    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book II)]
    [September 23, 2003]
    [Pages 1190-1194]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    [[Page 1190]]

    Address to the United Nations General Assembly in New York City
    September 23, 2003

        Mr. Secretary-General; Mr. President; distinguished delegates; ladies and gentlemen: Twenty-
    four months ago--and yesterday in the memory of America--the center of
    New York City became a battlefield and a graveyard and the symbol of an
    unfinished war. Since that day, terrorists have struck in Bali, Mombasa,
    in Casablanca, in Riyadh, in Jakarta, in Jerusalem, measuring the
    advance of their cause in the chaos and innocent suffering they leave
    behind.
        Last month, terrorists brought their war to the United Nations
    itself. The U.N. headquarters in Baghdad stood for order and compassion,
    and for that reason, the terrorists decided it must be destroyed. Among
    the 22 people who were murdered was Sergio Vieira de Mello. Over the
    decades, this good and brave man from Brazil gave help to the afflicted
    in Bangladesh, Cypress, Mozambique, Lebanon, Cambodia, Central Africa,
    Kosovo, and East Timor, and was aiding the people of Iraq in their time
    of need. America joins you, his colleagues, in honoring the memory of
    Senor Vieira de Mello and the memory of all who died with him in the
    service to the United Nations.
        By the victims they choose and by the means they use, the terrorists
    have clarified the struggle we are in. Those who target relief workers
    for death have set themselves against all humanity. Those who incite
    murder and celebrate suicide reveal their contempt for life itself. They
    have no place in any religious faith. They have no claim on the world's
    sympathy, and they should have no friend in this chamber.
        Events during the past 2 years have set before us the clearest of
    divides, between those who seek order and those who spread chaos,
    between those who work for peaceful change and those who adopt the
    methods of gangsters, between those who honor the rights of man and
    those who deliberately take the lives of men and women and children
    without mercy or shame.
        Between these alternatives, there is no neutral ground. All
    governments that support terror are complicit in a war against
    civilization. No government should ignore the threat of terror, because
    to look the other way gives terrorists the chance to regroup and recruit
    and prepare. And all nations that fight terror as if the lives of their
    own people depend on it will earn the favorable judgment of history.
        The former regimes of Afghanistan and Iraq knew these alternatives
    and made their choices. The Taliban was a sponsor and servant of
    terrorism. When confronted, that regime chose defiance, and that regime
    is no more. Afghanistan's President, who is
    here today, now represents a free people who are building a decent and
    just society. They're building a nation fully joined in the war against
    terror.
        The regime of Saddam Hussein cultivated
    ties to terror while it built weapons of mass destruction. It used those
    weapons in acts of mass murder and refused to account for them when
    confronted by the world. The Security Council was right to be alarmed.
    The Security Council was right to demand that Iraq destroy its illegal
    weapons and prove that it had done so. The Security Council was right to
    vow serious consequences if Iraq refused to comply. And because there
    were consequences, because a coalition of nations acted to defend the
    peace and the credibility of the United Nations, Iraq is free, and today
    we are joined by representatives of a liberated country.
        Saddam Hussein's monuments have been
    removed, and not only his statues. The true monuments of his rule and
    his character--the torture chambers and the rape rooms and the prison
    cells for innocent children--are closed. And as we discover the killing

