[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 41, Number 40 (Monday, October 10, 2005)]
[Pages 1502-1509]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]
<R04>
Remarks to the National Endowment for Democracy
October 6, 2005
Thank you all. Thank you all. Please be seated. Thank you for the
warm welcome. I'm honored once again to be with the supporters of the
National Endowment for Democracy. Since the day President Ronald Reagan
set out the vision for this endowment, the world has seen the swiftest
advance of democratic institutions in history. And Americans are proud
to have played our role in this great story.
Our Nation stood guard on tense borders. We spoke for the rights of
dissidents and the hopes of exiles. We aided the rise of new democracies
on the ruins of tyranny. And all the cost and sacrifice of that struggle
has been worth it, because from Latin America to Europe to Asia, we've
gained the peace that freedom brings.
In this new century, freedom is once again assaulted by enemies
determined to rollback generations of democratic progress. Once again,
we're responding to a global campaign of fear with a global campaign of
freedom. And once again, we will see freedom's victory.
Vin, I want to thank you for inviting me back. And thank you for the
short introduction. [Laughter] I appreciate Carl Gershman. I want to
welcome former Congressman Dick Gephardt, who is a board member of the
National Endowment for Democracy. It's good to see you, Dick. And I
appreciate Chris Cox, who is the Chairman of the U.S. Securities and
Exchange Commission and a board
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member for the National Endowment of Democracy, for being here as well.
I want to thank all the other board members.
I appreciate the Secretary of State, Condi Rice, who has joined us--
alongside her, Secretary of Defense Don Rumsfeld. Thank you all for
being here. I'm proud as well that the newly sworn-in Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs, the first Marine ever to hold that position, is with us
today, General Peter Pace. I thank the members of the diplomatic corps
who are here as well.
Recently our country observed the fourth anniversary of a great evil
and looked back on a great turning point in our history. We still
remember a proud city covered in smoke and ashes, a fire across the
Potomac, and passengers who spent their final moments on Earth fighting
the enemy. We still remember the men who rejoice in every death and
Americans in uniform rising to duty. And we remember the calling that
came to us on that day and continues to this hour: We will confront this
mortal danger to all humanity. We will not tire or rest until the war on
terror is won.
The images and experience of September the 11th are unique for
Americans. Yet the evil of that morning has reappeared on other days, in
other places, in Mombasa and Casablanca and Riyadh and Jakarta and
Istanbul and Madrid and Beslan and Taba and Netanya and Baghdad and
elsewhere. In the past few months, we've seen a new terror offensive
with attacks on London, Sharm el-Sheikh, and a deadly bombing in Bali
once again. All these separate images of destruction and suffering that
we see on the news can seem like random and isolated acts of madness.
Innocent men and women and children have died simply because they
boarded the wrong train or worked in the wrong building or checked into
the wrong hotel. Yet while the killers choose their victims
indiscriminately, their attacks serve a clear and focused ideology, a
set of beliefs and goals that are evil but not insane.
Some call this evil Islamic radicalism; others, militant jihadism;
still others, Islamofascism. Whatever it's called, this ideology is very
different from the religion of Islam. This form of radicalism exploits
Islam to serve a violent, political vision: the establishment, by
terrorism and subversion and insurgency, of a totalitarian empire that
denies all political and religious freedom. These extremists distort the
idea of jihad into a call for terrorist murder against Christians and
Jews and Hindus and also against Muslims from other traditions, who they
regard as heretics.
Many militants are part of global, borderless terrorist
organizations like Al Qaida, which spreads propaganda and provides
financing and technical assistance to local extremists and conducts
dramatic and brutal operations like September the 11th. Other militants
are found in regional groups, often associated with Al Qaida,
paramilitary insurgencies and separatist movements in places like
Somalia and the Philippines and Pakistan and Chechnya and Kashmir and
Algeria. Still others spring up in local cells, inspired by Islamic
radicalism but not centrally directed. Islamic radicalism is more like a
loose network with many branches than an army under a single command.
Yet these operatives, fighting on scattered battlefields, share a
similar ideology and vision for our world.
We know the vision of the radicals because they've openly stated it
in videos and audiotapes and letters and declarations and web sites.
First, these extremists want to end American and Western influence in
the broader Middle East, because we stand for democracy and peace and
stand in the way of their ambitions. Al Qaida's leader, Usama bin Laden,
has called on Muslims to dedicate, quote, their ``resources, sons, and
money to driving the infidels out of their lands.'' Their tactic to meet
this goal has been consistent for a quarter-century: They hit us and
expect us to run. They want us to repeat the sad history of Beirut in
1983 and Mogadishu in 1993, only this time on a larger scale, with
greater consequences.
