[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 37, Number 46 (Monday, November 19, 2001)]
[Pages 1638-1641]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the United Nations General Assembly in New York City

November 10, 2001

    Thank you, Mr. Secretary-General, Mr. President, distinguished 
delegates, and ladies and gentlemen. We meet in a hall devoted to peace, 
in a city scarred by violence, in a Nation awakened to danger, in a 
world uniting for a long struggle. Every civilized nation here today is 
resolved to keep the most basic commitment of civilization: We will 
defend ourselves and our future against terror and lawless violence.
    The United Nations was founded in this cause. In a Second World War, 
we learned there is no isolation from evil. We affirmed that some crimes 
are so terrible they offend humanity, itself. And we resolved that the 
aggressions and ambitions of the wicked must be opposed early, 
decisively, and collectively, before they threaten us all. That evil has 
returned, and that cause is renewed.
    A few miles from here, many thousands still lie in a tomb of rubble. 
Tomorrow the Secretary-General, the President of the General Assembly, 
and I will visit that site, where the names of every nation and region 
that lost citizens will be read aloud. If we were to read the names of 
every person who died, it would take more than 3 hours.
    Those names include a citizen of Gambia whose wife spent their 
fourth wedding anniversary, September the 12th, searching in vain for 
her husband. Those names include a man who supported his wife in Mexico, 
sending home money every week. Those names include a young Pakistani who 
prayed toward Mecca five times a day and died that day trying to save 
others.
    The suffering of September the 11th was inflicted on people of many 
faiths and many nations. All of the victims, including Muslims, were 
killed with equal indifference and equal satisfaction by the terrorist 
leaders. The terrorists are violating the tenets of every religion, 
including the one they invoke.
    Last week the Sheikh of Al-Azhar University, the world's oldest 
Islamic institution of higher learning, declared that terrorism is a 
disease and that Islam prohibits killing innocent civilians. The 
terrorists call their cause holy, yet they fund it with drug dealing. 
They encourage murder and suicide in the name of a great faith that 
forbids both. They dare to ask God's blessing as they set out to kill 
innocent men, women, and children. But the God of Isaac and Ishmael 
would never answer such a prayer. And a murderer is not a martyr; he is 
just a murderer.
    Time is passing. Yet, for the United States of America, there will 
be no forgetting September the 11th. We will remember every rescuer who 
died in honor. We will remember every family that lives in grief. We 
will remember the fire and ash, the last phone calls, the funerals of 
the children.
    And the people of my country will remember those who have plotted 
against us. We are learning their names. We are coming to know their 
faces. There is no corner of the Earth distant or dark enough to protect 
them. However long it takes, their hour of justice will come.
    Every nation has a stake in this cause. As we meet, the terrorists 
are planning more murder--perhaps in my country, or perhaps in yours. 
They kill because they aspire to dominate. They seek to overthrow 
governments and destabilize entire regions. Last week, anticipating this 
meeting of the General Assembly, they denounced the United Nations. They 
called our Secretary-General a criminal and condemned all Arab nations 
here as traitors to Islam.
    Few countries meet their exacting standards of brutality and 
oppression. Every other country is a potential target. And all the world 
faces the most horrifying prospect of all: These same terrorists are 
searching for weapons of mass destruction, the tools to turn their 
hatred into holocaust. They can be expected to use chemical, biological, 
and nuclear weapons the moment they are capable of doing so. No hint of 
conscience would prevent it.
    This threat cannot be ignored. This threat cannot be appeased. 
Civilization, itself, the civilization we share, is threatened. History 
will record our response and judge or justify every nation in this hall.
    The civilized world is now responding. We act to defend ourselves 
and deliver our children from a future of fear. We choose the dignity of 
life over a culture of death. We choose lawful change and civil 
disagreement