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    fields and mass graves of Iraq, the true scale of Saddam's cruelty is
    being revealed.
        The Iraqi people are meeting hardships and challenges, like every
    nation that has set out on the path of democracy. Yet their future
    promises lives of dignity and freedom, and that is a world away from the
    squalid, vicious tyranny they have known. Across Iraq, life is being
    improved by liberty. Across the Middle East, people are safer because an
    unstable aggressor has been removed from power. Across the world,
    nations are more secure because an ally of terror has fallen.
        Our actions in Afghanistan and Iraq were supported by many
    governments, and America is grateful to each one. I also recognize that
    some of the sovereign nations of this Assembly disagreed with our
    actions. Yet there was and there remains unity among us on the
    fundamental principles and objectives of the United Nations. We are
    dedicated to the defense of our collective security and to the advance
    of human rights. These permanent commitments call us to great work in
    the world, work we must do together. So let us move forward.
        First, we must stand with the people of Afghanistan and Iraq as they
    build free and stable countries. The terrorists and their allies fear
    and fight this progress above all, because free people embrace hope over
    resentment and choose peace over violence.
        The United Nations has been a friend of the Afghan people,
    distributing food and medicine, helping refugees return home, advising
    on a new constitution, and helping to prepare the way for nationwide
    elections. NATO has taken over the U.N.-mandated security force in
    Kabul. American and coalition forces continue to track and defeat Al
    Qaida terrorists and remnants of the Taliban. Our efforts to rebuild
    that country go on. I have recently proposed to spend an additional $1.2
    billion for the Afghan reconstruction effort, and I urge other nations
    to continue contributing to this important cause.
        In the nation of Iraq, the United Nations is carrying out vital and
    effective work every day. By the end of 2004, more than 90 percent of
    Iraqi children under age 5 will have been immunized against preventable
    diseases such as polio, tuberculosis, and measles, thanks to the hard
    work and high ideals of UNICEF. Iraq's food distribution system is
    operational, delivering nearly a half-million tons of food per month,
    thanks to the skill and expertise of the World Food Program.
        Our international coalition in Iraq is meeting it responsibilities.
    We are conducting precision raids against terrorists and holdouts of the
    former regime. These killers are at war with the Iraqi people. They have
    made Iraq the central front in the war on terror, and they will be
    defeated. Our coalition has made sure that Iraq's former dictator will
    never again use weapons of mass destruction. We are interviewing Iraqi
    citizens and analyzing records of the old regime to reveal the full
    extent of its weapons programs and its long campaign of deception. We're
    training Iraqi police and border guards and a new army, so the Iraqi
    people can assume full responsibility for their own security.
        And at the same time, our coalition is helping to improve the daily
    lives of the Iraqi people. The old regime built palaces while letting
    schools decay, so we are rebuilding more than a thousand schools. The
    old regime starved hospitals of resources, so we have helped to supply
    and reopen hospitals across Iraq. The old regime built up armies and
    weapons while allowing the nation's infrastructure to crumble, so we are
    rehabilitating powerplants, water and sanitation facilities, bridges,
    and airports. I proposed to Congress that the United States provide
    additional funding for our work in Iraq, the greatest financial
    commitment of its kind since the Marshall plan. Having helped to
    liberate Iraq, we will honor our pledges to Iraq, and by helping the
    Iraqi people build a stable and peaceful

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    country, we will make our own countries more secure.
        The primary goal of our coalition in Iraq is self-government for the
    people of Iraq, reached by orderly and democratic process. This process
    must unfold according to the needs of Iraqis, neither hurried nor
    delayed by the wishes of other parties. And the United Nations can
    contribute greatly to the cause of Iraq self-government. America is
    working with friends and allies on a new Security Council resolution
    which will expand the U.N.'s role in Iraq. As in the aftermath of other
    conflicts, the United Nations should assist in developing a
    constitution, in training civil servants, and conducting free and fair
    elections.
        Iraq now has a Governing Council, the first truly representative
    institution in that country. Iraq's new leaders are showing the openness
    and tolerance that democracy requires, and they're also showing courage.
    Yet every young democracy needs the help of friends. Now the nation of
    Iraq needs and deserves our aid, and all nations of good will should
    step forward and provide that support.
        The success of a free Iraq will be watched and noted throughout the
    region. Millions will see that freedom, equality, and material progress
    are possible at the heart of the Middle East. Leaders in the region will
    face the clearest evidence that free institutions and open societies are
    the only path to long-term national success and dignity. And a
    transformed Middle East would benefit the entire world by undermining
    the ideologies that export violence to other lands.
        Iraq as a dictatorship had great power to destabilize the Middle
    East. Iraq as a democracy will have great power to inspire the Middle
    East. The advance of democratic institutions in Iraq is setting an
    example that others, including the Palestinian people, would be wise to
    follow. The Palestinian cause is betrayed by leaders who cling to power
    by feeding old hatreds and destroying the good work of others. The
    Palestinian people deserve their own state, and they will gain that
    state by embracing new leaders committed to reform, to fighting terror,
    and to building peace. All parties in the Middle East must meet their
    responsibilities and carry out the commitments they made at Aqaba.
    Israel must work to create the conditions that will allow a peaceful
    Palestinian state to emerge. And Arab nations must cut off funding and
    other support for terrorist organizations. America will work with every
    nation in the region that acts boldly for the sake of peace.
        A second challenge we must confront together is the proliferation of
    weapons of mass destruction. Outlaw regimes that possess nuclear,
    chemical, and biological weapons and the means to deliver them would be
    able to use blackmail and create chaos in entire regions. These weapons
    could be used by terrorists to bring sudden disaster and suffering on a
    scale we can scarcely imagine. The deadly combination of outlaw regimes
    and terror networks and weapons of mass murder is a peril that cannot be
    ignored or wished away. If such a danger is allowed to fully
    materialize, all words, all protests, will come too late. Nations of the
    world must have the wisdom and the will to stop grave threats before
    they arrive.
        One crucial step is to secure the most dangerous materials at their
    source. For more than a decade, the United States has worked with Russia
    and other states of the former Soviet Union to dismantle, destroy, or
    secure weapons and dangerous materials left over from another era. Last
    year in Canada, the G-8 nations agreed to provide up to $20 billion,
    half of it from the United States, to fight this proliferation risk over
    the next 10 years. Since then, six additional countries have joined the
    effort. More are needed, and I urge other nations to help us meet this
    danger.
        We're also improving our capability to interdict lethal materials in
    transit. Through our Proliferation Security Initiative, 11 nations are
    preparing to search planes and

