    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book II)]
    [November 28, 2006]
    [Pages 2127-2133]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at Latvia University in Riga
    November 28, 2006

        Thank you all. Labdien. Madam President, thank you for your kind words. Thank you for your
    leadership, and thank you for your friendship. Mr. Speaker; Mr. Prime Minister;
    Senator Sessions from
    the great State of Alabama, who is with us; Marc Leland, my friend from a long period of time; I want to thank
    the rector of this important university.
    Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your warm
    welcome. I'm delighted to be back in Riga.
        I appreciate the Latvian Transatlantic Organization, the Commission
    of Strategic Analysis, and the German Marshall Fund of the United States
    for organizing this important conference. This is my third visit to the
    Baltics as the President of the United States, and it's my second visit
    to this beautiful city. I just can't stay away. I'm thrilled and honored
    to be back here, and I bring the greetings and good wishes of the
    American people.
        Not far from where we meet today stands Riga's Freedom Monument. It
    was erected in 1935, during this country's brief period of independence
    between the two World Wars. During the dark years of Soviet occupation,
    the simple act of laying flowers at the foot of this monument was
    considered a crime by Communist authorities. In 1989, the monument was
    the scene of one of the most remarkable protests in the history of
    freedom. Hundreds of thousands of people stood together and formed a
    human chain that stretched nearly 400 miles across the Baltics, from
    Tallinn in the north, through downtown Riga, and into the heart of
    Vilnius. By joining hands, the people of this region showed their unity
    and their determination to live in freedom, and it made clear to the
    Soviet authorities that the Baltic peoples would accept nothing less
    than complete independence.
        It took more years of struggle, but today, the Baltic nations have
    taken their rightful place in the community of free nations, and

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    Latvia is a host for an important NATO summit, the first time our
    alliance has met in one of the ``captive nations'' annexed by the Soviet
    Union. This is a proud day for the people of Latvia and all the Baltic
    States. And on behalf of the American people, I thank you for your
    hospitality, your friendship, and the courage you are showing in the
    NATO alliance.
        As members of NATO, you are a vital part of the most effective
    multilateral organization in the world and the most important military
    alliance in history. As NATO allies, you will never again stand alone in
    defense of your freedom, and you'll never be occupied by a foreign
    power.
        Each of the Baltic countries is meeting its obligations to
    strengthen NATO by bringing new energy and vitality and clarity of
    purpose to the alliance. Your love of liberty has made NATO stronger.
    And with your help, our alliance is rising to meet the great challenges
    and responsibilities of this young century by making NATO the world's
    most effective united force for freedom.
        One of the great responsibilities of this alliance is to strengthen
    and expand the circle of freedom here in Europe. In the nearly six
    decades since NATO's founding, Europe has experienced an unprecedented
    expansion of liberty. A continent that was once divided by an ugly wall
    is now united in freedom. Yet the work of uniting Europe is not fully
    complete. Many nations that threw off the shackles of tyranny are still
    working to build the free institutions that are the foundation of
    successful democracies. NATO is encouraging these nations on the path to
    reform, and as governments make hard decisions for their people, they
    will be welcomed into the institutions of the Euro-Atlantic community.
        After I took office in 2001, I declared that the United States
    believes in NATO membership for all of Europe's democracies that seek it
    and are ready to share the responsibilities that NATO brings. The
    following year in Prague, we invited seven nations to join our alliance:
    Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, and Slovenia.
    Here in Riga, allies will make clear that the door to NATO membership
    remains open, and at our next summit in 2008, we hope to issue
    additional invitations to nations that are ready for membership.
        Today, Croatia, Macedonia, and Albania are all participating in
    NATO's Membership Action Plan, and the United States supports their
    aspirations to join the Atlantic alliance. Georgia is seeking NATO
    membership as well, and as it continues on the path of reform, we will
    continue to support Georgia's desire to become a NATO ally. We are also
    supporting the leaders of Ukraine as they work to curb corruption,
    promote the rule of law, and serve the cause of peace. Our position is
    clear: As democracy takes hold in Ukraine and its leaders pursue vital
    reforms, NATO membership will be open to the Ukrainian people if they
    choose it.
        We're also working with Russia through the NATO-Russia Council. We
    recognize that Russia is a vital and important country, and that it's in
    our interests to increase our cooperation with Russia in areas such as
    countering terrorism and preventing the spread of weapons of mass
    destruction. By building ties between Russia and this alliance, we will
    strengthen our common security, and we will advance the cause of peace.
        As we help the new democracies of Europe join the institutions of
    Europe, we must not forget those who still languish in tyranny. Just
    across the border from here lies the nation of Belarus, a place where
    peaceful protesters are beaten and opposition leaders are
    ``disappeared'' by the agents of a cruel regime. The existence of such
    oppression in our midst offends the conscience of Europe, and it offends
    the conscience of America. We have a message for the people of Belarus:
    The vision of a Europe whole, free, and at peace includes