[[Page 1639]]

over coercion, subversion, and chaos. These commitments--hope and order, 
law and life--unite people across cultures and continents. Upon these 
commitments depend all peace and progress. For these commitments, we are 
determined to fight.
    The United Nations has risen to this responsibility. On the 12th of 
September, these buildings opened for emergency meetings of the General 
Assembly and the Security Council. Before the Sun had set, these attacks 
on the world stood condemned by the world. And I want to thank you for 
this strong and principled stand.
    I also thank the Arab and Islamic countries that have condemned 
terrorist murder. Many of you have seen the destruction of terror in 
your own lands. The terrorists are increasingly isolated by their own 
hatred and extremism. They cannot hide behind Islam. The authors of mass 
murder and their allies have no place in any culture and no home in any 
faith.
    The conspiracies of terror are being answered by an expanding global 
coalition. Not every nation will be a part of every action against the 
enemy. But every nation in our coalition has duties. These duties can be 
demanding, as we in America are learning. We have already made 
adjustments in our laws and in our daily lives. We're taking new 
measures to investigate terror and to protect against threats.
    The leaders of all nations must now carefully consider their 
responsibilities and their future. Terrorist groups like Al Qaida depend 
upon the aid or indifference of governments. They need the support of a 
financial infrastructure and safe havens to train and plan and hide.
    Some nations want to play their part in the fight against terror, 
but tell us they lack the means to enforce their laws and control their 
borders. We stand ready to help. Some governments still turn a blind eye 
to the terrorists, hoping the threat will pass them by. They are 
mistaken. And some governments, while pledging to uphold the principles 
of the U.N., have cast their lot with the terrorists. They support them 
and harbor them, and they will find that their welcomed guests are 
parasites that will weaken them and eventually consume them.
    For every regime that sponsors terror, there is a price to be paid. 
And it will be paid. The allies of terror are equally guilty of murder 
and equally accountable to justice.
    The Taliban are now learning this lesson. That regime and the 
terrorists who support it are now virtually indistinguishable. Together, 
they promote terror abroad and impose a reign of terror on the Afghan 
people. Women are executed in Kabul's soccer stadium. They can be beaten 
for wearing socks that are too thin. Men are jailed for missing prayer 
meetings.
    The United States, supported by many nations, is bringing justice to 
the terrorists in Afghanistan. We're making progress against military 
targets, and that is our objective. Unlike the enemy, we seek to 
minimize, not maximize, the loss of innocent life.
    I'm proud of the honorable conduct of the American military. And my 
country grieves for all the suffering the Taliban have brought upon 
Afghanistan, including the terrible burden of war. The Afghan people do 
not deserve their present rulers. Years of Taliban misrule have brought 
nothing but misery and starvation. Even before this current crisis, 4 
million Afghans depended on food from the United States and other 
nations, and millions of Afghans were refugees from Taliban oppression.
    I make this promise to all the victims of that regime: The Taliban's 
days of harboring terrorists and dealing in heroin and brutalizing women 
are drawing to a close. And when that regime is gone, the people of 
Afghanistan will say with the rest of the world, ``Good riddance.''
    I can promise, too, that America will join the world in helping the 
people of Afghanistan rebuild their country. Many nations, including 
mine, are sending food and medicine to help Afghans through the winter. 
America has airdropped over 1.3 million packages of rations into 
Afghanistan. Just this week, we airlifted 20,000 blankets and over 200 
tons of provisions into the region. We continue to provide humanitarian 
aid, even while the Taliban try to steal the food we send.
    More help eventually will be needed. The United States will work 
closely with the United Nations and development banks to reconstruct 
Afghanistan after hostilities there

[[Page 1640]]

