[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 5 (Monday, February 3, 2003)]
[Pages 109-116]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Address Before a Joint Session of the Congress on the State of the Union

January 28, 2003

    Mr. Speaker, Vice President Cheney, Members of Congress, 
distinguished citizens and fellow citizens: Every year, by law and by 
custom, we meet here to consider the state of the Union. This year, we 
gather in this Chamber deeply aware of decisive days that lie ahead.
    You and I serve our country in a time of great consequence. During 
this session of Congress, we have the duty to reform domestic programs 
vital to our country. We have the opportunity to save millions of lives 
abroad from a terrible disease. We will work for a prosperity that is 
broadly shared, and we will answer every danger and every enemy that 
threatens the American people.
    In all these days of promise and days of reckoning, we can be 
confident. In a whirlwind of change and hope and peril, our faith is 
sure; our resolve is firm; and our Union is strong.
    This country has many challenges. We will not deny, we will not 
ignore, we will not pass along our problems to other Congresses, to 
other Presidents, and other generations. We will confront them with 
focus and clarity and courage.
    During the last 2 years, we have seen what can be accomplished when 
we work together. To lift the standards of our public schools, we 
achieved historic education reform, which must now be carried out in 
every school and in every classroom so that every child in America can 
read and learn and succeed in life. To protect our country, we 
reorganized our Government and created the Department of Homeland 
Security, which is mobilizing against the threats of a new era. To bring 
our economy out of recession, we delivered the largest tax relief in a 
generation. To insist on integrity in American business, we passed tough 
reforms, and we are holding corporate criminals to account.
    Some might call this a good record. I call it a good start. Tonight 
I ask the House and the Senate to join me in the next bold steps to 
serve our fellow citizens.
    Our first goal is clear: We must have an economy that grows fast 
enough to employ every man and woman who seeks a job. After recession, 
terrorist attacks, corporate scandals, and stock market declines, our 
economy is recovering. Yet, it's not growing fast enough or strongly 
enough. With unemployment rising, our Nation needs more small businesses 
to open, more companies to invest and expand, more employers to put up 
the sign that says, ``Help Wanted.''
    Jobs are created when the economy grows. The economy grows when 
Americans have

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more money to spend and invest, and the best and fairest way to make 
sure Americans have that money is not to tax it away in the first place.
    I am proposing that all the income-tax reductions set for 2004 and 
2006 be made permanent and effective this year. And under my plan, as 
soon as I've signed the bill, this extra money will start showing up in 
workers' paychecks. Instead of gradually reducing the marriage penalty, 
we should do it now. Instead of slowly raising the child credit to 
$1,000, we should send the checks to American families now.
    The tax relief is for everyone who pays income taxes, and it will 
help our economy immediately: 92 million Americans will keep, this year, 
an average of almost $1,100 more of their own money; a family of 4 with 
an income of $40,000 would see their Federal income taxes fall from 
$1,178 to $45 per year; our plan will improve the bottom line for more 
than 23 million small businesses.
    You, the Congress, have already passed all these reductions and 
promised them for future years. If this tax relief is good for Americans 
3, or 5, or 7 years from now, it is even better for Americans today.
    We should also strengthen the economy by treating investors equally 
in our tax laws. It's fair to tax a company's profits. It is not fair to 
again tax the shareholder on the same profits. To boost investor 
confidence and to help the nearly 10 million seniors who receive 
dividend income, I ask you to end the unfair double taxation of 
dividends.
    Lower taxes and greater investment will help this economy expand. 
More jobs mean more taxpayers and higher revenues to our Government. The 
best way to address the deficit and move toward a balanced budget is to 
encourage economic growth and to show some spending discipline in 
Washington, DC.
    We must work together to fund only our most important priorities. I 
will send you a budget that increases discretionary spending by 4 
percent next year, about as much as the average family's income is 
expected to grow. And that is a good benchmark for us. Federal spending 
should not rise any faster than the paychecks of American families.
    A growing economy and a focus on essential priorities will be 
crucial to the future of Social Security. As we continue to work 
together to keep Social Security sound and reliable, we must offer 
younger workers a chance to invest in retirement accounts that they will 
control and they will own.
    Our second goal is high quality, affordable health for all 
Americans. The American system of medicine is a model of skill and 
innovation, with a pace of discovery that is adding good years to our 
lives. Yet for many people, medical care costs too much, and many have 
no health coverage at all. These problems will not be solved with a 
nationalized health care system that dictates coverage and rations care.
