    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2003, Book II)]
    [September 7, 2003]
    [Pages 1103-1107]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Address to the Nation on the War on Terror
    September 7, 2003

        Good evening. I have asked for this time to keep you informed of
    America's actions in the war on terror.
        Nearly 2 years ago, following deadly attacks on our country, we
    began a systematic campaign against terrorism. These months have been a
    time of new responsibilities and sacrifice and national resolve and
    great progress.
        America and a broad coalition acted first in Afghanistan, by
    destroying the training camps of terror and removing the regime

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    that harbored Al Qaida. In a series of raids and actions around the
    world, nearly two-thirds of Al Qaida's known leaders have been captured
    or killed, and we continue on Al Qaida's trail. We have exposed
    terrorist front groups, seized terrorist accounts, taken new measures to
    protect our homeland, and uncovered sleeper cells inside the United
    States. And we acted in Iraq, where the former regime sponsored terror,
    possessed and used weapons of mass destruction, and for 12 years defied
    the clear demands of the United Nations Security Council. Our coalition
    enforced these international demands in one of the swiftest and most
    humane military campaigns in history.
        For a generation, leading up to September the 11th, 2001, terrorists
    and their radical allies attacked innocent people in the Middle East and
    beyond, without facing a sustained and serious response. The terrorists
    became convinced that free nations were decadent and weak. And they grew
    bolder, believing that history was on their side. Since America put out
    the fires of September the 11th and mourned our dead and went to war,
    history has taken a different turn. We have carried the fight to the
    enemy. We are rolling back the terrorist threat to civilization, not on
    the fringes of its influence but at the heart of its power.
        This work continues. In Iraq, we are helping the long-suffering
    people of that country to build a decent and democratic society at the
    center of the Middle East. Together we are transforming a place of
    torture chambers and mass graves into a nation of laws and free
    institutions. This undertaking is difficult and costly, yet worthy of
    our country and critical to our security.
        The Middle East will either become a place of progress and peace, or
    it will be an exporter of violence and terror that takes more lives in
    America and in other free nations. The triumph of democracy and
    tolerance in Iraq, in Afghanistan, and beyond would be a grave setback
    for international terrorism. The terrorists thrive on the support of
    tyrants and the resentments of oppressed peoples. When tyrants fall and
    resentment gives way to hope, men and women in every culture reject the
    ideologies of terror and turn to the pursuits of peace. Everywhere that
    freedom takes hold, terror will retreat.
        Our enemies understand this. They know that a free Iraq will be free
    of them--free of assassins and torturers and secret police. They know
    that as democracy rises in Iraq, all of their hateful ambitions will
    fall like the statues of the former dictator. And that is why, 5 months
    after we liberated Iraq, a collection of killers is desperately trying
    to undermine Iraq's progress and throw the country into chaos.
        Some of the attackers are members of the old Saddam regime who fled the battlefield and now fight in the
    shadows. Some of the attackers are foreign terrorists who have come to
    Iraq to pursue their war on America and other free nations. We cannot be
    certain to what extent these groups work together. We do know they have
    a common goal--reclaiming Iraq for tyranny.
        Most but not all of these killers operate in one area of the
    country. The attacks you have heard and read about in the last few weeks
    have occurred predominantly in the central region of Iraq, between
    Baghdad and Tikrit, Saddam Hussein's former
    stronghold. The north of Iraq is generally stable and is moving forward
    with reconstruction and self-government. The same trends are evident in
    the south, despite recent attacks by terrorist groups.
        Though their attacks are localized, the terrorists and
    Saddam loyalists have done great harm. They
    have ambushed American and British service members, who stand for
    freedom and order. They have killed civilian aid workers of the United
    Nations, who represent the compassion and generosity of the world. They
    have bombed the Jordanian Embassy, the symbol of a peaceful

