[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.