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    you, and we stand with you in your struggle for freedom.
        Another great responsibility of this alliance is to transform for
    new challenges. When NATO was formed in 1949, its principal mission was
    to protect Europe from a Soviet tank invasion. Today, the Soviet threat
    is gone. And under the able leadership of the Secretary General, NATO is transforming from a
    static alliance focused on the defense of Europe, into an expedentiary
    [expeditionary]* alliance ready to deploy outside of Europe in the
    defense of freedom. This is a vital mission.
    ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
        *White House correction.
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        Over the past 6 years, we've taken decisive action to transform our
    capabilities in the alliance. We created a new NATO transformation
    command to ensure that our alliance is always preparing for the threats
    of the future. We created a new NATO battalion to counter the threats of
    enemies armed with weapons of mass destruction. We created a new NATO
    Response Force, to ensure that our alliance can deploy rapidly and
    effectively.
        Here in Riga, we're taking new steps to build on this progress. At
    this summit, we will launch a NATO Special Operations Forces Initiative
    that will strengthen the ability of special operations personnel from
    NATO nations to work together on the battlefield. We will announce a new
    Strategic Airlift Initiative that will ensure that participating NATO
    members have a dedicated fleet of C-17 aircraft at their disposal. We
    will launch the Riga Global Partnership Initiative that will allow NATO
    to conduct joint training and joint exercises and common defense
    planning with nations like Japan and Australia, countries that share
    NATO's values and want to work with our alliance in the cause of peace.
    We will launch a new NATO Training Cooperation Initiative that will
    allow military forces in the Middle East to receive NATO training in
    counterterrorism and counterproliferation and peace support operations.
    And as we take these steps, every NATO nation must take the defensive--
    must make the defensive investments necessary to give NATO the
    capabilities it needs, so that our alliance is ready for any challenge
    that may emerge in the decades to come.
        The most basic responsibility of this alliance is to defend our
    people against the threats of a new century. We're in a long struggle
    against terrorists and extremists who follow a hateful ideology and seek
    to establish a totalitarian empire from Spain to Indonesia. We fight
    against the extremists who desire safe havens and are willing to kill
    innocents anywhere to achieve their objectives.
        NATO has recognized this threat. And 3 years ago, NATO took an
    unprecedented step when it sent allied forces to defend a young
    democracy more than 3,000 miles from Europe. Since taking command of the
    International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, NATO has
    expanded it from a small force that was operating only in Kabul into a
    robust force that conducts security operations in all of Afghanistan.
    NATO is helping to train the Afghan National Army. The alliance is
    operating 25 Provincial Reconstruction Teams that are helping the
    central Government extend its reach into distant regions of that
    country. At this moment, all 26 NATO allies and 11 partner nations are
    contributing forces to NATO's mission in Afghanistan. They're serving
    with courage, and they are doing the vital work necessary to help this
    young democracy secure the peace.
        We saw the effectiveness of NATO forces this summer, when NATO took
    charge of security operations in Southern Afghanistan from the United
    States. The Taliban radicals who are trying to pull down Afghanistan's
    democracy and regain power saw the transfer from American to NATO
    control as a window of opportunity to test the will of the alliance. So
    the Taliban massed a large fighting force near Kandahar to face the NATO
    troops head on. It was a mistake. Together with the