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    Arab country. And last week, they murdered a respected cleric and over a hundred Muslims at prayer, bombing
    a holy shrine and a symbol of Islam's peaceful teachings.
        This violence is directed not only against our coalition but against
    anyone in Iraq who stands for decency and freedom and progress. There is
    more at work in these attacks than blind rage. The terrorists have a
    strategic goal. They want us to leave Iraq before our work is done. They
    want to shake the will of the civilized world. In the past, the
    terrorists have cited the examples of Beirut and Somalia, claiming that
    if you inflict harm on Americans, we will run from a challenge. In this,
    they are mistaken.
        Two years ago, I told the Congress and the country that the war on
    terror would be a lengthy war, a different kind of war, fought on many
    fronts in many places. Iraq is now the central front. Enemies of freedom
    are making a desperate stand there, and there they must be defeated.
    This will take time and require sacrifice. Yet we will do what is
    necessary; we will spend what is necessary, to achieve this essential
    victory in the war on terror, to promote freedom, and to make our own
    Nation more secure.
        America has done this kind of work before. Following World War II,
    we lifted up the defeated nations of Japan and Germany and stood with
    them as they built representative governments. We committed years and
    resources to this cause. And that effort has been repaid many times over
    in three generations of friendship and peace. America today accepts the
    challenge of helping Iraq in the same spirit, for their sake and our
    own.
        Our strategy in Iraq has three objectives: destroying the
    terrorists; enlisting the support of other nations for a free Iraq; and
    helping Iraqis assume responsibility for their own defense and their own
    future.
        First, we are taking direct action against the terrorists in the
    Iraqi theater, which is the surest way to prevent future attacks on
    coalition forces and the Iraqi people. We are staying on the offensive
    with a series of precise strikes against enemy targets increasingly
    guided by intelligence given to us by Iraqi citizens. Since the end of
    major combat operations, we have conducted raids seizing many caches of
    enemy weapons and massive amounts of ammunition, and we have captured or
    killed hundreds of Saddam loyalists and terrorists. So far, of the 55
    most wanted former Iraqi leaders, 42 are dead or in custody. We are
    sending a clear message: Anyone who seeks to harm our soldiers can know
    that our soldiers are hunting for them.
        Second, we are committed to expanding international cooperation in
    the reconstruction and security of Iraq, just as we are in Afghanistan.
    Our military commanders in Iraq advise me that the current number of
    American troops, nearly 130,000, is appropriate to their mission. They
    are joined by over 20,000 service members from 29 other countries. Two
    multinational divisions led by the British and the Poles are serving
    alongside our forces, and in order to share the burden more broadly, our
    commanders have requested a third multinational division to serve in
    Iraq.
        Some countries have requested an explicit authorization of the
    United Nations Security Council before committing troops to Iraq. I have
    directed Secretary of State Colin Powell to
    introduce a new Security Council resolution which would authorize the
    creation of a multinational force in Iraq, to be led by America. I
    recognize that not all of our friends agreed with our decision to
    enforce the Security Council resolutions and remove Saddam
    Hussein from power. Yet we cannot let past
    differences interfere with present duties. Terrorists in Iraq have
    attacked representatives of the civilized world, and opposing them must
    be the cause of the civilized world. Members of the United Nations now
    have an opportunity and the responsibility to assume a broader role in
    assuring that Iraq becomes a free and democratic nation.

