[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 11 (Monday, March 20, 2006)]
[Pages 457-464]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks to the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies

March 13, 2006

    Thanks for the warm welcome. Cliff, thanks for the introduction. 
It's a pleasure to be with the Foundation for the Defense of 
Democracies. This organization was formed in the wake of the September 
the 11th attacks to fight the ideologies that drive terrorism. You 
recognized immediately that the war on terror is a struggle between 
freedom and tyranny and that the path to lasting security is to defeat 
the hateful vision the terrorists are spreading with the hope of freedom 
and democracy.

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    The foundation is making a difference across the world, and I 
appreciate the difference you're making. You have trained Iraqi women 
and Iranian students in the principles and practice of democracy. You've 
translated ``democracy readers'' into Arabic for distribution across the 
broader Middle East. You've helped activists across the region organize 
effective political movements so they can help bring about democratic 
change and ensure the survival of liberty in new democracies. By 
promoting democratic ideals and training a new generation of democratic 
leaders in the Middle East, you are helping us to bring victory in the 
war on terror, and I thank you for your hard work in freedom's cause.
    I also want to thank the members of the Board of the Foundation for 
the Defense of the Democracies. I want to thank Steve Trachtenberg, the 
president of George Washington University, and his wife, Fran, for 
joining us today. Thanks for letting me come to your campus. I'm honored 
to be here. He informed me that my dad will be giving the graduation 
speech this year--[laughter]--and Mother is getting an honorary degree. 
[Laughter] Smart man. [Applause]
    Mr. Secretary, thanks for joining us. I'm proud that Secretary 
Rumsfeld is with us. I want to thank Senator Dick Lugar for being with 
us today. Mr. Chairman, proud you're here. Thanks for coming. I want to 
thank the Members of the United States Congress who have joined us: 
Congressman Lungren, Adam Schiff, Joe Wilson, Tom Cole, and Dan Boren. I 
appreciate you all taking time to be here today; it means a lot.
    I want to thank the ambassadors who have joined us. I see two for 
certain, one from Jordan and one from Israel. Proud you both are here. 
If there's any other ambassadors here, I apologize for not introducing 
you, and you don't have as good a seat as these two guys. [Laughter]
    The mission of this foundation is to defeat terror by promoting 
democracy, and that is the mission of my administration. Our strategy to 
protect America is based on a clear premise: The security of our Nation 
depends on the advance of liberty in other nations. On September the 
11th, 2001, we saw that problems originating in a failed and oppressive 
state 7,000 miles away could bring murder and destruction to our 
country. We saw that dictatorships shelter terrorists, feed resentment 
and radicalism, and threaten the security of free nations. Democracies 
replace resentment with hope; democracies respect the rights of their 
citizens and their neighbors; democracies join the fight against terror. 
And so America is committed to an historic, long-term goal: To secure 
the peace of the world, we seek the end of tyranny in our world.
    We are making progress in the march of freedom, and some of the most 
important progress has taken place in a region that has not known the 
blessings of liberty, the broader Middle East. Two weeks ago, I got a 
chance to visit Afghanistan and to see firsthand the transformation that 
has taken place in that country. Before September the 11th, 2001, 
Afghanistan was ruled by a cruel regime that oppressed its people, 
brutalized women, and gave safe haven to the terrorists who attacked 
America.
    Today, the terror camps have been shut down; women are working; boys 
and girls are going to school; Afghans have voted in free elections--25 
million people have had the taste of freedom. Taliban and Al Qaida 
remnants continue to fight Afghanistan's democratic progress. In recent 
weeks, they have launched new attacks that have killed Afghan citizens 
and coalition forces. The United States and our allies will stay in the 
fight against the terrorists, and we'll train Afghan soldiers and police 
so they can defend their country. The Afghan people are building a 
vibrant young democracy that is an ally in the war on terror, and 
America is proud to have such a determined partner in the cause of 
freedom.