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    ships, trains, and trucks carrying suspect cargo and to seize weapons or
    missile shipments that raise proliferation concerns. These nations have
    agreed on a set of interdiction principles consistent with legal--
    current legal authorities. And we're working to expand the Proliferation
    Security Initiative to other countries. We're determined to keep the
    world's most destructive weapons away from all our shores and out of the
    hands of our common enemies.
        Because proliferators will use any route or channel that is open to
    them, we need the broadest possible cooperation to stop them. Today I
    ask the U.N. Security Council to adopt a new antiproliferation
    resolution. This resolution should call on all members of the U.N. to
    criminalize the proliferation of weapons--weapons of mass destruction,
    to enact strict export controls consistent with international standards,
    and to secure any and all sensitive materials within their own borders.
    The United States stands ready to help any nation draft these new laws
    and to assist in their enforcement.
        A third challenge we share is a challenge to our conscience. We must
    act decisively to meet the humanitarian crises of our time. The United
    States has begun to carry out the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, aimed
    at preventing AIDS on a massive scale and treating millions who have the
    disease already. We have pledged $15 billion over 5 years to fight AIDS
    around the world.
        My country is acting to save lives from famine as well, providing
    more than $1.4 billion in global emergency food aid. And I've asked our
    United States Congress for $200 million for a new famine fund, so we can
    act quickly when the first signs of famine appear. Every nation on every
    continent should generously add their resources to the fight against
    disease and desperate hunger.
        There's another humanitarian crisis spreading, yet hidden from view.
    Each year, an estimated 800,000 to 900,000 human beings are bought,
    sold, or forced across the world's borders. Among them are hundreds of
    thousands of teenage girls and others as young as 5 who fall victim to
    the sex trade. This commerce in human life generates billions of dollars
    each year, much of which is used to finance organized crime.
        There's a special evil in the abuse and exploitation of the most
    innocent and vulnerable. The victims of sex trade see little of life
    before they see the very worst of life, an underground of brutality and
    lonely fear. Those who create these victims and profit from their
    suffering must be severely punished. Those who patronize this industry
    debase themselves and deepen the misery of others. And governments that
    tolerate this trade are tolerating a form of slavery.
        This problem has appeared in my own country, and we are working to
    stop it. The PROTECT Act, which I signed into law this year, makes it a
    crime for any person to enter the United States or for any citizen to
    travel abroad for the purpose of sex tourism involving children. The
    Department of Justice is actively investigating sex tour operators and
    patrons, who can face up to 30 years in prison. Under the Trafficking
    Victims Protection Act, the United States is using sanctions against
    governments to discourage human trafficking.
        The victims of this industry also need help from members of the
    United Nations, and this begins with clear standards and the certainty
    of punishment under the laws of every country. Today, some nations make
    it a crime to sexually abuse children abroad. Such conduct should be a
    crime in all nations. Governments should inform travelers of the harm
    this industry does and the severe punishments that will fall on its
    patrons. The American Government is committing $50 million to support
    the good work of organizations that are rescuing women and children from
    exploitation and giving them shelter and medical treatment

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    and the hope of a new life. I urge other governments to do their part.
        We must show new energy in fighting back an old evil. Nearly two
    centuries after the abolition of the transatlantic slave trade and more
    than a century after slavery was officially ended in its last
    strongholds, the trade in human beings for any purpose must not be
    allowed to thrive in our time.
        All the challenges I have spoken of this morning require urgent
    attention and moral clarity. Helping Afghanistan and Iraq to succeed as
    free nations in a transformed region, cutting off the avenues of
    proliferation, abolishing modern forms of slavery--these are the kind of
    great tasks for which the United Nations was founded. In each case,
    careful discussion is needed and also decisive action. Our good
    intentions will be credited only if we achieve good outcomes.
        As an original signer of the U.N. Charter, the United States of
    America is committed to the United Nations. And we show that commitment
    by working to fulfill the U.N.'s stated purposes and giving meaning to
    its ideals. The founding documents of the United Nations and the
    founding documents of America stand in the same tradition. Both assert
    that human beings should never be reduced to objects of power or
    commerce, because their dignity is inherent. Both require--both
    recognize a moral law that stands above men and nations, which must be
    defended and enforced by men and nations. And both point the way to
    peace, the peace that comes when all are free. We secure that peace with
    our courage, and we must show that courage together.
        May God bless you all.

    Note: The President spoke at 10:59 a.m. in the General Assembly Hall at
    the United Nations Headquarters. In his remarks, he referred to
    Secretary-General Kofi Annan, General Assembly President Julian Hunte,
    and Special Representative for Iraq Sergio Vieira de Mello of the United
    Nations; President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan; and former President
    Saddam Hussein of Iraq. The Office of the Press Secretary also released
    a Spanish language transcript of these remarks.