    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book I)]
    [June 27, 2007]
    [Pages 808-810]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at a Rededication Ceremony at the Islamic Center of Washington
    June 27, 2007

        The President. Imam, thank you very much.
    Thank you for inviting me. I bring my personal respect to you, sir.
        Imam Abdullah Khouj. Thank you, sir.
        The President. And I appreciate your friendship. I, too, want to
    thank the governors of the Islamic Center. I welcome the Ambassadors.
    Thank you all for coming. I appreciate other distinguished guests who
    are here. It is an honor to join you at this rededication ceremony.
        As the Imam mentioned, half a century has
    passed since one of our great leaders welcomed the Islamic Center into
    our Nation's family of faith. Dedicating this site, President Dwight D.
    Eisenhower offered America's hand in friendship to Muslims around the
    world. He asked that together we commit ourselves ``to peaceful progress
    of all men under one God.''
        Today we gather with friendship and respect to reaffirm that pledge
    and to renew our determination to stand together in the pursuit of
    freedom and peace. We come to express our appreciation for a faith that
    has enriched civilization for centuries. We come in celebration of
    America's diversity of faith and our unity as free people. And we hold
    in our hearts the ancient wisdom of the great Muslim poet, Rumi: ``The
    lamps are different, but the light is the same.''
        Moments like this dedication help clarify who Americans are as a
    people and what we wish for the world. We live in a time when there are
    questions about America and her intentions. For those who seek a true
    understanding of our country, they need to look no farther than here.
    This Muslim center sits quietly down the road from a synagogue, a
    Lutheran church, a Catholic parish, a Greek Orthodox chapel, a Buddhist
    temple, each with faithful followers who practice their deeply held
    beliefs and live side by side in peace.
        This is what freedom offers: societies where people can live and
    worship as they choose without intimidation, without suspicion, without
    a knock on the door from the secret police. The freedom of religion is
    the very first protection offered in America's Bill of Rights. It is a
    precious freedom. It is a basic compact under which people of faith
    agree not to impose their spiritual vision on others and, in return, to
    practice their own beliefs as they see fit. This is the promise of our
    Constitution and the calling of our conscience and a source of our
    strength.
        The freedom to worship is so central to America's character that we
    tend to take it personally when that freedom is denied to others. Our
    country was a leading voice on behalf of the Jewish refuseniks in the
    Soviet Union. Americans joined in common cause with Catholics and
    Protestants who prayed in secret behind an Iron Curtain. America has
    stood with Muslims seeking to freely practice their beliefs in places
    such as Burma and China.
        To underscore America's respect for the Muslim faith here at home, I
    came to this center 6 days after the 9/11 attacks to denounce incidents
    of prejudice against Muslim Americans. Today I am announcing a new
    initiative that will improve mutual understanding and cooperation
    between America and people in predominately Muslim countries.
        I will appoint a special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic
    Conference. This is the first time a President has made such an
    appointment to the OIC. Our special envoy will listen to and learn from
    representatives from Muslim states and will share with them America's
    views and values. This is an opportunity for Americans to demonstrate to
    Muslim communities our interest in respectful dialog and continued
    friendship.