    Next week, we will mark the 3-year anniversary of the start of 
Operation Iraqi Freedom. In less than 3 years, the Iraqi people have 
gone from living under the boot of a brutal tyrant, to liberation, to 
sovereignty, to free elections, to a constitutional referendum, and last 
December, to elections for a fully constitutional government. In those 
December elections, over 11 million Iraqis--more than 75 percent of the 
Iraqi voting-

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age population--defied the terrorists to cast their ballots.
    Americans were inspired by the images of Iraqis bringing elderly 
relatives to the polls, holding up purple ink-stained fingers, dancing 
in the streets, and celebrating their freedom. By their courage, the 
Iraqi people have spoken and made their intentions clear: They want to 
live in democracy, and they are determined to shape their own destiny.
    The past few weeks, the world has seen very different images from 
Iraq, images of violence and anger and despair. We have seen a great 
house of worship, the Golden Mosque of Samarra, in ruins after a brutal 
terrorist attack. We've seen mass protests in response to provocation. 
We've seen reprisal attacks by armed militias on Sunni mosques and 
random violence that has taken the lives of hundreds of Iraqi citizens.
    The terrorists attacked the Golden Mosque for a reason: They know 
that they lack the military strength to challenge Iraqi and coalition 
forces directly, so their only hope is to try and provoke a civil war. 
So they attacked one of Shi'a Islam's holiest sites, hoping to incite 
violence that would drive Iraqis apart and stop their progress on the 
path to a free society.
    Immediately after the attack, I said that Iraq faced a moment of 
choosing. And in the days that followed, the Iraqi people made their 
choice. They looked into the abyss and did not like what they saw. After 
the bombing, most Iraqis saw what the perpetuators of this attack were 
trying to do. The enemy had failed to stop the January 2005 elections; 
they failed to stop the constitutional referendum; they failed to stop 
the December elections. And now they're trying to stop the formation of 
a unity government. By their response over the past 2 weeks, Iraqis have 
shown the world they want a future of freedom and peace, and they will 
oppose a violent minority that seeks to take that future away from them 
by tearing their country apart.
    The situation in Iraq is still tense, and we're still seeing acts of 
sectarian violence and reprisal. Yet out of this crisis, we've also seen 
signs of a hopeful future. We saw the restraint of the Iraqi people in 
the face of massive provocation. Most Iraqis did not turn to violence, 
and many chose to show their solidarity by coming together in joint 
Sunni and Shi'a prayer services. We saw the leadership of Sunni and 
Shi'a clerics who joined together to denounce the bombing and call for 
restraint. Ayatollah Sistani issued a strong statement denouncing what 
he called sectarian sedition, and he urged all Iraqis--in his words--
``not to be dragged into committing acts that would only please the 
enemies.'' We saw the capability of the Iraqi security forces, who 
deployed to protect religious sites, enforce a curfew, and restore civil 
order. We saw the determination of many of Iraq's leaders, who rose to 
the moment, came together, and acted decisively to diffuse the crisis.
    Iraq's leaders know that this is not the last time they will be 
called to stand together in the face of an outrageous terrorist attack. 
Iraq's leaders know that they must put aside their differences; reach 
out across political, religious, and sectarian lines; and form a unity 
government that will earn the trust and the confidence of all Iraqis. 
Iraqis now have a chance to show the world that they have learned the 
lesson of Samarra: A country that divides into factions and dwells on 
old grievances risks sliding back into tyranny. The only path to a 
future of peace is the path of unity.
    Soon the new Parliament will be seated in Baghdad, and this will 
begin the process of forming a government. Forming a new government will 
demand negotiation and compromise by the Iraqis; it will require 
patience by America and our coalition allies.
    In the weeks ahead, Americans will likely see a good deal of 
political maneuvering in Iraq, as different factions and leaders advance 
competing agendas and seek their share of political power. Out of this 
process, a free government will emerge that represents the will of the 
Iraqi people, instead of the will of one cruel dictator.
    The work ahead in Iraq is hard, and there will be more difficult 
moments. The Samarra attack was a clear attempt to ignite a civil war. 
And we can expect the enemy will try again, and they will continue to 
sow violence and destruction designed to stop the emergence of a free 
and democratic Iraq.

