[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book I)]
[June 5, 2008]
[Pages 751-755]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks at a Groundbreaking Ceremony for the United States Institute of
Peace
June 5, 2008
Thank you all. Please be seated. Mr. Secretary, thank you for your kind introduction. And thank you for
inviting me to join you to break ground for the United States Institute
of Peace's new home. I'm really pleased to be here. I appreciate what
you do to resolve conflict and support new democracies and to build
peace by promoting effective diplomacy. And speaking about effective
diplomacy, it seems like you used some to get this special piece of
land. I congratulate you on picking a wonderful site.
I thank Robin West, the Chairman; Dick
Solomon, the President. Members of the
Board of Directors, thank you for being here. I'm so pleased to be with
the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice,
and some of her predecessors. Thank you for being here. I appreciate
Admiral Mullen joining us. I want to thank
members of my administration for coming. Madam Speaker, you grace us with your presence. Thank you for coming.
I also want to pay homage to Ted Stevens for helping to secure the funding for this important
site, as well as Members of the United States Senate who have joined him
here and Members of the House. I appreciate Reverend Lovett, Father Hesburgh,
members of the diplomatic corps, ladies and gentlemen.
The Institute of Peace was founded in 1984. It was during the last
great ideological struggle of the 20th century. This was the struggle
against Soviet communism, a struggle that was eventually won by freedom
because of peace through strength and because of the help of the
Institute of Peace.
We're in a different struggle today, but we're in an ideological
struggle against violent extremism. The U.S. Institute of Peace is
playing an important role, and I thank you for that. In Afghanistan,
you're helping a young democracy establish the rule of law and
strengthen public education and build a civil society. In Iraq, you're
helping the nation overcome the legacy of decades of tyranny by
strengthening government institutions and promoting peaceful engagement.
And although the struggle against violent extremism is in its early
years, there's no doubt in my mind, freedom will again prevail, and your
help is going to be important.
In this struggle, we're guided by a clear principle: Freedom is
universal. We believe that freedom is the birthright of every man,
woman, and child. Free societies are peaceful societies. Freedom helps
supplant the conditions of hopelessness that extremists exploit to
recruit terrorists and suicide bombers. People who live in liberty are
less likely to turn to ideologies of hatred and fear. And that is why
the United States is leading and must continue to lead the cause of
freedom for the sake of peace.
September the 11th, we saw how the lack of freedom in other lands
can bring death and destruction to our own land. Our most solemn
obligation is to protect the American people. That is why we're pursuing
and bringing to justice terrorists. We're fighting them overseas so we
don't have to face them here in the United States of America.
But the effort requires more. It requires using the power of liberty
to marginalize extremists. And the best way to do so is to use our
national resources to strengthen the institutions of freedom. That's
what I want to talk to you about today, briefly, you'll be pleased to
hear.
Institutions, of course, include a democratic system of government,
a vibrant free
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press, independent judiciary, a free enterprise system, places of
worship where people are free to practice their faith. These
institutions include an education system that provides citizens a link
to the world, health infrastructure that combats plagues like HIV/AIDS
and malaria, and women's organizations that help societies take
advantage of the skills and talents of half their population.
We're helping nations across the world build these institutions, and
we face three challenges as we do so. First of all, there are developing
nations, many on the continent of Africa, that are facing extreme
poverty and health epidemics and humanitarian catastrophes and are
therefore vulnerable to extremists who take advantage of chaos and
instability.
Secondly, there are nations like Colombia and Lebanon and Pakistan
that are facing transnational threats from drug cartels or terrorist
networks that seek safe haven on their territory and threaten to
overwhelm their institutions.
And thirdly, there are nations like Afghanistan and Iraq, where we
removed dangerous regimes that threatened our people and now have a
special obligation to help them build free societies that their--that
become allies in the fight against these extremists.
It's in America's vital interest to help all these nations combat
ideologies of hate. It's in our security interest to eliminate safe
havens for terrorists and extremists. It's in our national interest to
develop institutions that allow them to govern their territories
effectively and improve their lives.
