[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 39, Number 19 (Monday, May 12, 2003)]
[Pages 532-533]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
The President's Radio Address

May 3, 2003

    Good morning. On Thursday, I visited the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, now 
headed home after the longest carrier deployment in recent history. I 
delivered good news to the men and women who fought in the cause of 
freedom: Their mission is complete and major combat operations in Iraq 
have ended. Our coalition is now engaged in securing and reconstructing 
that country. The United States and our allies have prevailed.
    Operation Iraqi Freedom was carried out with a combination of 
precision, speed, and boldness the enemy did not expect and the world 
had not seen before. From distant bases or ships at sea, we sent planes 
and missiles that could destroy an enemy division or strike a single 
building or bunker. Marines and soldiers charged to Baghdad across 350 
miles of hostile ground in one of the swiftest mass advances of heavy 
arms in history. The world has seen the might of the American Armed 
Forces.
    In this victory, America received valuable help from our allies. 
This weekend, I am hosting Australian Prime Minister John Howard at my 
ranch in Crawford, Texas. Prime Minister Howard has been a strong ally 
in the war on terror, and Australian forces have played an important 
role in the liberation of Iraq. Australian Special Forces entered Iraq 
with their American and British counterparts at the very beginning of 
Operation Iraqi Freedom. They helped to secure sites in western Iraq 
that could have been used to launch Scud missiles. And they disrupted 
Iraqi troop movements and command posts, paving the way for Army and 
Marine units making their way to Baghdad.
    Australia FA-18 fighters carried out deep bombing runs in Iraq. The 
Australian Navy worked with British forces to take control of the Faw 
Peninsula. Australian Navy divers cleared mines in the port of Umm Qasr, 
opening sea lanes to deliver humanitarian assistance. And Australian 
transport planes delivered emergency supplies and equipment for Iraqi 
hospitals.
    All told, about 2,000 Australian service members contributed to the 
destruction of Saddam Hussein's regime and the liberation of the Iraqi 
people. All Australians can be justly proud of the superb performance of 
Australians' air, naval, and Special Forces in Operation Iraqi Freedom. 
America is deeply grateful for their important contributions.
    Our coalition still has much work to do in Iraq. We are bringing 
order to parts of that country that remain dangerous. We are pursuing 
and finding leaders of the old regime who will be held to account for 
their crimes. We have begun the search for hidden chemical and 
biological weapons at hundreds of locations. We are helping to rebuild 
Iraq, where the dictator built palaces for himself instead of hospitals 
and schools for the people. And we will stand with the new leaders of 
Iraq as they establish a government of, by, and for the Iraqi people. 
The transition from dictatorship to democracy is hard and will take 
time, but it is worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until our 
work is done. Then we will leave, and we will leave behind a free Iraq.
    The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that still goes 
on. Al Qaida is wounded, not destroyed. The scattered cells of the 
terrorist network still operate in many nations. And we know from daily 
intelligence that they continue to plot against free people. The 
proliferation of deadly weapons remains a serious danger. The enemies of 
freedom are not idle, and neither are we. Our Government has taken 
unprecedented measures to defend our homeland, and more importantly, we 
will continue to hunt the enemy down before he can strike.
    No act of terrorists will change our purpose or weaken our resolve 
or alter their fate.

[[Page 533]]

Their cause is lost. Free nations will press on to victory.
    Thank you for listening.

Note: The address was recorded at 2:45 p.m. on April 30 in the Cabinet 
Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on May 3. The 
transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on 
May 2 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. In his remarks, 
the President referred to former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq. The 
Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language 
transcript of this address.