have ceased and the Taliban are no longer in control. And the United 
States will work with the U.N. to support a post-Taliban Government that 
represents all of the Afghan people.
    In this war of terror, each of us must answer for what we have done 
or what we have left undone. After tragedy, there is a time for sympathy 
and condolence. And my country has been very grateful for both. The 
memorials and vigils around the world will not be forgotten. But the 
time for sympathy has now passed; the time for action has now arrived.
    The most basic obligations in this new conflict have already been 
defined by the United Nations. On September the 28th, the Security 
Council adopted Resolution 1373. Its requirements are clear: Every 
United Nations member has a responsibility to crack down on terrorist 
financing. We must pass all necessary laws in our own countries to allow 
the confiscation of terrorist assets. We must apply those laws to every 
financial institution in every nation.
    We have a responsibility to share intelligence and coordinate the 
efforts of law enforcement. If you know something, tell us. If we know 
something, we'll tell you. And when we find the terrorists, we must work 
together to bring them to justice. We have a responsibility to deny any 
sanctuary, safe haven, or transit to terrorists. Every known terrorist 
camp must be shut down, its operators apprehended, and evidence of their 
arrest presented to the United Nations. We have a responsibility to deny 
weapons to terrorists and to actively prevent private citizens from 
providing them.
    These obligations are urgent, and they are binding on every nation 
with a place in this chamber. Many governments are taking these 
obligations seriously, and my country appreciates it. Yet, even beyond 
Resolution 1373, more is required, and more is expected of our coalition 
against terror.
    We're asking for a comprehensive commitment to this fight. We must 
unite in opposing all terrorists, not just some of them. In this world, 
there are good causes and bad causes, and we may disagree on where that 
line is drawn. Yet, there is no such thing as a good terrorist. No 
national aspiration, no remembered wrong can ever justify the deliberate 
murder of the innocent. Any government that rejects this principle, 
trying to pick and choose its terrorist friends, will know the 
consequences.
    We must speak the truth about terror. Let us never tolerate 
outrageous conspiracy theories concerning the attacks of September the 
11th, malicious lies that attempt to shift the blame away from the 
terrorists, themselves, away from the guilty. To inflame ethnic hatred 
is to advance the cause of terror.
    The war against terror must not serve as an excuse to persecute 
ethnic and religious minorities in any country. Innocent people must be 
allowed to live their own lives, by their own customs, under their own 
religion. And every nation must have avenues for the peaceful expression 
of opinion and dissent. When these avenues are closed, the temptation to 
speak through violence grows.
    We must press on with our agenda for peace and prosperity in every 
land. My country is pledged to encouraging development and expanding 
trade. My country is pledged to investing in education and combating 
AIDS and other infectious diseases around the world. Following September 
11th, these pledges are even more important. In our struggle against 
hateful groups that exploit poverty and despair, we must offer an 
alternative of opportunity and hope.
    The American Government also stands by its commitment to a just 
peace in the Middle East. We are working toward a day when two states, 
Israel and Palestine, live peacefully together within secure and 
recognize borders as called for by the Security Council resolutions. We 
will do all in our power to bring both parties back into negotiations. 
But peace will only come when all have sworn off forever incitement, 
violence, and terror.
    And finally, this struggle is a defining moment for the United 
Nations, itself. And the world needs its principled leadership. It 
undermines the credibility of this great institution, for example, when 
the Commission on Human Rights offers seats to the world's most 
persistent violators of human rights. The United Nations depends, above 
all, on its moral authority, and that authority must be preserved.

[[Page 1641]]

    The steps I described will not be easy. For all nations, they will 
require effort. For some nations, they will require great courage. Yet, 
the cost of inaction is far greater. The only alternative to victory is 
a nightmare world where every city is a potential killing field.
    As I've told the American people, freedom and fear are at war. We 
face enemies that hate not our policies but our existence, the tolerance 
of openness and creative culture that defines us. But the outcome of 
this conflict is certain: There is a current in history, and it runs 
toward freedom. Our enemies resent it and dismiss it. But the dreams of 
mankind are defined by liberty: the natural right to create and build 
and worship and live in dignity. When men and women are released from 
oppression and isolation, they find fulfillment and hope, and they leave 
poverty by the millions.
    These aspirations are lifting up the peoples of Europe, Asia, 
Africa, and the Americas, and they can lift up all of the Islamic world.
    We stand for the permanent hopes of humanity, and those hopes will 
not be denied. We're confident, too, that history has an author who 
fills time and eternity with His purpose. We know that evil is real, but 
good will prevail against it. This is the teaching of many faiths, and 
in that assurance we gain strength for a long journey.
    It is our task, the task of this generation, to provide the response 
to aggression and terror. We have no other choice, because there is no 
other peace.
    We did not ask for this mission, yet there is honor in history's 
call. We have a chance to write the story of our times, a story of 
courage defeating cruelty and light overcoming darkness. This calling is 
worthy of any life and worthy of every nation. So let us go forward, 
confident, determined, and unafraid.
    Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 9:38 a.m. in the General Assembly Hall at 
the United Nations Headquarters. In his remarks, he referred to 
Secretary-General Kofi Annan and General Assembly President Han Seung-
soo of the United Nations; and Mohamed Sayed Tantawi, Sheikh of Al-Azhar 
University.