    Instead, we must work toward a system in which all Americans have a 
good insurance policy, choose their own doctors, and seniors and low-
income Americans receive the help they need. Instead of bureaucrats and 
trial lawyers and HMOs, we must put doctors and nurses and patients back 
in charge of American medicine.
    Health care reform must begin with Medicare. Medicare is the binding 
commitment of a caring society. We must renew that commitment by giving 
seniors access to preventive medicine and new drugs that are 
transforming health care in America.
    Seniors happy with the current Medicare system should be able to 
keep their coverage just the way it is. And just like you, the Members 
of Congress, and your staffs and other Federal employees, all seniors 
should have the choice of a health care plan that provides prescription 
drugs.
    My budget will commit an additional $400 billion over the next 
decade to reform and strengthen Medicare. Leaders of both political 
parties have talked for years about strengthening Medicare. I urge the 
Members of this new Congress to act this year.
    To improve our health care system, we must address one of the prime 
causes of higher cost, the constant threat that physicians and hospitals 
will be unfairly sued. Because of excessive litigation, everybody pays 
more for health care, and many parts of America are losing fine doctors. 
No one has ever been healed by a frivolous lawsuit. I

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urge the Congress to pass medical liability reform.
    Our third goal is to promote energy independence for our country, 
while dramatically improving the environment. I have sent you a 
comprehensive energy plan to promote energy efficiency and conservation, 
to develop cleaner technology, and to produce more energy at home. I 
have sent you Clear Skies legislation that mandates a 70-percent cut in 
air pollution from powerplants over the next 15 years. I have sent you a 
Healthy Forests Initiative, to help prevent the catastrophic fires that 
devastate communities, kill wildlife, and burn away millions of acres of 
treasured forests.
    I urge you to pass these measures, for the good of both our 
environment and our economy. Even more, I ask you to take a crucial step 
and protect our environment in ways that generations before us could not 
have imagined.
    In this century, the greatest environmental progress will come about 
not through endless lawsuits or command-and-control regulations but 
through technology and innovation. Tonight I'm proposing $1.2 billion in 
research funding so that America can lead the world in developing clean, 
hydrogen-powered automobiles.
    A simple chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen generates 
energy, which can be used to power a car, producing only water, not 
exhaust fumes. With a new national commitment, our scientists and 
engineers will overcome obstacles to taking these cars from laboratory 
to showroom, so that the first car driven by a child born today could be 
powered by hydrogen and pollution-free. Join me in this important 
innovation to make our air significantly cleaner and our country much 
less dependent on foreign sources of energy.
    Our fourth goal is to apply the compassion of America to the deepest 
problems of America. For so many in our country, the homeless and the 
fatherless, the addicted, the need is great. Yet there's power, wonder-
working power, in the goodness and idealism and faith of the American 
people.
    Americans are doing the work of compassion every day, visiting 
prisoners, providing shelter for battered women, bringing companionship 
to lonely seniors. These good works deserve our praise. They deserve our 
personal support, and when appropriate, they deserve the assistance of 
the Federal Government.
    I urge you to pass both my Faith-Based Initiative and the Citizen 
Service Act, to encourage acts of compassion that can transform America, 
one heart and one soul at a time.
    Last year, I called on my fellow citizens to participate in the USA 
Freedom Corps, which is enlisting tens of thousands of new volunteers 
across America. Tonight I ask Congress and the American people to focus 
the spirit of service and the resources of Government on the needs of 
some of our most vulnerable citizens, boys and girls trying to grow up 
without guidance and attention and children who have to go through a 
prison gate to be hugged by their mom or dad. I propose a $450 million 
initiative to bring mentors to more than a million disadvantaged junior 
high students and children of prisoners. Government will support the 
training and recruiting of mentors. Yet it is the men and women of 
America who will fill the need. One mentor, one person can change a life 
forever, and I urge you to be that one person.
    Another cause of hopelessness is addiction to drugs. Addiction 
crowds out friendship, ambition, moral conviction and reduces all the 
richness of life to a single destructive desire. As a government, we are 
fighting illegal drugs by cutting off supplies and reducing demand 
through antidrug education programs. Yet for those already addicted, the 
fight against drugs is a fight for their own lives. Too many Americans 
in search of treatment cannot get it. So tonight I propose a new $600 
million program to help an additional 300,000 Americans receive 
treatment over the next 3 years.