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    The enemies of a free Iraq are determined, yet so are the Iraqi 
people, and so are America and coalition partners. We will not lose our 
nerve. We will help the Iraqi people succeed. Our goal in Iraq is 
victory, and victory will be achieved when the terrorists and Saddamists 
can no longer threaten Iraq's democracy, when the Iraqi security forces 
can provide for the safety of their own citizens, and when Iraq is not a 
safe haven for terrorists to plot new attacks against our Nation.
    We have a comprehensive strategy for victory in Iraq, a strategy I 
laid out in a series of speeches last year. Our strategy has three 
elements. On the political side, we are helping Iraqis build a strong 
democracy so that old resentments will be eased and the insurgency 
marginalized. On the economic side, we are continuing reconstruction 
efforts and helping Iraqis build a modern economy that will give all its 
citizens a stake in a free and peaceful Iraq. And on the security side, 
we are striking terrorist targets and training the Iraqi security 
forces, which are taking responsibility for more Iraqi territory and 
becoming increasingly capable of defeating the enemy. In the coming 
weeks, I will update the American people on our strategy, the progress 
we are making, the lessons we have learned from our experiences, and how 
we are fixing what hasn't worked.
    Today I will discuss the third element of our strategy, the progress 
of our efforts to defeat the terrorists and train the Iraqi security 
forces so they can take the lead in defending their own democracy.
    At the end of last year, I described in detail many of the changes 
we have made to improve the training of Iraqi security forces, and we 
saw the fruits of those changes in recent days in Iraq. After the 
Samarra bombings, it was the Iraqi security forces--not coalition 
forces--that restored order. In the hours after the attack, Iraqi 
leaders put the Iraqi security forces on alert, canceling all leaves and 
heightening security around mosques and critical sites. Using security 
plans developed for the December elections, they deployed Iraqi forces 
in Baghdad and to other troubled spots.
    Iraqi police manned checkpoints, increased patrols, and ensured that 
peaceful demonstrators were protected, while those who turned to 
violence were arrested. Public order brigades deployed as rapid reaction 
forces to areas where violence was reported. The 9th Mechanized Division 
of the Iraqi Army, which was in the midst of a major training event, 
regrouped and entered the Baghdad city gates, taking up assigned 
positions throughout the city with T-72 tanks and armored infantry 
vehicles. During the past 2 weeks, Iraqi security forces conducted more 
than 200 independent operations--each of them Iraqi-planned, Iraqi-
conducted, and Iraqi-led.
    Having Iraqi forces in the lead has been critical to preventing 
violence from spinning out of control. For example, on the day of the 
Samarra bombing, the Iraqi national police responded to an armed 
demonstration in an area immediately adjacent to Sadr City where an 
angry Shi'a crowd had surrounded the Sunni Al-Quds Mosque. The Iraqi 
brigade commander placed his troops--who were largely Shi'a--between the 
crowd and the mosque and talked to the crowd using megaphones and--
calling for calm and urging them to disperse. After a 2-hour standoff, 
the crowd eventually left without incident, and the national police 
remained in position overnight to guard the mosque until the threat was 
over. The fact that Iraqis were in the lead and negotiating with their 
own countrymen helped diffuse a potential confrontation and prevented an 
escalation of violence.
    In another Baghdad neighborhood, a similar situation unfolded. A 
group of armed militia members had gone in and occupied the Al-Nida 
Mosque. An Iraqi Army brigade quickly arrived on the scene, and the 
brigade commander negotiated with the group and secured their peaceful 
departure. Once again, because Iraqi forces spoke their language and 
understood their culture, they were able to convince the Iraqi militia 
to leave peacefully.
    Not all Iraqi units performed as well as others, and there were some 
reports of Iraqi units in Eastern Baghdad allowing militia members to 
pass through checkpoints. But American commanders are closely watching 
the situation, and they report these incidents appear to be the 
exception, not the rule. In

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the weeks since the bombing, the Iraqi security forces turned in a 
strong performance. From the outset, Iraqi forces understood that if 
they failed to stand for national unity, the country would slip into 
anarchy. And so they have stood their ground and defended their 
democracy and brought their nation through one of its most difficult 
moments since liberation.
