[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book II)]
[December 14, 2005]
[Pages 1851-1857]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
December 14, 2005

    Thank you very much. Please be seated. Thank you for the warm 
welcome. I'm delighted to be here with the men and women of the Wilson 
Center. According to your mission statement, the Center was created to 
bring together two groups, political leaders and scholars. I see some of 
the political leaders who are here, and I presume you've invited me to 
uphold the scholars' end. [Laughter]
    I've come to discuss an issue of vital importance to the American 
people, and that is victory in the war on terror. On September the 11th, 
2001, our Nation awoke to a sudden attack, and we accepted new 
responsibilities. We are confronting new dangers with firm resolve. 
We're hunting down the terrorists and their supporters. We will fight 
this war without wavering, and we will prevail.
    In the war on terror, Iraq is now the central front. And over the 
last few weeks, I've been discussing our political, economic, and 
military strategy for victory in that country. An historic election will 
take place tomorrow in Iraq. And as millions of Iraqis prepare to cast 
their ballots, I want to talk today about why we went into Iraq, why we 
stayed in Iraq, and why we cannot and will not leave Iraq until victory 
is achieved.
    I want to thank Ambassador Gildenhorn for inviting me and introducing me. And I want to thank 
the members of the Board of Trustees who are here. I appreciate Lee 
Hamilton, who serves our Nation so well in 
so many different capacities. Thank you for being the president and 
director of the Woodrow Wilson Center.
    I'm proud to be traveling today with members of my Cabinet: 
Secretary of State Condi Rice; Secretary of 
Defense Donald Rumsfeld; and Secretary of 
Homeland Security Mike Chertoff. Thank you 
all for coming. I appreciate the Members of the Congress who are here. 
Thanks for taking time to come. I want to thank the members of the 
diplomatic corps that have joined us today. And thank you all for being 
here as well.
    We are living through a watershed moment in the story of freedom. 
Most of the focus now is on this week's elections, and rightly so. 
Iraqis will go to the polls to choose a government that will be the only 
constitutional democracy in the Arab world. Yet we need to remember that 
these elections are also a vital part of a broader strategy for 
protecting the American people against the threat of terrorism.
    We saw the future the terrorists intend for our Nation on that 
fateful morning of September the 11th, 2001. That day we learned that 
vast oceans and friendly neighbors are no longer enough to protect us. 
September the 11th changed our country. It changed the policy of our 
Government. We adopted a new strategy to protect the American people: We 
would hunt down the terrorists wherever they hide; we would make no 
distinction between the terrorists and those who harbor them; and we 
would advance our security at home by advancing freedom in the Middle 
East.
    September the 11th also changed the way I viewed threats like Saddam 
Hussein. We saw the destruction terrorists 
could cause with airplanes loaded with jet fuel, and we imagined the 
destruction they could cause with even more powerful weapons. At the 
time, the leaders of both political parties recognized this new reality: 
We cannot allow the world's most dangerous men to get their hands on the 
world's most dangerous weapons. In an age of terrorism and weapons of 
mass destruction, if we wait for threats to fully materialize, we will 
have waited too long.
    We removed Saddam Hussein from power 
because he was a threat to our security. He had pursued and used weapons

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of mass destruction. He sponsored terrorists. He ordered his military to 
shoot at American and British pilots patrolling the no-fly zones. He 
invaded his neighbors. He fought a war against the United States and a 
broad coalition. He had declared that the United States of America was 
his enemy.
    Over the course of a decade, Saddam Hussein refused to comply with more than a dozen United 
Nations resolutions, including demands that he respect the rights of the 
Iraqi people, disclose his weapons, and abide by the terms of a 1991 
cease-fire. He deceived international inspectors, and he denied them the 
unconditional access they needed to do their jobs. When a unanimous 
Security Council gave him one final chance to disclose and disarm or 
face serious consequences, he refused to comply with that final 
opportunity. At any point along the way, Saddam Hussein could have 
avoided war by complying with the just demands of the international 
community. The United States did not choose war; the choice was Saddam 
Hussein's.