    Our Nation is blessed with recovery programs that do amazing work. 
One of them is found at the Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, 
Louisiana. A man in the program said, ``God does miracles in people's 
lives, and you never think it could be you.'' Tonight let us bring to 
all Americans who struggle with drug addiction this message of

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hope: The miracle of recovery is possible, and it could be you.
    By caring for children who need mentors and for addicted men and 
women who need treatment, we are building a more welcoming society, a 
culture that values every life. And in this work, we must not overlook 
the weakest among us. I ask you to protect infants at the very hour of 
their birth and end the practice of partial-birth abortion. And because 
no human life should be started or ended as the object of an experiment, 
I ask you to set a high standard for humanity and pass a law against all 
human cloning.
    The qualities of courage and compassion that we strive for in 
America also determine our conduct abroad. The American flag stands for 
more than our power and our interests. Our Founders dedicated this 
country to the cause of human dignity, the rights of every person, and 
the possibilities of every life. This conviction leads us into the world 
to help the afflicted and defend the peace and confound the designs of 
evil men.
    In Afghanistan, we helped to liberate an oppressed people. And we 
will continue helping them secure their country, rebuild their society, 
and educate all their children, boys and girls. In the Middle East, we 
will continue to seek peace between a secure Israel and a democratic 
Palestine. Across the Earth, America is feeding the hungry. More than 60 
percent of international food aid comes as a gift from the people of the 
United States. As our Nation moves troops and builds alliances to make 
our world safer, we must also remember our calling as a blessed country 
is to make the world better.
    Today, on the continent of Africa, nearly 30 million people have the 
AIDS virus, including 3 million children under the age 15. There are 
whole countries in Africa where more than one-third of the adult 
population carries the infection. More than 4 million require immediate 
drug treatment. Yet across that continent, only 50,000 AIDS victims--
only 50,000--are receiving the medicine they need.
    Because the AIDS diagnosis is considered a death sentence, many do 
not seek treatment. Almost all who do are turned away. A doctor in rural 
South Africa describes his frustration. He says, ``We have no medicines. 
Many hospitals tell people, `You've got AIDS. We can't help you. Go home 
and die.' '' In an age of miraculous medicines, no person should have to 
hear those words.
    AIDS can be prevented. Antiretroviral drugs can extend life for many 
years. And the cost of those drugs has dropped from $12,000 a year to 
under $300 a year, which places a tremendous possibility within our 
grasp. Ladies and gentlemen, seldom has history offered a greater 
opportunity to do so much for so many.
    We have confronted and will continue to confront HIV/AIDS in our own 
country. And to meet a severe and urgent crisis abroad, tonight I 
propose the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, a work of mercy beyond all 
current international efforts to help the people of Africa. This 
comprehensive plan will prevent 7 million new AIDS infections, treat at 
least 2 million people with life-extending drugs, and provide humane 
care for millions of people suffering from AIDS and for children 
orphaned by AIDS. I ask the Congress to commit $15 billion over the next 
5 years, including nearly $10 billion in new money, to turn the tide 
against AIDS in the most afflicted nations of Africa and the Caribbean.
    This Nation can lead the world in sparing innocent people from a 
plague of nature. And this Nation is leading the world in confronting 
and defeating the manmade evil of international terrorism.
    There are days when our fellow citizens do not hear news about the 
war on terror. There's never a day when I do not learn of another threat 
or receive reports of operations in progress or give an order in this 
global war against a scattered network of killers. The war goes on, and 
we are winning.
    To date, we've arrested or otherwise dealt with many key commanders 
of Al Qaida. They include a man who directed logistics and funding for 
the September the 11th attacks, the chief of Al Qaida operations in the 
Persian Gulf who planned the bombings of our embassies in east Africa 
and the U.S.S. Cole, an Al Qaida operations chief from Southeast Asia, a 
former director of Al Qaida's training camps in Afghanistan, a key Al 
Qaida operative in Europe, a major Al Qaida leader in Yemen. All told, 
more than 3,000 suspected terrorists have been arrested

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in many countries. Many others have met a different fate. Let's put it 
this way: They are no longer a problem to the United States and our 
friends and allies.
    We are working closely with other nations to prevent further 
attacks. America and coalition countries have uncovered and stopped 
terrorist conspiracies targeting the Embassy in Yemen, the American 
Embassy in Singapore, a Saudi military base, ships in the Straits of 
Hormuz and the Straits of Gibraltar. We've broken Al Qaida cells in 
Hamburg, Milan, Madrid, London, Paris, as well as Buffalo, New York.
