[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.