    When we made the decision to go into Iraq, many intelligence 
agencies around the world judged that Saddam 
possessed weapons of mass destruction. This judgment was shared by the 
intelligence agencies of governments who did not support my decision to 
remove Saddam. And it is true that much of the intelligence turned out 
to be wrong. As President, I'm responsible for the decision to go into 
Iraq, and I'm also responsible for fixing what went wrong by reforming 
our intelligence capabilities. And we're doing just that. At the same 
time, we must remember that an investigation after the war by chief 
weapons inspector Charles Duelfer found 
that Saddam was using the U.N. Oil-For-Food Programme to influence 
countries and companies in an effort to undermine sanctions, with the 
intent of restarting his weapons programs once the sanctions collapsed 
and the world looked the other way.
    Given Saddam's history and the lessons of September the 11th, my 
decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the 
right decision. Saddam was a threat, and the American people and the 
world is better off because he is no longer in power. We are in Iraq 
today because our goal has always been more than the removal of a brutal 
dictator; it is to leave a free and democratic Iraq in its place.
    As I stated in a speech in the lead-up to the war, a liberated Iraq 
could show the power of freedom to transform the Middle East by bringing 
hope and progress to the lives of millions. So we're helping the Iraqi 
people build a lasting democracy that is peaceful and prosperous and an 
example for the broader Middle East. The terrorists understand this, and 
that is why they have now made Iraq the central front in the war on 
terror.
    The enemy of freedom in Iraq is a combination of rejectionists and 
Saddamists and terrorists. The rejectionists are ordinary Iraqis, mostly 
Sunni Arabs, who miss the privileged status they had under the regime of 
Saddam Hussein. We believe that, over time, 
most of this group will be persuaded to support the democratic Iraq led 
by a Federal Government that is strong enough to protect minority 
rights. We're encouraged by the indications that many Sunnis intend to 
participate in tomorrow's elections.
    The Saddamists are former regime loyalists who harbor dreams of 
returning to power, and they're trying to foment antidemocratic 
sentiment amongst the larger Sunni community. Yet they lack popular 
support, and over time, they can be marginalized and defeated by the 
security forces of a free Iraq.
    The terrorists affiliated with or inspired by Al Qaida are the 
smallest but most lethal group. They are led by a brutal terrorist named 
Zarqawi. He's Al Qaida's chief 
operations officer in Iraq. He has stated his allegiance to Usama bin 
Laden. The terrorists have ambitions; they 
have goals. They want to stop the advance of freedom in

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Iraq. They want to make Iraq what Afghanistan was under the Taliban, a 
safe haven from which they can plot attacks against our people. There is 
no limit to their brutality. They kill the innocent to achieve their 
aims. This is an enemy without conscience. And against such enemy, there 
is only one effective response: We will never back down; we will never 
give in; and we will never accept anything less than complete victory.
    Last month, my administration released a document called the 
``National Strategy for Victory in Iraq.'' In recent weeks, I've been 
discussing our strategy with the American people. At the U.S. Naval 
Academy, I spoke about how we changed our approach to training Iraqi 
security forces, so they can take the fight to the enemy and eventually 
take responsibility for the security of their citizens without major 
foreign assistance. Iraqi forces are becoming more and more capable.
    This time last year, there was only a handful of Iraqi battalions 
ready for combat. Now there are more than 125 Iraqi army and police 
combat battalions in the fight against the terrorists. Of these, more 
than 70 Iraqi battalions are fighting side by side with coalition 
forces, and more than 50 others are taking the lead in the fight. So 
far, in December, there have been more than 900 combat operations in 
Iraq at the company level or above, and 75 percent of these involved 
Iraqi security forces either in the lead or fighting side by side with 
our coalition. As these Iraqi forces grow in size and strength, American 
and coalition forces can concentrate on training Iraqis and hunting down 
high-value targets like Zarqawi and his 
associates.