Second, the militant network wants to use the vacuum created by an
American retreat to gain control of a country, a base from which to
launch attacks and conduct their war against nonradical Muslim
governments. Over the past few decades, radicals have specifically
targeted Egypt and Saudi Arabia and Pakistan and Jordan for potential
takeover.
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They achieved their goal, for a time, in Afghanistan. Now they've set
their sights on Iraq. Bin Laden has stated: ``The whole world is
watching this war and the two adversaries. It's either victory and glory
or misery and humiliation.'' The terrorists regard Iraq as the central
front in their war against humanity, and we must recognize Iraq as the
central front in our war on terror.
Third, the militants believe that controlling one country will rally
the Muslim masses, enabling them to overthrow all moderate governments
in the region and establish a radical Islamic empire that spans from
Spain to Indonesia. With greater economic and military and political
power, the terrorists would be able to advance their stated agenda, to
develop weapons of mass destruction, to destroy Israel, to intimidate
Europe, to assault the American people, and to blackmail our Government
into isolation.
Some might be tempted to dismiss these goals as fanatical or
extreme. Well, they are fanatical and extreme, and they should not be
dismissed. Our enemy is utterly committed. As Zarqawi has vowed, ``We
will either achieve victory over the human race or we will pass to the
eternal life.'' And the civilized world knows very well that other
fanatics in history, from Hitler to Stalin to Pol Pot, consumed whole
nations in war and genocide before leaving the stage of history. Evil
men, obsessed with ambition and unburdened by conscience, must be taken
very seriously, and we must stop them before their crimes can multiply.
Defeating the militant network is difficult, because it thrives like
a parasite on the suffering and frustration of others. The radicals
exploit local conflicts to build a culture of victimization in which
someone else is always to blame and violence is always the solution.
They exploit resentful and disillusioned young men and women, recruiting
them through radical mosques as the pawns of terror. And they exploit
modern technology to multiply their destructive power. Instead of
attending faraway training camps, recruits can now access online
training libraries to learn how to build a roadside bomb or fire a
rocket-propelled grenade, and this further spreads the threat of
violence, even within peaceful democratic societies.
The influence of Islamic radicalism is also magnified by helpers and
enablers. They have been sheltered by authoritarian regimes, allies of
convenience like Syria and Iran, that share the goal of hurting America
and moderate Muslim governments and use terrorist propaganda to blame
their own failures on the West and America and on the Jews. The radicals
depend on front operations, such as corrupted charities, which direct
money to terrorist activity. They're strengthened by those who
aggressively fund the spread of radical, intolerant versions of Islam in
unstable parts of the world. The militants are aided as well by elements
of the Arab news media that incite hatred and anti-Semitism, that feed
conspiracy theories and speak of a so-called American ``war on Islam,''
with seldom a word about American action to protect Muslims in
Afghanistan and Bosnia, Somalia, Kosovo, Kuwait, and Iraq.
Some have also argued that extremism has been strengthened by the
actions of our coalition in Iraq, claiming that our presence in that
country has somehow caused or triggered the rage of radicals. I would
remind them that we were not in Iraq on September the 11th, 2001, and Al
Qaida attacked us anyway. The hatred of the radicals existed before Iraq
was an issue, and it will exist after Iraq is no longer an excuse. The
Government of Russia did not support Operation Iraqi Freedom, and yet
militants killed more than 180 Russian schoolchildren in Beslan.
Over the years, these extremists have used a litany of excuses for
violence, the Israeli presence on the West Bank or the U.S. military
presence in Saudi Arabia or the defeat of the Taliban or the Crusades of
a thousand years ago. In fact, we're not facing a set of grievances that
can be soothed and addressed. We're facing a radical ideology with
inalterable objectives, to enslave whole nations and intimidate the
world. No act of ours invited the rage of the killers, and no
concession, bribe, or act of appeasement would change or limit their
plans for murder. On the contrary, they target nations whose behavior
they believe they can change through violence. Against such an enemy,
there is only one effective response: We will never back down, never
give in, and never accept anything less than complete victory.
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The murderous ideology of the Islamic radicals is the great
challenge of our new century. Yet, in many ways, this fight resembles
the struggle against communism in the last century. Like the ideology of
communism, Islamic radicalism is elitist, led by a self-appointed
vanguard that presumes to speak for the Muslim masses. Bin Laden says
his own role is to tell Muslims, quote, ``what is good for them and what
is not.'' And what this man who grew up in wealth and privilege
considers good for poor Muslims is that they become killers and suicide
bombers. He assures them that his--that this is the road to paradise,
though he never offers to go along for the ride.
Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy teaches that innocent
individuals can be sacrificed to serve a political vision. And this
explains their cold-blooded contempt for human life. We've seen it in
the murders of Daniel Pearl, Nicholas Berg, and Margaret Hassan, and
many others. In a courtroom in the Netherlands, the killer of Theo van
Gogh turned to the victim's grieving mother and said, ``I do not feel
your pain, because I believe you are an infidel.'' And in spite of this
veneer of religious rhetoric, most of the victims claimed by the
militants are fellow Muslims.
When 25 Iraqi children are killed in a bombing or Iraqi teachers are
executed at their school or hospital workers are killed caring for the
wounded, this is murder, pure and simple, the total rejection of justice
and honor and morality and religion. These militants are not just the
enemies of America or the enemies of Iraq; they are the enemies of Islam
and the enemies of humanity. We have seen this kind of shameless cruelty
before, in the heartless zealotry that led to the gulags and the
Cultural Revolution and the Killing Fields.
Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy pursues totalitarian
aims. Its leaders pretend to be an aggrieved party, representing the
powerless against imperial enemies. In truth they have endless ambitions
of imperial domination, and they wish to make everyone powerless except
themselves. Under their rule, they have banned books and desecrated
historical monuments and brutalized women. They seek to end dissent in
every form and to control every aspect of life and to rule the soul
itself. While promising a future of justice and holiness, the terrorists
are preparing for a future of oppression and misery.
Like the ideology of communism, our new enemy is dismissive of free
peoples, claiming that men and women who live in liberty are weak and
decadent. Zarqawi has said that Americans are, quote, ``the most
cowardly of God's creatures.'' But let's be clear: It is cowardice that
seeks to kill children and the elderly with car bombs and cuts the
throat of a bound captive and targets worshipers leaving a mosque. It is
courage that liberated more than 50 million people. It is courage that
keeps an untiring vigil against the enemies of a rising democracy. And
it is courage in the cause of freedom that once again will destroy the
enemies of freedom.
And Islamic radicalism, like the ideology of communism, contains
inherent contradictions that doom it to failure. By fearing freedom--by
distrusting human creativity and punishing change and limiting the
contributions of half the population, this ideology undermines the very
qualities that make human progress possible and human societies
successful. The only thing modern about the militants' vision is the
weapons they want to use against us. The rest of their grim vision is
defined by a warped image of the past, a declaration of war on the idea
of progress itself. And whatever lies ahead in the war against this
ideology, the outcome is not in doubt: Those who despise freedom and
progress have condemned themselves to isolation, decline, and collapse.
Because free peoples believe in the future, free peoples will own the
future.
We didn't ask for this global struggle, but we're answering
history's call with confidence and a comprehensive strategy. Defeating a
broad and adaptive network requires patience, constant pressure, and
strong partners in Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Asia, and
beyond. Working with these partners, we're disrupting militant
conspiracies, destroying their ability to make war, and working to give
millions in a troubled region of the world a hopeful alternative to
resentment and violence.
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First, we're determined to prevent the attacks of terrorist networks
before they occur. We're reorganizing our Government to give this Nation
a broad and coordinated homeland defense. We're reforming our
intelligence agencies for the incredibly difficult task of tracking
enemy activity, based on information that often comes in small fragments
from widely scattered sources, here and abroad. We're acting, along with
the governments from many countries, to destroy the terrorist networks
and incapacitate their leaders. Together we've killed or captured nearly
all of those directly responsible for the September the 11th attacks, as
well as some of bin Laden's most senior deputies, Al Qaida managers and
operatives in more than 24 countries: the mastermind of the U.S.S. Cole
bombing, who was chief of Al Qaida operations in the Persian Gulf; the
mastermind of the Jakarta and the first Bali bombings; a senior Zarqawi
terrorist planner, who was planning attacks in Turkey; and many of Al
Qaida's senior leaders in Saudi Arabia.
Overall, the United States and our partners have disrupted at least
10 serious Al Qaida terrorist plots since September the 11th, including
3 Al Qaida plots to attack inside the United States. We've stopped at
least five more Al Qaida efforts to case targets in the United States or
infiltrate operatives into our country. Because of this steady progress,
the enemy is wounded, but the enemy is still capable of global
operations. Our commitment is clear: We will not relent until the
organized international terror networks are exposed and broken, and
their leaders held to account for their acts of murder.
Second, we're determined to deny weapons of mass destruction to
outlaw regimes, and to their terrorist allies who would use them without
hesitation. The United States, working with Great Britain, Pakistan, and
other nations, has exposed and disrupted a major black-market operation
in nuclear technology led by A.Q. Khan. Libya has abandoned its chemical
and nuclear weapons programs as well as long-range ballistic missiles.
