit the triumph of violence in the affairs
    of men; free people will set the course of history.
        Today, the gravest danger in the war on terror, the gravest danger
    facing America and the world, is outlaw regimes that seek and possess
    nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. These regimes could use such
    weapons for blackmail, terror, and mass murder. They could also give or
    sell those weapons to terrorist allies, who would use them without the
    least hesitation.
        This threat is new. America's duty is familiar. Throughout the 20th
    century, small groups of men seized control of great nations, built
    armies and arsenals, and set out to dominate the weak and intimidate the
    world. In each case, their ambitions of cruelty and murder had no limit.
    In each case, the ambitions of Hitlerism, militarism, and communism were
    defeated by the will of

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    free peoples, by the strength of great alliances, and by the might of
    the United States of America.
        Now, in this century, the ideology of power and domination has
    appeared again and seeks to gain the ultimate weapons of terror. Once
    again, this Nation and all our friends are all that stand between a
    world at peace and a world of chaos and constant alarm. Once again, we
    are called to defend the safety of our people and the hopes of all
    mankind. And we accept this responsibility.
        America is making a broad and determined effort to confront these
    dangers. We have called on the United Nations to fulfill its charter and
    stand by its demand that Iraq disarm. We're strongly supporting the
    International Atomic Energy Agency in its mission to track and control
    nuclear materials around the world. We're working with other governments
    to secure nuclear materials in the former Soviet Union and to strengthen
    global treaties banning the production and shipment of missile
    technologies and weapons of mass destruction.
        In all these efforts, however, America's purpose is more than to
    follow a process; it is to achieve a result, the end of terrible threats
    to the civilized world. All free nations have a stake in preventing
    sudden and catastrophic attacks. And we're asking them to join us, and
    many are doing so. Yet the course of this Nation does not depend on the
    decisions of others. Whatever action is required, whenever action is
    necessary, I will defend the freedom and security of the American
    people.
        Different threats require different strategies. In Iran, we continue
    to see a Government that represses its people, pursues weapons of mass
    destruction, and supports terror. We also see Iranian citizens risking
    intimidation and death as they speak out for liberty and human rights
    and democracy. Iranians, like all people, have a right to choose their
    own Government and determine their own destiny, and the United States
    supports their aspirations to live in freedom.
        On the Korean Peninsula, an oppressive regime rules a people living
    in fear and starvation. Throughout the 1990s, the United States relied
    on a negotiated framework to keep North Korea from gaining nuclear
    weapons. We now know that that regime was deceiving the world and
    developing those weapons all along. And today, the North Korean regime
    is using its nuclear program to incite fear and seek concessions.
    America and the world will not be blackmailed.
        America is working with the countries of the region, South Korea,
    Japan, China, and Russia, to find a peaceful solution and to show the
    North Korean Government that nuclear weapons will bring only isolation,
    economic stagnation, and continued hardship. The North Korean regime
    will find respect in the world and revival for its people only when it
    turns away from its nuclear ambitions.
        Our Nation and the world must learn the lessons of the Korean
    Peninsula and not allow an even greater threat to rise up in Iraq. A
    brutal dictator, with a history of reckless
    aggression, with ties to terrorism, with great potential wealth, will
    not be permitted to dominate a vital region and threaten the United
    States.
        Twelve years ago, Saddam Hussein faced
    the prospect of being the last casualty in a war he had started and
    lost. To spare himself, he agreed to disarm of all weapons of mass
    destruction. For the next 12 years, he systematically violated that
    agreement. He pursued chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons, even
    while inspectors were in his country. Nothing to date has restrained him
    from his pursuit of these weapons, not economic sanctions, not isolation
    from the civilized world, not even cruise missile strikes on his
    military facilities.
        Almost 3 months ago, the United Nations Security Council gave Saddam
    Hussein his

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    final chance to disarm. He has shown instead utter contempt for the
    United Nations and for the opinion of the world. The 108 U.N. inspectors
    were sent to conduct--were not sent to conduct a scavenger hunt for
    hidden materials across a country the size of California. The job of the
    inspectors is to verify that Iraq's regime is disarming. It is up to
    Iraq to show exactly where it is hiding its banned weapons, lay those
    weapons out for the world to see, and destroy them as directed. Nothing
    like this has happened.
        The United Nations concluded in 1999 that Saddam Hussein had biological weapons sufficient to produce over
    25,000 liters of anthrax, enough doses to kill several million people.
    He hasn't accounted for that material. He's given no evidence that he
    has destroyed it.
        The United Nations concluded that Saddam Hussein had materials
    sufficient to produce more than 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin, enough
    to subject millions of people to death by respiratory failure. He hasn't
    accounted for that material. He's given no evidence that he has
    destroyed it.
        Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the
    materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard, and VX nerve
    agent. In such quantities, these chemical agents could also kill untold
    thousands. He's not accounted for these materials. He has given no
    evidence that he has destroyed them.
        U.S. intelligence indicates that Saddam Hussein had upwards of
    30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents. Inspectors
    recently turned up 16 of them, despite Iraq's recent declaration denying
    their existence. Saddam Hussein has not accounted for the remaining
    29,984 of these prohibited munitions. He's given no evidence that he has
    destroyed them.
        From three Iraqi defectors we know that Iraq, in the late 1990s, had
    several mobile biological weapons labs. These are designed to produce
    germ warfare agents and can be moved from place to a place to evade
    inspectors. Saddam Hussein has not disclosed
    these facilities. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed them.
        The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed in the 1990s that
    Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear
    weapons development program, had a design for a nuclear weapon, and was
    working on five different methods of enriching uranium for a bomb. The
    British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought
    significant quantities of uranium from Africa. Our intelligence sources
    tell us that he has attempted to purchase high-strength aluminum tubes
    suitable for nuclear weapons production. Saddam Hussein has not credibly
    explained these activities. He clearly has much to hide.
        The dictator of Iraq is not disarming. To
    the contrary, he is deceiving. From intelligence sources we know, for
    instance, that thousands of Iraqi security personnel are at work hiding
    documents and materials from the U.N. inspectors, sanitizing inspection
    sites, and monitoring the inspectors themselves. Iraqi officials
    accompany the inspectors in order to intimidate witnesses. Iraq is
    blocking U-2 surveillance flights requested by the United Nations. Iraqi
    intelligence officers are posing as the scientists inspectors are
    supposed to interview. Real scientists have been coached by Iraqi
    officials on what to say. Intelligence sources indicate that Saddam
    Hussein has ordered that scientists who
    cooperate with U.N. inspectors in disarming Iraq will be killed, along
    with their families.
        Year after year, Saddam Hussein has gone
    to elaborate lengths, spent enormous sums, taken great risks to build
    and keep weapons of mass destruction. But why? The only possible
    explanation, the only possible use he could have for those weapons, is
    to dominate, intimidate, or attack.
        With nuclear arms or a full arsenal of chemical and biological
    weapons, Saddam Hussein could resume his
    ambitions of conquest in the Middle East and create deadly