    Last week before the Council on Foreign Relations, I explained how 
we changed our approach to help Iraqis hold and rebuild cities taken 
from the enemy and how to help them revitalize Iraq's infrastructure and 
economy. Today, many cities like Mosul and Najaf are coming back to 
life, and Iraq's economy is growing. Thousands of new businesses have 
opened in Iraq, personal income is up, and according to one survey, 7 in 
10 Iraqis say their lives are going well, and nearly two-thirds expect 
things to improve in the next year.
    Earlier this week at the Philadelphia World Affairs Council, I spoke 
in depth about how we changed our approach to helping the Iraqis build 
their democracy. At the request of Iraqi leaders, we accelerated the 
transition to Iraqi self-government. We set four major milestone to 
guide Iraq's transition to constitutional democracy: The transfer of 
sovereignty; elections for a transitional government; the adoption of a 
democratic Constitution; and elections for a new government under that 
Constitution. In spite of the violence, Iraqis have met every milestone, 
and this is changing the political landscape in Iraq.
    Sunni Arabs who failed to participate in the January elections are 
now campaigning vigorously in this week's elections, and we can expect a 
higher turnout of Sunni voters. As Sunnis join the political process, 
Iraqi democracy becomes more inclusive, and the terrorists and 
Saddamists are becoming marginalized.
    Each of the changes we have made in our approach in Iraq is helping 
us meet the hard realities and the facts on the ground. We've adapted 
our tactics. We have fixed what was not working, and we have listened to 
those who know best, our military commanders and the Iraqi people.
    Our tactics continue to change, but our goal in Iraq has not 
changed--a free and democratic Iraq. I strongly believe a democratic 
Iraq is a crucial part of our strategy to defeat the terrorists, because 
only democracy can bring freedom and reconciliation to Iraq and peace to 
this troubled part of the world. Our efforts to advance freedom in Iraq 
are driven by our vital interests and our deepest beliefs. America was 
founded on the principle that all men are created equal, and we believe 
that the people of the Middle East desire freedom as much as we do. 
History has shown that

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free nations are peaceful nations. And as Iraqi democracy takes hold, 
Iraqi citizens will have a stake in a common and peaceful future.
    As we advance the cause of freedom in Iraq, our Nation can proceed 
with confidence because we have done this kind of work before. After 
World War II, President Harry Truman believed that the way to help bring 
peace and prosperity to Asia was to plant the seeds of freedom and 
democracy in Japan. Like today, there were many skeptics and pessimists 
who said that the Japanese were not ready for democracy. Fortunately, 
President Harry Truman stuck to his guns. He believed, as I do, in 
freedom's power to transform an adversary into an ally. And because he 
stayed true to his convictions, today Japan is one of the world's freest 
and most prosperous nations and one of America's closest allies in 
keeping the peace. The spread of freedom to Iraq and the Middle East 
requires the same confidence and persistence, and it will lead to the 
same results.
    The people of Iraq are now seeing some of the tangible benefits of 
their new democracy. They see that as freedom advances, their lives are 
improving. Iraqis have approved a bold Constitution that guarantees the 
rule of law and freedom of assembly and property rights and freedom of 
speech and the press and women's rights and the right to vote. They see 
their freedom increasingly being defended by their own soldiers and 
police instead of foreign forces, and they see that freedom is bringing 
opportunity and a better life.
    The Iraqis still face many challenges, including security and 
reconstruction and economic reform. But they are building a strong 
democracy that can handle these challenges and that will be a model for 
the Middle East. Freedom in Iraq will inspire reformers from Damascus to 
Tehran. This new Iraq shares our deepest values, and it shares our most 
determined enemies. By helping Iraqis build a nation that can govern 
itself, sustain itself, and defend itself, we will gain an ally in the 
war on terror and a partner for peace in the Middle East.
    The stakes in Iraq are high, and we will not leave until victory has 
been achieved. Today, there's an intense debate about the importance of 
Iraq to the war on terror. The constant headlines about car bombings and 
killings have led some to ask whether our presence in Iraq has made 
America less secure. This view presumes that if we were not in Iraq, the 
terrorists would be leaving us alone. The reality is that the terrorists 
have been targeting America for years, long before we ever set foot in 
Iraq.
