    [Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 15 (Monday, April 14, 2003)]
    [Page 424]
    [Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

    <R04>
    Videotape Remarks to the Iraqi People

    April 10, 2003

        This is George W. Bush, the President of the United States. At this
    moment, the regime of Saddam Hussein is being removed from power, and a
    long era of fear and cruelty is ending. American and coalition forces
    are now operating inside Baghdad, and we will not stop until Saddam's
    corrupt gang is gone. The Government of Iraq and the future of your
    country will soon belong to you.
        The goals of our coalition are clear and limited. We will end a
    brutal regime, whose aggression and weapons of mass destruction make it
    a unique threat to the world. Coalition forces will help maintain law
    and order so that Iraqis can live in security. We will respect your
    great religious traditions, whose principles of equality and compassion
    are essential to Iraq's future. We will help you build a peaceful and
    representative government that protects the rights of all citizens. And
    then our military forces will leave. Iraq will go forward as a unified,
    independent, and sovereign nation that has regained a respected place in
    the world.
        The United States and its coalition partners respect the people of
    Iraq. We are taking unprecedented measures to spare the lives of
    innocent Iraqi citizens. We are beginning to deliver food and water and
    medicine to those in need. Our only enemy is Saddam and his brutal
    regime, and that regime is your enemy as well.
        In the new era that is coming to Iraq, your country will no longer
    be held captive to the will of a cruel dictator. You will be free--free
    to build a better life instead of building more palaces for Saddam and
    his sons, free to pursue economic prosperity without the hardship of
    economic sanctions, free to travel and free to speak your mind, free to
    join in the political affairs of Iraq. And all the people who make up
    your country--Kurds, Shi'a, Turkomans, Sunnis, and others--will be free
    of the terrible persecution that so many have endured.
        The nightmare that Saddam Hussein has brought to your nation will
    soon be over. You are a good and gifted people, the heirs of a great
    civilization that contributes to all humanity. You deserve better than
    tyranny and corruption and torture chambers. You deserve to live as free
    people. And I assure every citizen of Iraq: Your nation will soon be
    free.
        Thank you.

    Note: The President's remarks were videotaped at 11:30 a.m. on April 8
    in the small dining room at Hillsborough Castle in Northern Ireland for
    later broadcast. The Office of the Press Secretary released the remarks
    on April 10 and also released an Arabic language transcript of these
    remarks.