[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 12 (Monday, March 22, 2004)]
[Pages 430-433]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on the Anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom

March 19, 2004

    Good morning and thanks for coming. Laura and I are pleased to 
welcome you all to the White House. Mr. Secretary, thank you for being 
here. Members of my National Security Council are here, members of the 
administration, members of our Armed Forces, Members of the United 
States Congress. Thank you for being here. Ladies and gentlemen. I 
particularly want to thank the members of the diplomatic corps who are 
here. Thank the ambassadors for coming today.
    We are representing 84 countries united against a common danger and 
joined in a common purpose. We are the nations that have recognized the 
threat of terrorism, and we are the nations that will defeat that 
threat. Each of us has pledged before the world: We will never bow to 
the violence of a few. We will face this mortal danger, and we will 
overcome it together.
    As we meet, violence and death at the hands of terrorists are still 
fresh in our memory. The people of Spain are burying their innocent 
dead. These men and women and children began their day in a great and 
peaceful city, yet lost their lives on a battlefield, murdered at random 
and without remorse. Americans saw the chaos and the grief and the 
vigils and the funerals, and we have shared in the sorrow of the Spanish 
people. Ambassador Ruperez, please accept our deepest sympathy for the 
great loss that your country has suffered.
    The murders in Madrid are a reminder that the civilized world is at 
war, and in this new kind of war, civilians find themselves suddenly on 
the frontlines. In recent years, terrorists have struck from Spain to 
Russia to Israel to East Africa to Morocco to the Philippines and to 
America. They've targeted Arab states such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and 
Yemen. They have attacked Muslims in Indonesia, Turkey, Pakistan, Iraq, 
and Afghanistan. No nation or region is exempt from the terrorists' 
campaign of violence.
    Each of these attacks on the innocent is a shock and a tragedy and a 
test of our will. Each attack is designed to demoralize our people and 
divide us from one another. And each attack must be answered not only 
with sorrow but with greater determination, deeper resolve, and bolder 
action against the killers. It is the interest of every country and the 
duty of every government to fight and destroy this threat to our people.
    There is no dividing line--there is a dividing line in our world, 
not between nations and not between religions or cultures but a dividing 
line separating two visions of justice and the value of life. On a tape 
claiming responsibility for the atrocities in Madrid, a man is heard to 
say, ``We choose death, while you choose life.'' We don't know if this 
is the voice of the actual killers, but we do know