    We were not in Iraq in 1993, when the terrorists tried to blow up 
the World Trade Center in New York. We were not in Iraq in 1998, when 
the terrorists bombed our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. We were not 
in Iraq in 2000, when the terrorists killed 17 American sailors aboard 
the USS Cole. There wasn't a single American soldier in Iraq on 
September the 11th, 2001, when the terrorists murdered nearly 3,000 
people in the worst attack on our home since Pearl Harbor.
    These acts are part of a grand strategy by the terrorists. Their 
stated objective is to drive the United States and coalition forces out 
of the Middle East so they can gain control of Iraq and use that country 
as a base from which to launch attacks against America, overthrow 
moderate governments in the Middle East, and establish a totalitarian 
Islamic empire that stretches from Spain to Indonesia. Hear the words of 
the terrorists. In a letter to the terrorist leader Zarqawi, the Al Qaida leader Zawahiri has outlined plans that will unfold in several stages. These 
are his words: ``Expel the Americans from Iraq. Establish an Islamic 
authority over as much territory as you can to spread its power in Iraq. 
Extend the jihad wave to secular countries neighboring Iraq,'' end 
quote.
    To achieve these goals, the terrorists are targeting innocent men, 
women, and children. The enemy has only the ability to

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create chaos for the cameras with spectacular acts of violence. They 
know they cannot defeat us militarily. So they're trying to break our 
will in the hopes of getting America to leave the battlefield early, and 
they cite Vietnam as a reason they can prevail. Zawahiri, in his letter to Zarqawi, wrote, ``The aftermath of the collapse of the American 
power in Vietnam and how they ran and left their agents is noteworthy.'' 
In the past, Al Qaida has said that American pullouts of Lebanon and 
Somalia showed them that America is weak and could be made to run. And 
now the terrorists think they can make America run in Iraq. There's only 
one way the terrorists can prevail, if we lose our nerve and leave 
before the job is done. And that is not going to happen on my watch.
    Some in Washington are calling for a rapid and complete withdrawal 
of our forces in Iraq. They say that our presence there is the cause for 
instability in Iraq and that the answer is to set a deadline to 
withdraw. I disagree. I've listened carefully to all the arguments, and 
there are four reasons why I believe that setting an artificial deadline 
would be a recipe for disaster.
    First, setting an artificial deadline would send the wrong message 
to the Iraqis. As Iraqis are risking their lives for democracy, it would 
tell them that America is more interested in leaving than helping them 
succeed, put at risk all the democratic progress they have made over the 
past year.
    Secondly, setting an artificial deadline would send the wrong 
message to the enemy. It would tell them that if they wait long enough, 
America will cut and run. It would vindicate the terrorists' tactics of 
beheadings and suicide bombings and mass murder. It would embolden the 
terrorists and invite new attacks on America.
    Third, setting an artificial deadline would send the wrong message 
to the region and the world. It would tell our friends and supporters 
that America is a weak and unreliable ally, and that when the going gets 
tough, America will retreat.
    Finally, setting an artificial deadline would send the wrong message 
to the most important audience, our troops on the frontline. It would 
tell them that America is abandoning the mission they are risking their 
lives to achieve and that the sacrifice of their comrades killed in this 
struggle has been in vain. I make this pledge to the families of the 
fallen: We will carry on the fight; we will complete their mission; and 
we will win.
    Victory will be achieved by meeting certain objectives: When the 
terrorists and Saddamists can no longer threaten Iraq's democracy; when 
the Iraqi security forces can protect their own people; and when Iraq is 
not a safe haven for terrorists to plot attacks against our country. 
These objectives, not timetables set by politicians in Washington, will 
drive our force levels in Iraq. As Iraqis stand up, we will stand down. 
And when victory is achieved, our troops will then come home with the 
honor they have earned.
    One of the blessings of our free society is that we can debate these 
issues openly, even in a time of war. Most of the debate has been a 
credit to our democracy, but some have launched irresponsible charges. 
