[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 38, Number 37 (Monday, September 16, 2002)]
[Pages 1535-1536]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at a Reception for Heads of United Nations General Assembly 
Delegations in New York City

September 12, 2002

    Thank you all very much. Please be seated. Laura and I appreciate 
you all coming. It's an honor to be with you tonight. I want to 
apologize for the photo line taking so long. I'm the person to blame; I 
talked too much. But thank you for coming. I appreciate so very much all 
the Presidents who are here and the Prime Ministers who are here and the 
Foreign Ministers who are here, the Ambassadors to U.N. who are here. I 
want to thank my citizens from our country who are here. I appreciate 
John Negroponte, the Ambassador to the United Nations. I want to

[[Page 1536]]

thank the Members of the United States Congress who are here. I see one, 
two, three, four, five--they're everywhere. These guy know a good free 
meal when they see one. [Laughter]
    I especially want to say a word of phrase to Kofi Annan, who is the 
Secretary-General of the United Nations, for his strong leadership and 
his good heart and his decency. I enjoy working with him a lot. He's a 
class act, as we say in the State of Texas, and I know you all agree 
with me in that.
    We gather tonight here in a place--right next to a place of great 
tragedy and great sorrow. And we also gather in a garden of great hope 
and renewal. From this room, we can view the empty space where these 
magnificent towers once stood and remember those who perished one year 
and one day ago. And in this room, we see and feel the common commitment 
of our nations to build a better world, to work hard to see to it that 
good can overcome evil.
    Ever since it opened in 1988, the Winter Garden has been one of New 
York's most beautiful public spaces, a place where people gathered to 
hear music and view art against the backdrop of one of the world's 
greatest skylines. September the 11th, in just a few moments, that 
skyline was a scene of fire and murder. This atrium was filled with 
steel and glass, and history turned a page. Scores of nations lost 
citizens that day. And in the 366 days since, scores of nations have 
committed themselves to confronting and combating the threat of global 
terror.
    Our nations have enjoyed--have employed the powers of law 
enforcement, of diplomacy, military force, and financial controls to 
bring justice, not to seek revenge but to bring justice, and to prevent 
further attacks. Much has been accomplished, and it's important to 
remember much remains to be done.
    On behalf of the people of the United States, on behalf of the good 
people of this land, I want to thank every nation that has joined us in 
this great global struggle.
    The terrible losses of September the 11th are close to our thoughts 
tonight, but so are the common hopes of our nations for a better world, 
a world beyond terror. And again, this room is a powerful symbol of 
these hopes. In one short remarkable year, the Winter Garden has been 
reborn. The speed and success of this rebuilding effort is a testament 
to the optimism and determination of the people of New York and the 
people of the world. More than one million pounds of marble for this 
building was quarried in Italy and Spain. As one quarry official stated, 
``We didn't consider this a job. It was a duty.''
    Now the world is called to urgent duties. We're called upon to 
reaffirm great founding purposes of the United Nations, universal 
standards of human dignity, and a global system of peace and security. 
We're called to confront great challenges to these ideals, from poverty 
and disease to terror and the aggression of tyrants.
    By our determination, by our faith, by cooperation, we can and we 
will meet these tests. And by our efforts, we will lift the lives of 
people on every continent.
    Thank you all for coming tonight. May God bless your countries, and 
may God bring peace to the world.

Note: The President spoke at 8:55 p.m. in the Winter Garden at the World 
Financial Center.