    We have the terrorists on the run. We're keeping them on the run. 
One by one, the terrorists are learning the meaning of American justice.
    As we fight this war, we will remember where it began: Here, in our 
own country. This Government is taking unprecedented measures to protect 
our people and defend our homeland. We've intensified security at the 
borders and ports of entry, posted more than 50,000 newly trained 
Federal screeners in airports, begun inoculating troops and first-
responders against smallpox, and are deploying the Nation's first early 
warning network of sensors to detect biological attack. And this year, 
for the first time, we are beginning to field a defense to protect this 
Nation against ballistic missiles.
    I thank the Congress for supporting these measures. I ask you 
tonight to add to our future security with a major research and 
production effort to guard our people against bioterrorism, called 
Project BioShield. The budget I send you will propose almost $6 billion 
to quickly make available effective vaccines and treatments against 
agents like anthrax, botulinum toxin, Ebola, and plague. We must assume 
that our enemies would use these diseases as weapons, and we must act 
before the dangers are upon us.
    Since September the 11th, our intelligence and law enforcement 
agencies have worked more closely than ever to track and disrupt the 
terrorists. The FBI is improving its ability to analyze intelligence and 
is transforming itself to meet new threats. Tonight I am instructing the 
leaders of the FBI, the CIA, the Homeland Security, and the Department 
of Defense to develop a Terrorist Threat Integration Center, to merge 
and analyze all threat information in a single location. Our Government 
must have the very best information possible, and we will use it to make 
sure the right people are in the right places to protect all our 
citizens.
    Our war against terror is a contest of will in which perseverance is 
power. In the ruins of two towers, at the western wall of the Pentagon, 
on a field in Pennsylvania, this Nation made a pledge, and we renew that 
pledge tonight: Whatever the duration of this struggle and whatever the 
difficulties, we will not permit the triumph of violence in the affairs 
of men; free people will set the course of history.
    Today, the gravest danger in the war on terror, the gravest danger 
facing America and the world, is outlaw regimes that seek and possess 
nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons. These regimes could use such 
weapons for blackmail, terror, and mass murder. They could also give or 
sell those weapons to terrorist allies, who would use them without the 
least hesitation.
    This threat is new. America's duty is familiar. Throughout the 20th 
century, small groups of men seized control of great nations, built 
armies and arsenals, and set out to dominate the weak and intimidate the 
world. In each case, their ambitions of cruelty and murder had no limit. 
In each case, the ambitions of Hitlerism, militarism, and communism were 
defeated by the will of free peoples, by the strength of great 
alliances, and by the might of the United States of America.
    Now, in this century, the ideology of power and domination has 
appeared again and seeks to gain the ultimate weapons of terror. Once 
again, this Nation and all our friends are all that stand between a 
world at peace and a world of chaos and constant alarm. Once again, we 
are called to defend the safety of our people and the hopes of all 
mankind. And we accept this responsibility.
    America is making a broad and determined effort to confront these 
dangers. We have called on the United Nations to fulfill its charter and 
stand by its demand that Iraq disarm. We're strongly supporting the 
International Atomic Energy Agency in its mission to track and control 
nuclear materials around

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the world. We're working with other governments to secure nuclear 
materials in the former Soviet Union and to strengthen global treaties 
banning the production and shipment of missile technologies and weapons 
of mass destruction.
    In all these efforts, however, America's purpose is more than to 
follow a process; it is to achieve a result, the end of terrible threats 
to the civilized world. All free nations have a stake in preventing 
sudden and catastrophic attacks. And we're asking them to join us, and 
many are doing so. Yet the course of this Nation does not depend on the 
decisions of others. Whatever action is required, whenever action is 
necessary, I will defend the freedom and security of the American 
people.
    Different threats require different strategies. In Iran, we continue 
to see a Government that represses its people, pursues weapons of mass 
destruction, and supports terror. We also see Iranian citizens risking 
intimidation and death as they speak out for liberty and human rights 
and democracy. Iranians, like all people, have a right to choose their 
own Government and determine their own destiny, and the United States 
supports their aspirations to live in freedom.