    General Marty Dempsey, our top commander responsible for training 
the Iraqi security forces, says this about their performance: ``They 
were deliberate, poised, even-handed, and professional. They engaged 
local tribal, political, and religious leaders. They patiently but 
deliberately confronted armed groups to let them know that they had 
control of the situation.'' He went on to say, ``I'm sure we will find 
instances where they could have performed better, but in the face of 
immense pressure, they performed very, very well.'' As a result of their 
performance, the Iraqi security forces are gaining the confidence of the 
Iraqi people. And as the Iraqi security forces make progress against the 
enemy, their morale continues to increase.
    When I reported on the progress of the Iraqi security forces last 
year, I said that there were over 120 Iraqi and police combat battalions 
in the fight against the enemy, and 40 of those were taking the lead in 
the fight. Today, the number of battalions in the fight has increased to 
more than 130, with more than 60 taking the lead. As more Iraqi 
battalions come on line, these Iraqi forces are assuming responsibility 
for more territory. Today, Iraqi units have primary responsibility for 
more than 30,000 square miles of Iraq, an increase of roughly 20,000 
square miles since the beginning of the year. And Iraqi forces are now 
conducting more independent operations throughout the country than do 
coalition forces.
    This is real progress, but there is more work to be done this year. 
Our commanders tell me that the Iraqi police still lag behind the Army 
in training and capabilities, so one of our major goals in 2006 is to 
accelerate the training of the Iraqi police. One problem is that some 
national police units have been disproportionately Shi'a, and there have 
been some reports of infiltration of the national police by militias. 
And so we're taking a number of steps to correct this problem.
    First, we have begun implementing a program that has been effective 
with the Iraqi Army--partnering U.S. battalions with the Iraqi national 
police battalions. These U.S. forces are working with their Iraqi 
counterparts, giving them tactical training so they can defeat the 
enemy. And they are also teaching them about the role of a professional 
police force in a democratic system, so they can serve all Iraqis 
without discrimination.
    Second, we are working with the Iraqi leaders to find and remove any 
leaders in the national police who show evidence of loyalties to 
militia. For example, last year there were reports that the Second 
Public Order Brigade contained members of an illegal militia, who were 
committing abuses. So last December, the Interior Ministry leadership 
removed the Second Brigade commander and replaced him with a new 
commander, who then dismissed more than 100 men with suspected militia 
ties. Today, this Iraqi police brigade has been transformed into a 
capable, professional unit, and during the recent crisis after the 
Samarra bombing, they performed with courage and distinction.
    Finally, we are working with Iraqis to diversify the ranks of the 
national police by recruiting more Sunni Arabs. For example, the basic 
training class for the national police public order forces that 
graduated last October was less than one percent Sunni. The class 
graduating in April will include many, many more Sunnis. By ensuring the 
public order forces reflect the general population, Iraqis are making 
the national police a truly national institution--one that is able to 
serve, protect, and defend all the Iraqi people.
    As more capable Iraqi police and soldiers come on line, they will 
assume responsibility for more territory, with the goal of having the 
Iraqis control more territory than the coalition by the end of 2006. And 
as Iraqis take over more territory, this frees American and coalition 
forces to concentrate on training and on hunting down high-value targets 
like the terrorist Zarqawi and his associates. As Iraqis stand up, 
America and our coalition will stand down. And my decisions on troop

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levels will be made based upon the conditions on the ground and on the 
recommendations of our military commanders, not artificial timetables 
set by politicians here in Washington, DC.
    These terrorists know they cannot defeat us militarily, so they have 
turned to the weapon of fear. And one of the most brutal weapons at 
their disposal are improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. IEDs are bombs 
made from artillery shells, explosives, and other munitions that can be 
hidden and detonated remotely. After the terrorists were defeated in 
battles in Fallujah and Tall 'Afar, they saw that they could not 
confront Iraqi or American forces in pitched battles and survive. And so 
they turned to IEDs, a weapon that allows them to attack from a safe 
distance, without having to face our forces in battle.