And in the last year, America and our partners in the Proliferation
Security Initiative have stopped more than a dozen shipments of
suspected weapons technology, including equipment for Iran's ballistic
missile program.
This progress has reduced the danger to free nations but has not
removed it. Evil men who want to use horrendous weapons against us are
working in deadly earnest to gain them. And we're working urgently to
keep weapons of mass destruction out of their hands.
Third, we're determined to deny radical groups the support and
sanctuary of outlaw regimes. State sponsors like Syria and Iran have a
long history of collaboration with terrorists, and they deserve no
patience from the victims of terror. The United States makes no
distinction between those who commit acts of terror and those who
support and harbor them, because they're equally as guilty of murder.
Any government that chooses to be an ally of terror has also chosen to
be an enemy of civilization. And the civilized world must hold those
regimes to account.
Fourth, we're determined to deny the militants control of any
nation, which they would use as a home base and a launching pad for
terror. For this reason, we're fighting beside our Afghan partners
against remnants of the Taliban and their Al Qaida allies. For this
reason, we're working with President Musharraf to oppose and isolate the
militants in Pakistan. And for this reason, we're fighting the regime
remnants and terrorists in Iraq. The terrorist goal is to overthrow a
rising democracy, claim a strategic country as a haven for terror,
destabilize the Middle East, and strike America and other free nations
with ever-increasing violence. Our goal is to defeat the terrorists and
their allies at the heart of their power, and so we will defeat the
enemy in Iraq.
Our coalition, along with our Iraqi allies, is moving forward with a
comprehensive, specific military plan. Area by area, city by city, we're
conducting offensive operations to clear out enemy forces and leaving
behind Iraqi units to prevent the enemy from returning. Within these
areas, we're working for tangible improvements in the lives of Iraqi
citizens. And we're aiding the rise of an elected government that unites
the Iraqi people against extremism and violence. This work
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involves great risk for Iraqis and for Americans and coalition forces.
Wars are not won without sacrifice, and this war will require more
sacrifice, more time, and more resolve.
The terrorists are as brutal an enemy as we've ever faced. They're
unconstrained by any notion of our common humanity or by the rules of
warfare. No one should underestimate the difficulties ahead, nor should
they overlook the advantages we bring to this fight.
Some observers look at the job ahead and adopt a self-defeating
pessimism. It is not justified. With every random bombing and with every
funeral of a child, it becomes more clear that the extremists are not
patriots or resistance fighters. They are murderers at war with the
Iraqi people themselves.
In contrast, the elected leaders of Iraq are proving to be strong
and steadfast. By any standard or precedent of history, Iraq has made
incredible political progress, from tyranny to liberation to national
elections to the writing of a constitution, in the space of 2\1/2\
years. With our help, the Iraqi military is gaining new capabilities and
new confidence with every passing month. At the time of our Fallujah
operations 11 months ago, there were only a few Iraqi army battalions in
combat. Today there are more than 80 Iraqi army battalions fighting the
insurgency alongside our forces. Progress isn't easy, but it is steady.
And no fair-minded person should ignore, deny, or dismiss the
achievements of the Iraqi people.
Some observers question the durability of democracy in Iraq. They
underestimate the power and appeal of freedom. We've heard it suggested
that Iraq's democracy must be on shaky ground because Iraqis are arguing
with each other. But that's the essence of democracy, making your case,
debating with those who you disagree--who disagree, building consensus
by persuasion, and answering to the will of the people. We've heard it
said that the Shi'a, Sunnis, and Kurds of Iraq are too divided to form a
lasting democracy. In fact, democratic federalism is the best hope for
unifying a diverse population, because a Federal constitutional system
respects the rights and religious traditions of all citizens while
giving all minorities, including the Sunnis, a stake and a voice in the
future of their country. It is true that the seeds of freedom have only
recently been planted in Iraq, but democracy, when it grows, is not a
fragile flower; it is a healthy, sturdy tree.
As Americans, we believe that people everywhere--everywhere--prefer
freedom to slavery and that liberty, once chosen, improves the lives of
all. And so we're confident, as our coalition and the Iraqi people each
do their part, Iraqi democracy will succeed.
Some observers also claim that America would be better off by
cutting our losses and leaving Iraq now. This is a dangerous illusion,
refuted with a simple question: Would the United States and other free
nations be more safe or less safe with Zarqawi and bin Laden in control
of Iraq, its people, and its resources? Having removed a dictator who
hated free peoples, we will not stand by as a new set of killers,
dedicated to the destruction of our own country, seizes control of Iraq
by violence.