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it expresses the creed of the enemy. It is a mindset that rejoices in 
suicide, incites murder, and celebrates every death we mourn. And we who 
stand on the other side of the line must be equally clear and certain of 
our convictions. We do love life, the life given to us and to all. We 
believe in the values that uphold the dignity of life, tolerance and 
freedom and the right of conscience. And we know that this way of life 
is worth defending. There is no neutral ground--no neutral ground--in 
the fight between civilization and terror, because there is no neutral 
ground between good and evil, freedom and slavery, and life and death.
    The war on terror is not a figure of speech. It is an inescapable 
calling of our generation. The terrorists are offended not merely by our 
policies; they are offended by our existence as free nations. No 
concession will appease their hatred. No accommodation will satisfy 
their endless demands. Their ultimate ambitions are to control the 
peoples of the Middle East and to blackmail the rest of the world with 
weapons of mass terror.
    There can be no separate peace with the terrorist enemy. Any sign of 
weakness or retreat simply validates terrorist violence and invites more 
violence for all nations. The only certain way to protect our people is 
by united and decisive action. In this contest of will and purpose, not 
every nation joins every mission or participates in the same way. Yet, 
every nation makes a vital contribution, and America is proud to stand 
with all of you as we pursue a broad strategy in the war against terror.
    We are using every tool of finance, intelligence, law enforcement, 
and military power to break terror networks, to deny them refuge, and to 
find their leaders. Over the past 30 months, we have frozen or seized 
nearly $200 million in assets of terror networks. We have captured or 
killed some two-thirds of Al Qaida's known leaders as well as many of Al 
Qaida's associates in countries like the United States or Germany or 
Pakistan or Saudi Arabia or Thailand. We are taking the fight to Al 
Qaida allies, such as Ansar Al-Islam in Iraq, Jemaah Islamiya in 
Indonesia and Southeast Asia. Our coalition is sending an unmistakable 
message to the terrorists, including those who struck in Madrid: These 
killers will be tracked down and found; they will face their day of 
justice.
    Our coalition is taking urgent action to stop the transfer of deadly 
weapons and materials. America and the nations of Australia and France 
and Germany and Italy and Japan and the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, 
Spain, the United Kingdom, Canada, Singapore, and Norway have joined in 
the Proliferation Security Initiative, all aimed to bind together to 
interdict lethal materials transported by air or sea or land. Many 
governments have cooperated to expose and dismantle the network of A.Q. 
Khan, which sold nuclear secrets to Libya, Iran, and North Korea. By all 
these efforts, we are determined to prevent catastrophic technologies 
from falling into the hands of an embittered few.
    Our coalition is also confronting the dangerous combination of 
outlaw states, terrorist groups, and weapons of mass destruction. For 
years, the Taliban made Afghanistan the home base of Al Qaida. And so we 
gave the Taliban a choice, to abandon forever their support for terror 
or face the destruction of their regime. Because the Taliban chose 
defiance, our coalition acted to remove this threat. And now the terror 
camps are closed, and the Government of a free Afghanistan is 
represented here today as an active partner in the war on terror.
    The people of Afghanistan are a world away from the nightmare of the 
Taliban. Citizens of Afghanistan have adopted a new constitution 
guaranteeing free elections and full participation by women. The new 
Afghan army is becoming a vital force of stability in that country. 
Businesses are opening, health care centers are being established, and 
the children of Afghanistan are back in school, boys and girls.
    This progress is a tribute to the brave Afghan people and to the 
efforts of many nations. NATO, including forces from Canada, France, 
Germany, and other nations, is leading the effort to provide security. 
Japan and Saudi Arabia have helped to complete the highway from Kabul to 
Kandahar, which is furthering commerce and unifying the country. Italy 
is working with Afghans to reform

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their legal system and strengthening an independent judiciary. Three 
years ago, the people of Afghanistan were oppressed and isolated from 
the world by a terrorist regime. Today, that nation has a democratic 
government and many allies, and all of us are proud to be friends of the 
Afghan people.
    Many countries represented here today also acted to liberate the 
people of Iraq. One year ago, military forces of a strong coalition 
entered Iraq to enforce United Nations demands, to defend our security, 
and to liberate that country from the rule of a tyrant. For Iraq, it was 
a day of deliverance. For the nations of our coalition, it was the 
moment when years of demands and pledges turned to decisive action. 
Today, as Iraqis join the free peoples of the world, we mark a turning 
point for the Middle East and a crucial advance for human liberty.
    There have been disagreements in this matter among old and valued 
friends. Those differences belong to the past. All of us can now agree 
that the fall of the Iraqi dictator has removed a source of violence, 
aggression, and instability in the Middle East. It's a good thing that 
the demands of the United Nations were enforced, not ignored with 
impunity. It is a good thing that years of illicit weapons development 
by the dictator have come to the end. It is a good thing that the Iraqi 
people are now receiving aid instead of suffering under sanctions. And 
it is a good thing that the men and women across the Middle East, 
looking to Iraq, are getting a glimpse of what life in a free country 
can be like.
    There are still violent thugs and murderers in Iraq, and we're 
dealing with them. But no one can argue that the Iraqi people would be 
better off with the thugs and murderers back in the palaces. Who would 
prefer that Saddam's torture chambers still be open? Who would wish that 
more mass graves were still being filled? Who would begrudge the Iraqi 
people their long-awaited liberation? One year after the armies of 
liberation arrived, every soldier who has fought, every aid worker who 
has served, every Iraqi who has joined in their country's defense can 
look with pride on a brave and historic achievement. They've served in 
freedom's cause, and that is a privilege.
    Today in Iraq, a British-led division is securing the southern city 
of Basra. Poland continues to lead a multinational division in south-
central Iraq. Japan and the Republic of Korea--of South Korea have made 
historic commitments of troops to help bring peace to Iraq. Special 
forces from El Salvador and Macedonia and other nations are helping to 
find and defeat Ba'athist and terrorist killers. Military engineers from 
Kazakhstan have cleared more than a half a million explosive devices 
from Iraq. Turkey is helping to resupply coalition forces. All of these 
nations and many others are meeting their responsibilities to the people 
of Iraq.
    Whatever their past views, every nation now has an interest in a 
free, successful, stable Iraq. And the terrorists understand their own 
interest in the fate of that country. For them, the connection between 
Iraq's future and the course of the war on terror is very clear. They 
understand that a free Iraq will be a devastating setback to their 
ambitions of tyranny over the Middle East. And they have made the 
failure of democracy in Iraq one of their primary objectives.
    By attacking coalition forces, by targeting innocent Iraqis and 
foreign civilians for murder, the terrorists are trying to weaken our 
will. Instead of weakness, they're finding resolve. Not long ago, we 
intercepted a planning document being sent to leaders of Al Qaida by one 
of their associates, a man named Zarqawi. Along with the usual threats, 
he had a complaint: ``Our enemy,'' said Zarqawi, ``is growing stronger, 
and his intelligence data are increasing day by day. This is 
suffocation.'' Zarqawi is getting the idea. We will never turn over Iraq 
to terrorists who intend our own destruction. We will not fail the Iraqi 
people, who have placed their trust in us. Whatever it takes, we will 
fight and work to assure the success of freedom in Iraq.
    Many coalition countries have sacrificed in both Iraq and 
Afghanistan. Among the fallen soldiers and civilians are sons and 
daughters of Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, France, 
Germany, India, Italy, Japan, the Republic of Korea, the Netherlands, 
Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, Ukraine, 
Uzbekistan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. We honor