    The principal victims of IED attacks are innocent Iraqis. The 
terrorists and insurgents have used IEDs to kill Iraqi children playing 
in the streets, shoppers at Iraqi malls, and Iraqis lining up at police 
and army recruiting stations. They use IEDs to strike terror in the 
hearts of Iraqis in an attempt to break their confidence in the free 
future of their country.
    The enemy is also using IEDs in their campaign against U.S. and 
coalition forces in Iraq, and we are harnessing every available resource 
to deal with this threat. My administration has established a new high-
level organization at the Department of Defense, led by retired four-
star General Montgomery Meigs. On Saturday, General Meigs along with the 
Secretary of Defense briefed me at the White House on our plan to defeat 
the threat of IEDs. Our plan has three elements: targeting, training, 
and technology.
    The first part of our plan is targeting and eliminating the 
terrorists and bombmakers. Across Iraq, we are on the hunt for the 
enemy--capturing and killing the terrorists before they strike, 
uncovering and disarming their weapons before they go off, and rooting 
out and destroying bomb-making cells so they can't produce more weapons.
    Because the Iraqi people are the targets--primarily the targets of 
the bombers, Iraqis are increasingly providing critical intelligence to 
help us find the bombmakers and stop new attacks. The number of tips 
from Iraqis has grown from 400 last March to over 4,000 in December. For 
example, just 3 weeks ago, acting on tips provided by local citizens, 
coalition forces uncovered a massive IED arsenal hidden in a location 
northwest of Baghdad. They found and confiscated more than 3,000 pieces 
of munitions in one of the largest weapons caches discovered in that 
region to date. Just 2 weeks ago, acting on intelligence from Iraqis, 
coalition forces uncovered a bomb-making facility northeast of Fallujah. 
They captured 61 terrorists at the facility and confiscated large 
numbers of weapons.
    In all, during the past 6 months, Iraqi and coalition forces have 
found and cleared nearly 4,000 IEDs, uncovered more than 1,800 weapons 
caches and bomb-making plants, and killed or detained hundreds of 
terrorists and bombmakers. We're on the hunt for the enemy, and we're 
not going to rest until they've been defeated.
    The second part of our plan is to give our forces specialized 
training to identify and clear IEDs before they explode. Before arriving 
in Iraq and Afghanistan, our combat units get training on how to counter 
the threat of IEDs. And to improve our training, last month we 
established a new IED Joint Center of Excellence headquartered at Fort 
Irwin, California, where we're taking lessons learned from the IED fight 
in Iraq and sharing them with our troops in the field and those 
preparing to deploy. This new initiative will ensure that every Army and 
Marine combat unit headed to Afghanistan and Iraq is prepared for the 
challenges that IEDs bring to the battlefield.
    Before deploying, our troops will train with the equipment they will 
use in the IED fight. They'll study enemy tactics and experience live-
fire training that closely mirrors what they will see when they arrive 
in the zone of combat. Our goal with this training is to ensure that 
when our forces encounter the enemy, that they're ready.
    The third part of our plan is to develop new technologies to defend 
against IEDs. We are putting the best minds in America to work on this 
effort. The Department of Defense recently gathered some--gathered 600 
leaders from industry and academia, the national laboratories, the 
National Academy

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of Sciences, all branches of the military, and every relevant Government 
agency to discuss technology solutions to the IED threat. We now have 
nearly 100 projects underway. For security reasons, I'm not going to 
share the details of the technologies we're developing. The simple 
reason is, the enemy can use even the smallest details to overcome our 
defenses.
    Earlier this year, a newspaper published details of a new anti-IED 
technology that was being developed. Within 5 days of the publication--
using details from that article--the enemy had posted instructions for 
defeating this new technology on the Internet. We cannot let the enemy 
know how we're working to defeat him. But I can assure the American 
people that my administration is working to put the best technology in 
the hands of our men and women on the frontlines, and we are mobilizing 
resources against the IED threat.
    I assured General Meigs that he will have the funding and personnel 
he needs to succeed. In 2004, the administration spent $150 million to 
fight the IED threat. This year, we're providing $3.3 billion to support 
our efforts to defeat IEDs. These investments are making a difference. 