There's always a temptation, in the middle of a long struggle, to
seek the quiet life, to escape the duties and problems of the world, and
to hope the enemy grows weary of fanaticism and tired of murder. This
would be a pleasant world, but it's not the world we live in. The enemy
is never tired, never sated, never content with yesterday's brutality.
This enemy considers every retreat of the civilized world as an
invitation to greater violence. In Iraq, there is no peace without
victory. We will keep our nerve, and we will win that victory.
The fifth element of our strategy in the war on terror is to deny
the militants future recruits by replacing hatred and resentment with
democracy and hope across the broader Middle East. This is a difficult,
long-term project, yet there's no alternative to it. Our future and the
future of that region are linked. If the broader Middle East is left to
grow in bitterness, if countries remain in misery, while radicals stir
the resentments of millions, then that part of the world will be a
source of endless conflict and mounting danger for our generation and
the next. If the peoples of that region are permitted to choose their
own destiny and advance by their own energy and by their participation
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as free men and women, then the extremists will be marginalized, and the
flow of violent radicalism to the rest of the world will slow and
eventually end. By standing for the hope and freedom of others, we make
our own freedom more secure.
America is making this stand in practical ways. We're encouraging
our friends in the Middle East, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia, to
take the path of reform, to strengthen their own societies in the fight
against terror by respecting the rights and choices of their own people.
We're standing with dissidents and exiles against oppressive regimes,
because we know that the dissidents of today will be the democratic
leaders of tomorrow. We're making our case through public diplomacy,
stating clearly and confidently our belief in self-determination and the
rule of law and religious freedom and equal rights for women, beliefs
that are right and true in every land and in every culture.
As we do our part to confront radicalism, we know that the most
vital work will be done within the Islamic world itself. And this work
has begun. Many Muslim scholars have already publicly condemned
terrorism, often citing Chapter 5, Verse 32 of the Koran, which states
that killing an innocent human being is like killing all humanity and
saving the life of one person is like saving all of humanity. After the
attacks in London on July the 7th, an imam in the United Arab Emirates
declared, ``Whoever does such a thing is not a Muslim nor a religious
person.'' The time has come for all responsible Islamic leaders to join
in denouncing an ideology that exploits Islam for political ends and
defiles a noble faith.
Many people of the Muslim faith are proving their commitment at
great personal risk. Everywhere we have engaged the fight against
extremism, Muslim allies have stood up and joined the fight, becoming
partners in a vital cause. Afghan troops are in combat against Taliban
remnants. Iraqi soldiers are sacrificing to defeat Al Qaida in their own
country. These brave citizens know the stakes, the survival of their own
liberty, the future of their own region, the justice and humanity of
their own tradition, and the United States of America is proud to stand
beside them.
With the rise of a deadly enemy and the unfolding of a global
ideological struggle, our time in history will be remembered for new
challenges and unprecedented dangers. And yet the fight we have joined
is also the current expression of an ancient struggle, between those who
put their faith in dictators and those who put their faith in the
people. Throughout history, tyrants and would-be tyrants have always
claimed that murder is justified to serve their grand vision, and they
end up alienating decent people across the globe. Tyrants and would-be
tyrants have always claimed that regimented societies are strong and
pure, until those societies collapse in corruption and decay. Tyrants
and would-be tyrants have always claimed that free men and women are
weak and decadent, until the day that free men and women defeat them.
We don't know the course of our own struggle--the course our own
struggle will take or the sacrifices that might lie ahead. We do know,
however, that the defense of freedom is worth our sacrifice. We do know
the love of freedom is the mightiest force of history. And we do know
the cause of freedom will once again prevail.
May God bless you.
Note: The President spoke at 10:07 a.m. at the Ronald Reagan Building
and International Trade Center. In his remarks, he referred to Vin
Weber, chairman, and Carl Gershman, president, National Endowment for
Democracy; senior Al Qaida associate Abu Musab Al Zarqawi; Usama bin
Laden, leader of the Al Qaida terrorist organization; Mohammed Bouyeri,
who was convicted of the murder of Theo van Gogh; Anneke van Gogh,
mother of Theo van Gogh; Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, Al Qaida's chief of
operations for the Persian Gulf; Riduan Isamuddin (also known as
Hambali), Al Qaida's chief operational planner in Southeast Asia; Abu
Azzam, Al Qaida operative in Iraq; A.Q. Khan, former head of Pakistan's
nuclear program; President Pervez Musharraf of Pakistan; and former
President Saddam Hussein of Iraq.
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