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    Afghan National Army, NATO forces from Canada and Denmark and the
    Netherlands and Britain and Australia and the United States engaged the
    enemy, with operational support from Romanian, Portuguese, and Estonian
    forces. According to NATO commanders, allied forces fought bravely and
    inflicted great damage on the Taliban.
        General David Richards, the British
    commander of NATO troops in Afghanistan, puts it this way: ``There were
    doubts about NATO and our ability to conduct demanding security
    operations. There are no questions about our ability now. We've killed
    many hundreds of Taliban, and it has removed any doubt in anybody's mind
    that NATO can do what we were sent here to do.''
        Taliban and Al Qaida fighters and drug traffickers and criminal
    elements and local warlords remain active and committed to destroying
    democracy in Afghanistan. Defeating them will require the full
    commitment of our alliance. For NATO to succeed, its commanders on the
    ground must have the resources and flexibility they need to do their
    jobs. The alliance was founded on a clear principle: An attack on one is
    an attack on all. That principle holds true whether the attack is on our
    home soil or on our forces deployed on a NATO mission abroad. Today,
    Afghanistan is NATO's most important military operation, and by standing
    together in Afghanistan, we'll protect our people, defend our freedom,
    and send a clear message to the extremists: The forces of freedom and
    decency will prevail.
        Every ally can take pride in the transformation that NATO is making
    possible for the people of Afghanistan. Because of our efforts,
    Afghanistan has gone from a totalitarian nightmare to a free nation with
    an elected President, a democratic
    Constitution, and brave soldiers and police fighting for their country.
        Over 4.6 million Afghan refugees have come home. It's one of the
    largest return movements in history. The Afghan economy has tripled in
    size over the past 5 years. About 2 million girls are now in school--
    compared to zero under the Taliban--and 85 women were elected or
    appointed to the Afghan National Assembly. A nation that was once a
    terrorist sanctuary has been transformed into an ally in the war on
    terror, led by a brave President, Hamid Karzai.
    Our work in Afghanistan is bringing freedom to the Afghan people; it is
    bringing security to the Euro-Atlantic community; and it's bringing
    pride to the NATO alliance.
        NATO allies are also making vital contributions to the struggle for
    freedom in Iraq. At this moment, a dozen NATO allies, including every
    one of the Baltic nations, are contributing forces to the coalition in
    Iraq. And 18 NATO countries plus Ukraine are contributing forces to the
    NATO Training Mission that is helping develop the next generation of
    leaders for the Iraqi security forces. To date, NATO has trained nearly
    3,000 Iraqi personnel, including nearly 2,000 officers and civilian
    defense officials trained inside Iraq, plus an additional 800 Iraqis
    trained outside the country. NATO has also helped Iraqis stand up a new
    military academy near Baghdad, so Iraqis can develop their own military
    leaders in the years to come. And NATO has contributed $128 million in
    military equipment to the Iraqi military, including 77 Hungarian T-72
    battle tanks. By helping to equip the Iraqi security forces and training
    the next group of Iraqi military leaders, NATO is helping the Iraqi
    people in the difficult work of securing their country and their
    freedom.
        Tomorrow I'm going to travel to Jordan where I will meet with the
    Prime Minister of Iraq. We will discuss the
    situation on the ground in his country, our ongoing efforts to transfer
    more responsibility to the Iraqi security forces, and the responsibility
    of other nations in the region to support the security and stability of
    Iraq. We'll continue to be flexible, and we'll make the changes
    necessary to succeed. But there's one thing I'm not going to do: I'm not

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    going to pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is
    complete.
        The battles in Iraq and Afghanistan are part of a struggle between
    moderation and extremism that is unfolding across the broader Middle
    East. Our enemy follows a hateful ideology that rejects fundamental
    freedoms like the freedom to speak, to assemble, or to worship God in
    the way you see fit. It opposes the rights for women. Their goal is to
    overthrow governments and to impose their totalitarian rule on millions.
    They have a strategy to achieve these aims. They seek to convince
    America and our allies that we cannot defeat them and that our only hope
    is to withdraw and abandon an entire region to their domination. The war
    on terror we fight today is more than a military conflict; it is the
    decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century. And in this struggle,
    we can accept nothing less than victory for our children and our
    grandchildren.
        We see this struggle in Lebanon, where last week, gunmen
    assassinated that country's Industry Minister, Pierre Gemayel, a prominent leader of the movement that secured
    Lebanon's independence last year. His murder showed once again the
    viciousness of those who are trying to destabilize Lebanon's young
    democracy. We see this struggle in Syria, where the regime allows
    Iranian weapons to pass through its territory into Lebanon and provides
    weapons and political support to Hizballah. We see this struggle in
    Iran, where a reactionary regime subjugates its proud people, arrests
    free trade union leaders, and uses Iran's resources to fund the spread
    of terror and pursue nuclear weapons. We see this struggle in the
    Palestinian Territories, where extremists are working to stop moderate
    leaders from making progress toward the vision of two democratic states,
    Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.
        In each of these places, extremists are using terror to stop the
    spread of freedom. Some are Shi'a extremists; other are Sunni
    extremists; but they represent different faces of the same threat. And
    if they succeed in undermining fragile democracies and drive the forces
    of freedom out of the region, they will have an open field to pursue
    their goals. Each strain of violent Islamic radicalism would be
    emboldened in its efforts to gain control of states and establish new
    safe havens. The extremists would use oil resources to fuel their
    radical agenda and to punish industrialized nations and pursue weapons
    of mass destruction. Armed with nuclear weapons, they could blackmail
    the free world, spread their ideologies of hate, and raise a mortal
    threat to Europe, America, and the entire civilized world.
        If we allow the extremists to do this, then 50 years from now,
    history will look back on our time with unforgiving clarity and demand
    to know why we did not act. Our alliance has a responsibility to act. We
    must lift up and support the moderates and reformers who are working for
    change across the broader Middle East. We must bring hope to millions by
    strengthening young democracies from Kabul to Baghdad to Beirut. And we
    must advance freedom as the great alternative to tyranny and terror.
        I know some in my country and some here in Europe are pessimistic
    about the prospects of democracy and peace in the Middle East. Some
    doubt whether the people of that region are ready for freedom, or want
    it badly enough, or have the courage to overcome the forces of
    totalitarian extremism. I understand these doubts, but I do not share
    them. I believe in the universality of freedom. I believe that the
    people of the Middle East want their liberty. I'm impressed by the
    courage I see in the people across the region who are fighting for that
    liberty.
        We see this courage in the 8 million Afghans who defied terrorist
    threats and went to the polls to choose their leaders.