They say that we act because of oil, that we act in Iraq because of 
Israel or because we misled the American people. Some of the most 
irresponsible comments about manipulating intelligence have come from 
politicians who saw the same intelligence I saw and then voted to 
authorize the use of force against Saddam Hussein. These charges are pure politics. They hurt the morale 
of our troops. Whatever our differences in Washington, our men and women 
in uniform deserve to know that once our politicians vote to send them 
into harm's way, our support will be with them in good days and bad, and 
we will settle for nothing less than complete victory.
    Before this victory comes, we still have a lot of difficult work 
ahead. We've made

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real progress in the last 2\1/2\ years, and the terrorists see this 
progress, and they're determined to stop it. These enemies are not going 
to give up because of a successful election. They know that as democracy 
takes root in Iraq, their hateful ideology will suffer a devastating 
blow. So we can expect violence to continue.
    We can also expect that the elections will be followed by days of 
uncertainty. We may not know for certain who's won the elections until 
the early part of January, and that's important for our citizens to 
understand. It's going to take awhile. It's also going to take awhile 
for them to form a Government. The work ahead will require patience of 
the Iraqi people and require our patience as well. Yet we must remember 
that a free Iraq is in our interests, because a free Iraq will be a 
beacon of hope. And as the Middle East grows in liberty, the American 
people will become safer and our Nation will be more secure.
    The work ahead will also require continued sacrifice. Yet we can be 
confident, because history has shown the power of freedom to overcome 
tyranny. And we can be confident because we have on our side the 
greatest force for freedom in human history, the men and women of the 
United States Armed Forces.
    One of these men was a Marine lieutenant named Ryan 
McGlothlin from Lebanon, Virginia. Ryan 
was a bright young man who had everything going for him, and he always 
wanted to serve our Nation. He was a valedictorian of his high school 
class. He graduated from William & Mary with near-perfect grade 
averages, and he was on a full scholarship at Stanford where he was 
working toward a doctorate in chemistry.
    Two years after the attacks of September the 11th, the young 
man who had the world at his feet came 
home from Stanford for a visit. He told his dad, ``I just don't feel like I'm doing something that 
matters. I want to serve my country. I want to protect our lands from 
terrorists, so I joined the Marines.'' When his father asked him if 
there was some other way to serve, Ryan replied that he felt a special 
obligation to step up because he had been given so much. Ryan didn't 
support me in the last election, but he supported our mission in Iraq, 
and he supported his fellow marines.
    Ryan was killed last month fighting 
the terrorists near the--Iraq's Syrian border. In his pocket was a poem 
that Ryan had read at his high school graduation, and it represented the 
spirit of this fine marine. The poem was called ``Don't Quit.''
    In our fight to keep America free, we'll never quit. We've lost 
wonderful Americans like Ryan McGlothlin. 
We cherish the memory of each one. We pray the loved ones--pray for the 
loved ones they've left behind, and we count it a privilege to be 
citizens of a country they served. We also honor them by acknowledging 
that their sacrifice has brought us to this moment, the birth of a free 
and sovereign Iraqi nation that will be a friend of the United States 
and a force for good in a troubled region of the world.
    The story of freedom has just begun in the Middle East. And when the 
history of these days is written, it will tell how America once again 
defended its own freedom by using liberty to transform nations from 
bitter foes to strong allies. And history will say that this generation, 
like generations before, laid the foundation of peace for generations to 
come.
    May God bless you all.

Note: The President spoke at 11:08 a.m. in the Ronald Reagan Building 
and International Trade Center. In his remarks, he referred to Joseph 
Gildenhorn, chairman, Board of Trustees, Woodrow Wilson International 
Center for Scholars; former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; senior Al 
Qaida associate Abu Musab Al Zarqawi; Usama bin Laden, leader of the Al 
Qaida terrorist organization; Ayman Al-Zawahiri, founder of the Egyptian 
Islamic Jihad and senior Al Qaida associate. The Office of the

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Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of these 
remarks.