We've been making transformations over the last 8 years to make
these capabilities more real and more effective. We're transforming the
United States military so we can deliver justice to the terrorists in a
more effective way. We're transforming America's capabilities to help
poor and struggling societies become healthy and prosperous.
And we've seen those effective transformations through the Emergency
Plan for AIDS or malaria initiative or the Millennium Challenge Account.
The Millennium Challenge Account represents a different approach to
development. It rewards nations that govern responsibly and fight
corruption and invest in the health and education of their people and
use the power of free markets and free trade to lift the people out of
poverty.
One thing in common for all these programs is, we insist upon
results, and we measure. And the results are coming in, and millions of
people are benefiting from this foreign policy initiative. And they
deserve to be fully supported by the United States Congress.
We're also transforming America's capabilities to helping
emergency--emerging democracies build free institutions while under fire
from terrorists and under pressure from state sponsors of terror. And
this is a new challenge that we face at the start of the 21st century.
And as we've adopted to meet these new circumstances, there have been
successes and setbacks, and we've learned some lessons.
One lesson is that before nations under fire from terrorists can
make political and economic progress, their populations need basic
security. Sometimes local security institutions, with training and
equipment and support from the outside, can handle the task. Take, for
example, Colombia. Colombia and America launched an ambitious program
that helped rescue that country from the brink of becoming a failed
state. Plan Colombia, which started under my predecessor, made it clear that the United States would help
the Colombian Government modernize its military and fight the FARC
terrorists, expand education opportunity, provide Colombians with
alternatives to a life of terror and narcotrafficking. Congress has an
opportunity to strengthen these efforts, and I strongly urge them to
send a clear and sound message to the people of Colombia and the region
that we
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stand with them by passing the Colombia free trade agreement.
In other situations, America is training international peacekeepers
so they can deploy to provide security in troubled regions. We've
started what's called the Global Peace Operations Initiative. The whole
idea is to work to train international peacekeeping forces so they can
do the work necessary to provide stability and security, so institutions
can advance. So far, we've trained more than 40,000 peacekeepers, and
the plan is to train 75,000 additional.
These instances where America has removed regimes that threaten us,
American troops may need to play a direct role in providing security. In
Iraq, 2006, the country was descending into sectarian chaos. So we
launched the surge, 30,000 additional troops to work with Iraqi forces
to protect the Iraqi people from terrorists, insurgents, and illegal
militias. Today, because we acted, violence in Iraq is down to its
lowest point since late March of 2004. Civilian deaths are down.
Sectarian killings are down. Security has improved, as well as the
economy. Political reconciliation is taking place at the grassroots and
Federal level. And as the Iraqi security forces are becoming more
capable, our troops are beginning to come home under a policy of return
on success.
A lesson we've learned is that civilian expertise is vital to
strengthening the institutions of freedom. In Iraq and Afghanistan,
we've developed an important tool to tap into civilian expertise called
Provincial Reconstruction Teams. PRTs bring together civilian,
diplomatic, and military personnel. They move into communities that our
military has cleared of terrorists. They help ensure that security gains
are followed with real improvements in daily life by helping local
leaders create jobs and deliver basic services and build up local
economies.
PRTs are uniquely suited to situations like Afghanistan and Iraq. In
the future, civilian expertise will be needed in other countries where
we do not have ongoing military operations. At the moment, we lack the
capability to rapidly deploy civilian experts with the right skills to
trouble spots around the world. We launched what's called a Civilian
Stabilization Initiative, which is being run out of the State Department
in the Office of Reconstruction and Stabilization.
One element of the new office is an Active Response Corps, made up
of civilian experts from many Government agencies who deploy full time
to at-risk countries. This corps will eventually include 250 personnel
from the Departments of State and Justice, Agriculture, Commerce, AID,
and other civilian agencies with relevant expertise.
Another element is the Standby Reserve [Response] * Corps, which is
a reserve force of current and former Government employees who volunteer
to be an on-call supplemental force that can deploy for reconstruction
and stabilization missions on short notice.