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their courage. We pray for the comfort of their families. We will uphold 
the cause they served.
    The rise of democratic institutions in Afghanistan and Iraq is a 
great step toward a goal of lasting importance to the world. We have set 
out to encourage reform and democracy in the greater Middle East as the 
alternatives to fanaticism, resentment, and terror. We've set out to 
break the cycle of bitterness and radicalism that has brought stagnation 
to a vital region and destruction to cities in America and Europe and 
around the world. This task is historic and difficult. This task is 
necessary and worthy of our efforts.
    In the 1970s, the advance of democracy in Lisbon and Madrid inspired 
democratic change in Latin America. In the 1980s, the example of Poland 
ignited a fire of freedom in all of Eastern Europe. With Afghanistan and 
Iraq showing the way, we are confident that freedom will lift the sights 
and hopes of millions in the greater Middle East.
    One man who believed in our cause was a Japanese diplomat named 
Katsuhiko Oku. He worked for the Coalition Provision Authority in Iraq. 
Mr. Oku was killed when his car was ambushed. In his diary he described 
his pride in the cause he had joined. ``The free people of Iraq,'' he 
wrote, ``are now making steady progress in reconstructing their country 
while also fighting against the threat of terrorism. We must join hands 
with the Iraqi people in their effort to prevent Iraq from falling into 
the hands of terrorists.'' This good, decent man concluded, ``This is 
also our fight to defend freedom.''
    Ladies and gentlemen, this good man from Japan was right. The 
establishment of a free Iraq is our fight. The success of a free 
Afghanistan is our fight. The war on terror is our fight. All of us are 
called to share the blessings of liberty and to be strong and steady in 
freedom's defense. It will surely be said of our times that we lived 
with great challenges. Let it also be said of our times that we 
understood our great duties and met them in full.
    May God bless our efforts.

Note: The President spoke at 11:02 a.m. in the East Room at the White 
House. In his remarks, he referred to Javier Ruperez, Spain's Ambassador 
to the United States; A.Q. Khan, former head of Pakistan's nuclear 
weapons program; former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; and senior Al 
Qaida associate Abu Musab Al Zarqawi.