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    We see this courage in the nearly 12 million Iraqis who refused to let
    the car bombers and assassins stop them from voting for the free future
    of their country. We see this courage in the more than 1 million
    Lebanese who voted for a free and sovereign government to rule their
    land. And we see this courage in citizens from Damascus to Tehran, who,
    like the citizens of Riga before them, keep the flame of liberty burning
    deep within their hearts, knowing that one day its light will shine
    throughout their nations.
        There was a time, not so long ago, when many doubted that liberty
    could succeed in Europe. Here in the Baltics, many can still recall the
    early years of the cold war when freedom's victory was not so obvious or
    assured. In 1944, the Soviet Red Army reoccupied Latvia, Lithuania, and
    Estonia, plunging this region into nearly five decades of Communist
    rule. In 1947, Communist forces were threatening Greece and Turkey, the
    reconstruction of Germany was faltering, and mass starvation was setting
    in across Europe. In 1948, Czechoslovakia fell to communism, France and
    Italy were threatened by the same fate, and Berlin was blockaded on the
    orders of Josef Stalin. In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded a nuclear
    weapon. And weeks later, Communist forces took control in China. And in
    the summer of 1950, seven North Korean divisions poured across the
    border into South Korea, marking the start of the first direct military
    clash of the cold war. All of this took place in the 6 years following
    World War II.
        Yet today, six decades later, the cold war is over, the Soviet Union
    is no more, and the NATO alliance is meeting in the capital of a free
    Latvia. Europe no longer produces armed ideologies that threaten other
    nations with aggression and conquest and occupation. And a continent
    that was for generations a source of instability and global war has
    become a source of stability and peace. Freedom in Europe has brought
    peace to Europe, and freedom has brought the power to bring peace to the
    broader Middle East.
        Soon after I took office, I spoke to students at Warsaw University.
    I told them America had learned the lessons of history. I said, ``No
    more Munichs and no more Yaltas.'' I was speaking at the time about
    Europe, but the lessons of Yalta apply equally across the world. The
    question facing our nations today is this: Will we turn the fate of
    millions over to totalitarian extremists and allow the enemy to impose
    their hateful ideology across the Middle East, or will we stand with the
    forces of freedom in that part of the world and defend the moderate
    majority who want a future of peace?
        My country has made its choice, and so has the NATO alliance. We
    refuse to give in to the pessimism that consigns millions across the
    Middle East to endless oppression. We understand that, ultimately, the
    only path to lasting peace is through the rise of lasting free
    societies.
        Here in the Baltic region, many understand that freedom is universal
    and worth the struggle. During the Second World War, a young girl here in Riga escaped with her family from
    the advancing Red Army. She fled westward, moving first to a refugee
    camp in Germany and then later to Morocco, where she and her family
    settled for 5\1/2\ years. Spending her teenage years in a Muslim nation,
    this Latvian girl came to understand a fundamental truth about humanity:
    Moms and dads in the Muslim world want the same things for their
    children as moms and dads here in Riga: a future of peace, a chance to
    live in freedom, and the opportunity to build a better life.
        Today, that Latvian girl is the
    leader of a free country--the Iron Lady of the Baltics, the President of
    Latvia. And the lessons she learned growing up in Casablanca guide her
    as she leads her nation in this world. Here is how she put it earlier
    this year in an address to a joint meeting of the United States
    Congress: ``We know the

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    value of freedom and feel compassion for those who are still deprived of
    it. Every nation on Earth is entitled to freedom,'' your President said.
    She said: ``We must share the dream that someday there won't be a
    tyranny left anywhere in the world. We must work for this future, all of
    us, large and small, together.''
        Like your President, I believe this
    dream is within reach. And through the NATO alliance, nations large and
    small are working together to achieve it.
        We thank the people of Latvia for your contributions to NATO and for
    the powerful example you set for liberty. I appreciate your hospitality
    at this summit. America is proud to call you friends and allies in the
    cause of peace and freedom. May God bless you, and may God continue to
    bless America. Thank you very much.

    Note: The President spoke at 4:30 p.m. in the Grand Hall. In his
    remarks, he referred to President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Speaker of the
    Saeima Indulis Emsis, and Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis of Latvia; Marc
    Leland, cochairman, German Marshall Fund; Ivars Lacis, rector, Latvia
    University; Secretary General Jakob Gijsbert ``Jaap'' de Hoop Scheffer
    of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; and Prime Minister Nuri al-
    Maliki of Iraq.