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* White House correction.
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And finally, this initiative will include a new Civilian Reserve
Corps that will function much like our military reserve. It will be made
up of American citizens with critical skills, such as police officers
and judges and prosecutors and engineers and doctors and public
administrators. The corps will give people across America who do not
wear the uniform a chance to serve in the defining struggle of our time.
Legislation authorizing the Civilian Reserve Corps has passed the
House of Representatives. It's awaiting action in the Senate. And I
strongly urge Congress to pass this bipartisan legislation as soon as
possible.
Another lesson is, is that in aiding the rise of strong and stable
democracies requires that--the efforts of much more than Washington, DC.
It requires the efforts of other governments and nonorganizational--
nongovernmental organizations and people around the world.
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The work of democratic development is the work of all free nations.
This is precisely the message that Secretary Rice and I have been carrying around the world. We're
rallying other nations to train peacekeepers to support Afghanistan and
Iraq and to act boldly to alleviate hunger and poverty.
I'm going to the G-8 in Japan in the month of July. The last G-8,
our partners stood up and made strong commitments to help Africa deal
with malaria and HIV/AIDS. They have yet to make good on their
commitments. And I will remind them, it's one thing to make a promise;
it's another thing to write the check. And the American Government
expects our partners to live up to their obligations.
The work of democratic development sometimes requires young
democracies under siege to band together with partnerships to deal with
common threats. And this is the approach we're taking in Central
America. We've encouraged nations threatened by narcotraffickers to
cooperate in protecting their people. The supplemental that's being
debated in the Congress will help further this effort by linking Mexico
and Central America with U.S. to have a joint strategy: protecting our
hemisphere from narcotraffickers and the terrorists that they ultimately
yield. I asked Congress to approve the request quickly in the
supplemental without putting unreasonable conditions on the vital aid.
One thing is for certain: that if we expect democracies to prevail,
to marginalize the extremists, countries--it requires countries to have
good, strong democratic leaders. And the best way to encourage that is
to have them come to our colleges and universities. We've made good
progress about changing the student visa regime after
9/11. We've increased the number of students coming here. And it's in
our interest that we continue to increase the number of students coming
to study in the United States.
And finally, the work of democratic development is the work of
nongovernmental organizations, like the U.S. Institute of Peace.
Obviously, these organizations can go into countries where it's harder
for governments to operate. So it's very important for this Government
and future Governments to always be a strong and steady partner to
nongovernmental organizations and groups like the U.S. Institute of
Peace.
The work of democratic development is the great cause of our time,
and we shouldn't shy away from it. And we must be confident in our
ability to help others realize the blessings of freedom. My big concern
is that the United States becomes isolationist and nervous; we don't
support those values that have stood the test of time. The Institute of
Peace, I hope, will make sure that never happens.
Our fellow citizens can help in many ways. They can join an
organization like this one. They can join the civilian reserve. They can
become--like thousands of other compassionate citizens--become soldiers
in the armies of compassion by helping HIV/AIDS victims or help educate
people around the world. Or they can make the noble choice that has
sustained freedom for generations and join the United States military.
However they choose to serve, advancing the cause of liberty is
necessary to advance the cause of peace.
I'm honored to be with you today. Looking forward to coming back
someday to see this building when it's built. Thanks for your efforts.
Thanks for your mission. May God bless you all.
Note: The President spoke at 10:49 a.m. at Navy Hill. In his remarks, he
referred to former Secretary of State George P. Shultz, who introduced
the President, and Rev. Theodore M. Hesburgh, cochairs, Building for
Peace Campaign, U.S. Institute of Peace; J. Robinson West, Chairman of
the Board of Directors, Richard H. Solomon, President, and Rev. Sidney
Lovett (Ret.), former member of the Board of Directors, U.S. Institute
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of Peace; and Adm. Michael G. Mullen, USN, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of
Staff. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish
language transcript of these remarks.