    On the Korean Peninsula, an oppressive regime rules a people living 
in fear and starvation. Throughout the 1990s, the United States relied 
on a negotiated framework to keep North Korea from gaining nuclear 
weapons. We now know that that regime was deceiving the world and 
developing those weapons all along. And today the North Korean regime is 
using its nuclear program to incite fear and seek concessions. America 
and the world will not be blackmailed.
    America is working with the countries of the region, South Korea, 
Japan, China, and Russia, to find a peaceful solution and to show the 
North Korean Government that nuclear weapons will bring only isolation, 
economic stagnation, and continued hardship. The North Korean regime 
will find respect in the world and revival for its people only when it 
turns away from its nuclear ambitions.
    Our Nation and the world must learn the lessons of the Korean 
Peninsula and not allow an even greater threat to rise up in Iraq. A 
brutal dictator, with a history of reckless aggression, with ties to 
terrorism, with great potential wealth, will not be permitted to 
dominate a vital region and threaten the United States.
    Twelve years ago, Saddam Hussein faced the prospect of being the 
last casualty in a war he had started and lost. To spare himself, he 
agreed to disarm of all weapons of mass destruction. For the next 12 
years, he systematically violated that agreement. He pursued chemical, 
biological, and nuclear weapons, even while inspectors were in his 
country. Nothing to date has restrained him from his pursuit of these 
weapons, not economic sanctions, not isolation from the civilized world, 
not even cruise missile strikes on his military facilities.
    Almost 3 months ago, the United Nations Security Council gave Saddam 
Hussein his final chance to disarm. He has shown instead utter contempt 
for the United Nations and for the opinion of the world. The 108 U.N. 
inspectors were sent to conduct--were not sent to conduct a scavenger 
hunt for hidden materials across a country the size of California. The 
job of the inspectors is to verify that Iraq's regime is disarming. It 
is up to Iraq to show exactly where it is hiding its banned weapons, lay 
those weapons out for the world to see, and destroy them as directed. 
Nothing like this has happened.
    The United Nations concluded in 1999 that Saddam Hussein had 
biological weapons sufficient to produce over 25,000 liters of anthrax, 
enough doses to kill several million people. He hasn't accounted for 
that material. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed it. The 
United Nations concluded that Saddam Hussein had materials sufficient to 
produce more than 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin, enough to subject 
millions of people to death by respiratory failure. He hasn't accounted 
for that material. He's given no evidence that he has destroyed it. Our 
intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the materials to 
produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard, and VX nerve agent. In 
such quantities, these chemical agents could also kill untold thousands. 
He's not accounted for these materials. He has given no evidence that he 
has destroyed

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them. U.S. intelligence indicates that Saddam Hussein had upwards of 
30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents. Inspectors 
recently turned up 16 of them, despite Iraq's recent declaration denying 
their existence. Saddam Hussein has not accounted for the remaining 
29,984 of these prohibited munitions. He's given no evidence that he has 
destroyed them.
    From three Iraqi defectors we know that Iraq, in the late 1990s, had 
several mobile biological weapons labs. These are designed to produce 
germ warfare agents and can be moved from place to a place to evade 
inspectors. Saddam Hussein has not disclosed these facilities. He's 
given no evidence that he has destroyed them.
    The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed in the 1990s that 
Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear weapons development program, had 
a design for a nuclear weapon, and was working on five different methods 
of enriching uranium for a bomb. The British Government has learned that 
Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from 
Africa. Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to 
purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons 
production. Saddam Hussein has not credibly explained these activities. 
He clearly has much to hide.
    The dictator of Iraq is not disarming. To the contrary, he is 
deceiving. From intelligence sources we know, for instance, that 
thousands of Iraqi security personnel are at work hiding documents and 
materials from the U.N. inspectors, sanitizing inspection sites, and 
monitoring the inspectors themselves. Iraqi officials accompany the 
inspectors in order to intimidate witnesses.
    Iraq is blocking U-2 surveillance flights requested by the United 
Nations. Iraqi intelligence officers are posing as the scientists 
inspectors are supposed to interview. Real scientists have been coached 
by Iraqi officials on what to say. Intelligence sources indicate that 
Saddam Hussein has ordered that scientists who cooperate with U.N. 
inspectors in disarming Iraq will be killed, along with their families.
    Year after year, Saddam Hussein has gone to elaborate lengths, spent 
enormous sums, taken great risks to build and keep weapons of mass 
destruction. But why? The only possible explanation, the only possible 
use he could have for those weapons, is to dominate, intimidate, or 
attack.