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    havoc in that region. And this Congress and the American people must
    recognize another threat. Evidence from intelligence sources, secret
    communications, and statements by people now in custody reveal that
    Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of Al
    Qaida. Secretly and without fingerprints, he could provide one of his
    hidden weapons to terrorists or help them develop their own.
        Before September the 11th, many in the world believed that Saddam
    Hussein could be contained. But chemical
    agents, lethal viruses, and shadowy terrorist networks are not easily
    contained. Imagine those 19 hijackers with other weapons and other
    plans, this time armed by Saddam Hussein. It would take one vial, one
    canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a day of horror
    like none we have ever known. We will do everything in our power to make
    sure that that day never comes.
        Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since
    when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely
    putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to
    fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words, and all
    recriminations would come too late. Trusting in the sanity and restraint
    of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it
    is not an option.
        The dictator who is assembling the
    world's most dangerous weapons has already used them on whole villages,
    leaving thousands of his own citizens dead, blind, or disfigured. Iraqi
    refugees tell us how forced confessions are obtained, by torturing
    children while their parents are made to watch. International human
    rights groups have cataloged other methods used in the torture chambers
    of Iraq: electric shock, burning with hot irons, dripping acid on the
    skin, mutilation with electric drills, cutting out tongues, and rape. If
    this is not evil, then evil has no meaning.
        And tonight I have a message for the brave and oppressed people of
    Iraq: Your enemy is not surrounding your country; your enemy is ruling your country. And the day he and his regime
    are removed from power will be the day of your liberation.
        The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. America will not
    accept a serious and mounting threat to our country and our friends and
    our allies. The United States will ask the U.N. Security Council to
    convene on February the 5th to consider the facts of Iraq's ongoing
    defiance of the world. Secretary of State Powell will present information and intelligence about Iraqi's
    legal--Iraq's illegal weapons programs, its attempt to hide those
    weapons from inspectors, and its links to terrorist groups.
        We will consult. But let there be no misunderstanding: If Saddam
    Hussein does not fully disarm, for the safety
    of our people and for the peace of the world, we will lead a coalition
    to disarm him.
        Tonight I have a message for the men and women who will keep the
    peace, members of the American Armed Forces: Many of you are assembling
    in or near the Middle East, and some crucial hours may lay ahead. In
    those hours, the success of our cause will depend on you. Your training
    has prepared you. Your honor will guide you. You believe in America, and
    America believes in you.
        Sending Americans into battle is the most profound decision a
    President can make. The technologies of war have changed; the risks and
    suffering of war have not. For the brave Americans who bear the risk, no
    victory is free from sorrow. This Nation fights reluctantly, because we
    know the cost and we dread the days of mourning that always come.
        We seek peace. We strive for peace. And sometimes peace must be
    defended. A future lived at the mercy of terrible threats is no peace at
    all. If war is forced upon us, we will fight in a just cause and by just
    means, sparing, in every way we can, the innocent. And if war is forced
    upon us, we will fight with the full force and

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    might of the United States military, and we will prevail.
        And as we and our coalition partners are doing in Afghanistan, we
    will bring to the Iraqi people food and medicines and supplies and
    freedom.
        Many challenges, abroad and at home, have arrived in a single
    season. In 2 years, America has gone from a sense of invulnerability to
    an awareness of peril, from bitter division in small matters to calm
    unity in great causes. And we go forward with confidence, because this
    call of history has come to the right country.
        Americans are a resolute people who have risen to every test of our
    time. Adversity has revealed the character of our country, to the world
    and to ourselves. America is a strong nation and honorable in the use of
    our strength. We exercise power without conquest, and we sacrifice for
    the liberty of strangers.
        Americans are a free people who know that freedom is the right of
    every person and the future of every nation. The liberty we prize is not
    America's gift to the world; it is God's gift to humanity.
        We Americans have faith in ourselves, but not in ourselves alone. We
    do not know--we do not claim to know all the ways of providence, yet we
    can trust in them, placing our confidence in the loving God behind all
    of life and all of history.
        May He guide us now. And may God continue to bless the United States
    of America.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:01 p.m. in the House Chamber of the
    Capitol. In his remarks, he referred to President Saddam Hussein of
    Iraq. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language
    transcript of this address.