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        We have seen that friendship reflected in the outpouring of support
    Americans have extended to Muslim communities across the globe during
    times of war and natural disaster. Americans came to the aid of the
    victims of devastating earthquakes in Pakistan and Iran and responded
    with urgency and compassion to the wreckage of the tsunami in Indonesia
    and Malaysia. Our country defended Muslims in Bosnia and Kosovo after
    the breakup of Yugoslavia. Today, we are rallying the world to confront
    genocide in Sudan. Americans of all beliefs have undertaken these
    efforts out of compassion, conviction, and conscience.
        The greatest challenge facing people of conscience is to help the
    forces of moderation win the great struggle against extremism that is
    now playing out across the broader Middle East. We've seen the expansion
    of the concept of religious freedom and individual rights in every
    region of the world except one. In the Middle East, we have seen instead
    the rise of a group of extremists who seek to use religion as a path to
    power and a means of domination.
        These self-appointed vanguard--this self-appointed vanguard presumes
    to speak for Muslims. They do not. They call all Muslims who do not
    believe in their harsh and hateful ideology ``infidels'' and ``betrayers
    of the true Muslim faith.'' This enemy falsely claims that America is at
    war with Muslims and the Muslim faith, when in fact it is these radicals
    who are Islam's true enemy.
        They staged spectacular attacks on Muslim holy sites to divide
    Muslims and make them fight one another. The majority of the victims of
    their acts of terror are Muslims. In Afghanistan, they have targeted
    teachers for beatings and murder. In Iraq, they killed a young boy and
    then boobytrapped his body so it would explode when his family came to
    retrieve him. They put children in the backseat of a car so they could
    pass a security checkpoint and then blew up the car with the children
    still inside. These enemies bombed a wedding reception in Amman, Jordan,
    a housing complex in Saudi Arabia, a hotel in Jakarta. They claim to
    undertake these acts of butchery and mayhem in the name of Allah. Yet
    this enemy is not the true face of Islam; this enemy is the face of
    hatred.
        Men and women of conscience have a duty to speak out and condemn
    these--this murderous movement before it finds its path to power. We
    must help millions of Muslims as they rescue a proud and historic
    religion from murderers and beheaders who seek to soil the name of
    Islam. And in this effort, modern Muslim leaders have the most powerful
    and influential voice. We admire and thank those Muslims who have
    denounced what the Secretary General of the OIC called radical fringe elements who pretend that
    they act in the name of Islam. We must encourage more Muslim leaders to
    add to their voices, to speak out against radical extremists who
    infiltrate mosques, to denounce organizations that use the veneer of
    Islamic belief to support and fund acts of violence, and to reach out to
    young Muslims--even in our own country and elsewhere in the free world--
    who believe suicide bombing may someday be justified.
        We need to rally the voices of Muslims who can speak most directly
    to millions in the Arab world left behind in the global movement toward
    prosperity and freedom. For decades, the free world abandoned Muslims in
    the Middle East to tyrants and terrorists and hopelessness. This was
    done in the interests of stability and peace, but instead the approach
    brought neither. The Middle East became an incubator for terrorism and
    despair, and the result was an increase in Muslims' hostility to the
    West. I have invested the heart of my Presidency in helping Muslims
    fight terrorism and claim their liberty and find their own unique paths
    to prosperity and peace.
        The efforts underway in Afghanistan and Iraq are central in this
    struggle, but that struggle is not going to end the threats; it's not
    going to end there. We believe the

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    ultimate success of Afghans and Iraqis will inspire others who want to
    live in freedom as well. We will work toward a day when a democratic
    Palestine lives side by side with Israel in peace. We have seen
    stirrings of a democratic future in other parts of the Middle East,
    though it will take time for liberty to flower. A democratic future is
    not a plan imposed by Western nations; it is a future that the people of
    the region will seize for themselves. A future of freedom is the dream
    and the desire of every loving heart.
        We know this because of the 8 million people who braved threats and
    intimidation to vote in Afghanistan. We know this because of the nearly
    12 million people who cast ballots in free elections in Iraq. And we
    know this because the world watched as the citizens of Lebanon raised
    the banner of the Cedar Revolution, drove out their Syrian occupiers,
    and chose new leaders under free elections. Even now the hope for
    freedom is felt in some dark corners in the Middle East, whispering in
    living rooms and coffee houses and in classrooms. Millions seek a path
    to the future where they can say what they think, travel where they
    wish, and worship as they choose. They plead in silence for their
    liberty, and they hope someone, somewhere will answer.
        So today, in this place of free worship, in the heart of a free
    nation, we say to those who yearn for freedom from Damascus to Tehran:
    You are not bound forever by your misery. You plead in silence no
    longer. The free world hears you. You are not alone. America offers you
    its hand in friendship. We work for the day when we can welcome you into
    the family of free nations. We pray that you and your children may one
    day know freedom at all things, including the freedom to love and to
    worship the Almighty God.
        May God bless you.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:08 a.m. at the mosque. In his remarks,
    he referred to Imam Abdullah Khouj, director, the Islamic Center of
    Washington, DC; and Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary general,
    Organization of the Islamic Conference.