    With nuclear arms or a full arsenal of chemical and biological 
weapons, Saddam Hussein could resume his ambitions of conquest in the 
Middle East and create deadly havoc in that region. And this Congress 
and the American people must recognize another threat. Evidence from 
intelligence sources, secret communications, and statements by people 
now in custody reveal that Saddam Hussein aids and protects terrorists, 
including members of Al Qaida. Secretly and without fingerprints, he 
could provide one of his hidden weapons to terrorists or help them 
develop their own.
    Before September the 11th, many in the world believed that Saddam 
Hussein could be contained. But chemical agents, lethal viruses, and 
shadowy terrorist networks are not easily contained. Imagine those 19 
hijackers with other weapons and other plans, this time armed by Saddam 
Hussein. It would take one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into 
this country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known. We 
will do everything in our power to make sure that that day never comes.
    Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since 
when have terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely 
putting us on notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to 
fully and suddenly emerge, all actions, all words, and all 
recriminations would come too late. Trusting in the sanity and restraint 
of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy, and it is not an option.
    The dictator who is assembling the world's most dangerous weapons 
has already used them on whole villages, leaving thousands of his own 
citizens dead, blind, or disfigured. Iraqi refugees tell us how forced 
confessions are obtained, by torturing children while their parents are 
made to watch. International human rights groups have cataloged other 
methods used in the torture chambers of Iraq: electric shock, burning 
with hot irons, dripping acid on the skin, mutilation with electric 
drills, cutting out tongues, and

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rape. If this is not evil, then evil has no meaning.
    And tonight I have a message for the brave and oppressed people of 
Iraq: Your enemy is not surrounding your country; your enemy is ruling 
your country. And the day he and his regime are removed from power will 
be the day of your liberation.
    The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. America will not 
accept a serious and mounting threat to our country and our friends and 
our allies. The United States will ask the U.N. Security Council to 
convene on February the 5th to consider the facts of Iraq's ongoing 
defiance of the world. Secretary of State Powell will present 
information and intelligence about Iraqi's legal--Iraq's illegal weapons 
programs, its attempt to hide those weapons from inspectors, and its 
links to terrorist groups.
    We will consult. But let there be no misunderstanding: If Saddam 
Hussein does not fully disarm, for the safety of our people and for the 
peace of the world, we will lead a coalition to disarm him.
    Tonight I have a message for the men and women who will keep the 
peace, members of the American Armed Forces: Many of you are assembling 
in or near the Middle East, and some crucial hours may lay ahead. In 
those hours, the success of our cause will depend on you. Your training 
has prepared you. Your honor will guide you. You believe in America, and 
America believes in you.
    Sending Americans into battle is the most profound decision a 
President can make. The technologies of war have changed; the risks and 
suffering of war have not. For the brave Americans who bear the risk, no 
victory is free from sorrow. This Nation fights reluctantly, because we 
know the cost and we dread the days of mourning that always come.
    We seek peace. We strive for peace. And sometimes peace must be 
defended. A future lived at the mercy of terrible threats is no peace at 
all. If war is forced upon us, we will fight in a just cause and by just 
means, sparing, in every way we can, the innocent. And if war is forced 
upon us, we will fight with the full force and might of the United 
States military, and we will prevail.
    And as we and our coalition partners are doing in Afghanistan, we 
will bring to the Iraqi people food and medicines and supplies and 
freedom.
    Many challenges, abroad and at home, have arrived in a single 
season. In 2 years, America has gone from a sense of invulnerability to 
an awareness of peril, from bitter division in small matters to calm 
unity in great causes. And we go forward with confidence, because this 
call of history has come to the right country.
    Americans are a resolute people who have risen to every test of our 
time. Adversity has revealed the character of our country, to the world 
and to ourselves. America is a strong nation and honorable in the use of 
our strength. We exercise power without conquest, and we sacrifice for 
the liberty of strangers.
    Americans are a free people, who know that freedom is the right of 
every person and the future of every nation. The liberty we prize is not 
America's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity.
    We Americans have faith in ourselves, but not in ourselves alone. We 
do not know--we do not claim to know all the ways of providence, yet we 
can trust in them, placing our confidence in the loving God behind all 
of life and all of history.
    May He guide us now. And may God continue to bless the United States 
of America.

Note: The President spoke at 9:01 p.m. in the House Chamber of the 
Capitol. In his remarks, he referred to President Saddam Hussein of 
Iraq. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language 
transcript of this address.