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        Third, we are encouraging the orderly transfer of sovereignty and
    authority to the Iraqi people. Our coalition came to Iraq as liberators,
    and we will depart as liberators. Right now, Iraq has its own Governing
    Council, comprised of 25 leaders representing Iraq's diverse people. The
    Governing Council recently appointed cabinet ministers to run Government
    departments. Already more than 90 percent of towns and cities have
    functioning local governments, which are restoring basic services. We're
    helping to train civil defense forces to keep order and an Iraqi police
    service to enforce the law, a facilities protection service, Iraqi
    border guards to help secure the borders, and a new Iraqi army. In all
    these roles, there are now some 60,000 Iraqi citizens under arms,
    defending the security of their own country, and we are accelerating the
    training of more.
        Iraq is ready to take the next steps toward self-government. The
    Security Council resolution we introduce will encourage Iraq's Governing
    Council to submit a plan and a timetable for the drafting of a
    constitution and for free elections. From the outset, I have expressed
    confidence in the ability of the Iraqi people to govern themselves. Now
    they must rise to the responsibilities of a free people and secure the
    blessings of their own liberty.
        Our strategy in Iraq will require new resources. We have conducted a
    thorough assessment of our military and reconstruction needs in Iraq and
    also in Afghanistan. I will soon submit to Congress a request for $87
    billion. The request will cover ongoing military and intelligence
    operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere, which we expect will
    cost $66 billion over the next year. This budget request will also
    support our commitment to helping the Iraqi and Afghan people rebuild
    their own nations after decades of oppression and mismanagement. We will
    provide funds to help them improve security, and we will help them to
    restore basic services such as electricity and water and to build new
    schools, roads, and medical clinics. This effort is essential to the
    stability of those nations and, therefore, to our own security. Now and
    in the future, we will support our troops, and we will keep our word to
    the more than 50 million people of Afghanistan and Iraq.
        Later this month, Secretary Powell will
    meet with representatives of many nations to discuss their financial
    contributions to the reconstruction of Afghanistan. Next month, he will
    hold a similar funding conference for the reconstruction of Iraq.
    Europe, Japan, and states in the Middle East all will benefit from the
    success of freedom in these two countries, and they should contribute to
    that success.
        The people of Iraq are emerging from a long trial. For them, there
    will be no going back to the days of the dictator, to the miseries of
    humiliation he inflicted on that good country. For the Middle East and
    the world, there will be no going back to the days of fear when a brutal
    and aggressive tyrant possessed terrible weapons. And for America, there
    will be no going back to the era before September the 11th, 2001, to
    false comfort in a dangerous world. We have learned that terrorist
    attacks are not caused by the use of strength. They are invited by the
    perception of weakness. And the surest way to avoid attacks on our own
    people is to engage the enemy where he lives and plans. We are fighting
    that enemy in Iraq and Afghanistan today so that we do not meet him
    again on our own streets, in our own cities.
        The heaviest burdens in our war on terror fall, as always, on the
    men and women of our Armed Forces and our intelligence services. They
    have removed gathering threats to America and our friends, and this
    Nation takes great pride in their incredible achievements. We are
    grateful for their skill and courage and for their acts of decency,
    which have shown America's character to the world. We honor the
    sacrifice of their families. And we mourn every American who has died so
    bravely, so far from home.

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        The Americans who assume great risk overseas understand the great
    cause they are in. Not long ago, I received a letter from a
    captain in the 3d Infantry Division in Baghdad.
    He wrote about his pride in serving a just cause and about the deep
    desire of Iraqis for liberty. ``I see it,'' he said, ``in the eyes of a
    hungry people every day here. They are starved for freedom and
    opportunity.'' And he concluded, ``I just thought you'd like a note from
    the frontlines of freedom.'' That Army captain and all of our men and
    women serving in the war on terror are on the frontlines of freedom. And
    I want each of them to know, your country thanks you, and your country
    supports you.
        Fellow citizens, we've been tested these past 24 months, and the
    dangers have not passed. Yet Americans are responding with courage and
    confidence. We accept the duties of our generation. We are active and
    resolute in our own defense. We are serving in freedom's cause, and that
    is the cause of all mankind.
        Thank you, and may God continue to bless America.

    Note: The President spoke at 8:31 p.m. in the Cabinet Room at the White
    House. In his remarks, he referred to former President Saddam Hussein of
    Iraq; and Ayatollah Mohammed Baqir al-Hakim, a Muslim cleric killed in a
    terrorist bombing in Najaf, Iraq, on August 29. The Office of the Press
    Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of this address.