Today, nearly half of the IEDs in Iraq are found and disabled before 
they can be detonated. In the past 18 months, we've cut the casualty 
rate per IED attack in half. More work needs to be done. Yet by 
targeting the bombmakers and training our forces and deploying new 
technologies, we will stay ahead of the enemy, and that will save Iraqi 
and American lives.
    Some of the most powerful IEDs we're seeing in Iraq today includes 
components that came from Iran. Our Director of National Intelligence, 
John Negroponte, told the Congress, ``Tehran has been responsible for at 
least some of the increasing lethality of anticoalition attacks by 
providing Shi'a militia with the capability to build improvised 
explosive devices,'' in Iraq. Coalition forces have seized IEDs and 
components that were clearly produced in Iran. Such actions--along with 
Iran's support for terrorism and its pursuit of nuclear weapons--are 
increasingly isolating Iran, and America will continue to rally the 
world to confront these threats.
    We still have difficult work ahead in Iraq. I wish I could tell you 
that the violence is waning and that the road ahead will be smooth. It 
will not. There will be more tough fighting and more days of struggle, 
and we will see more images of chaos and carnage in the days and months 
to come. The terrorists are losing on the field of battle, so they are 
fighting this war through the pictures we see on television and in the 
newspapers every day. They're hoping to shake our resolve and force us 
to retreat. They are not going to succeed.
    The battle lines in Iraq are clearly drawn for the world to see, and 
there is no middle ground. The enemy will emerge from Iraq one of two 
ways, emboldened or defeated. The stakes in Iraq are high. By helping 
Iraqis build a democracy, we will deny the terrorists a safe haven to 
plan attacks against America. By helping Iraqis build a democracy, we 
will gain an ally in the war on terror. By helping Iraqis build a 
democracy, we will inspire reformers across the Middle East. And by 
helping Iraqis build a democracy, we'll bring hope to a troubled region, 
and this will make America more secure in the long term.
    Since the morning of September the 11th, we have known that the war 
on terror would require great sacrifice, and in this war, we have said 
farewell to some very good men and women. One of those courageous 
Americans was Sergeant William Scott Kinzer, Jr., who was killed last 
year by the terrorists while securing polling sites for the Iraqi 
elections. His mom, Debbie, wrote me a letter. She said: ``These words 
are straight from a shattered but healing mother's heart. My son made 
the decision to join the Army. He believed that what he was involved in 
would eventually change Iraq and that those changes would be recorded in 
history books for years to come. On his last visit home, I asked him 
what I would ever do if something happened to him in Iraq. He smiled at 
me with--his blue eyes sparkled, as he said, `Mom, I love my job. If I 
should die, I would die happy. Does life get any better than this?' '' 
His mom went on: ``Please do not let the voices we hear the loudest 
change what you and Scott started in Iraq. Please do not let his dying 
be in vain. Don't let my

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son have given his all for an unfinished job. Please complete the 
mission.''
    I make this promise to Debbie and all the families of the fallen 
heroes: We will not let your loved ones dying be in vain. We will finish 
what we started in Iraq. We will complete the mission. We will leave 
behind a democracy that can govern itself, sustain itself, and defend 
itself. And a free Iraq in the heart of the Middle East will make the 
American people more secure for generations to come.
    May God bless the families of the fallen. May God bless our troops 
in the fight. And may God continue to bless the United States of 
America.

Note: The President spoke at 1:16 p.m. in the Dorothy Betts Marvin 
Theatre at The George Washington University. In his remarks, he referred 
to Clifford D. May, president, Foundation for the Defense of 
Democracies; Jordan's Ambassador to the U.S. Karim Kawar; Israel's 
Ambassador to the U.S. Daniel Ayalon; former President Saddam Hussein of 
Iraq; Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, Iraqi Shiite leader; Lt. Gen. 
Martin E. Dempsey, USA, commander, Multi-National Security Transition 
Command--Iraq; senior Al Qaida associate Abu Musab Al Zarqawi; and 
Montgomery C. Meigs, director, Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat 
Organization. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish 
language transcript of these remarks.