[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 48 (Monday, December 4, 2006)]
[Pages 2099-2104]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at Latvia University in Riga

November 28, 2006

    Thank you all. Labdien. Madam President, thank you for your kind 
words. Thank you for your leadership, and thank you for your friendship. 
Mr. Speaker; Mr. Prime Minister; Senator Sessions from the great State 
of Alabama, who is with us; Marc Leland, my friend from a long period of 
time. I want to thank the rector of this important university. 
Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your warm 
welcome. I'm delighted to be back in Riga.
    I appreciate the Latvian Transatlantic Organization, the Commission 
of Strategic Analysis, and the German Marshall Fund of the United States 
for organizing this important conference. This is my third visit to the 
Baltics as the President of the United States, and it's my second visit 
to this beautiful city. I just can't stay away. I'm thrilled and honored 
to be back here, and I bring the greetings and good wishes of the 
American people.
    Not far from where we meet today stands Riga's Freedom Monument. It 
was erected in 1935, during this country's brief period of independence 
between the two world wars. During the dark years of Soviet occupation, 
the simple act of laying flowers at the foot of this monument was 
considered a crime by Communist authorities. In 1989, the monument was 
the scene of one of the most remarkable protests in the history of 
freedom. Hundreds of thousands of people stood together and formed a 
human chain that stretched nearly 400 miles across the Baltics--from 
Tallinn in the north, through downtown Riga, and into the heart of 
Vilnius. By joining hands, the people of this region showed their unity 
and their determination to live in freedom, and it made clear to the 
Soviet authorities that the Baltic peoples would accept nothing less 
than complete independence.
    It took more years of struggle, but today, the Baltic nations have 
taken their rightful place in the community of free nations, and Latvia 
is a host for an important NATO summit--the first time our alliance has 
met in one of the ``captive nations'' annexed by the Soviet Union. This 
is a proud day for the

[[Page 2100]]

people of Latvia and all the Baltic States. And on behalf of the 
American people, I thank you for your hospitality, your friendship, and 
the courage you are showing in the NATO alliance.
    As members of NATO, you are a vital part of the most effective 
multilateral organization in the world and the most important military 
alliance in history. As NATO allies, you will never again stand alone in 
defense of your freedom, and you'll never be occupied by a foreign 
power.
    Each of the Baltic countries is meeting its obligations to 
strengthen NATO by bringing new energy and vitality and clarity of 
purpose to the alliance. Your love of liberty has made NATO stronger. 
And with your help, our alliance is rising to meet the great challenges 
and responsibilities of this young century by making NATO the world's 
most effective united force for freedom.
    One of the great responsibilities of this alliance is to strengthen 
and expand the circle of freedom here in Europe. In the nearly six 
decades since NATO's founding, Europe has experienced an unprecedented 
expansion of liberty. A continent that was once divided by an ugly wall 
is now united in freedom. Yet the work of uniting Europe is not fully 
complete. Many nations that threw off the shackles of tyranny are still 
working to build the free institutions that are the foundation of 
successful democracies. NATO is encouraging these nations on the path to 
reform--and as governments make hard decisions for their people, they 
will be welcomed into the institutions of the Euro-Atlantic community.
    After I took office in 2001, I declared that the United States 
believes in NATO membership for all of Europe's democracies that seek it 
and are ready to share the responsibilities that NATO brings. The 
following year in Prague, we invited seven nations to join our 
alliance--Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Bulgaria, Slovakia, and 
Slovenia. Here in Riga, allies will make clear that the door to NATO 
membership remains open, and at our next summit in 2008, we hope to 
issue additional invitations to nations that are ready for membership.
    Today, Croatia, Macedonia, and Albania are all participating in 
NATO's Membership Action Plan, and the United States supports their 
aspirations to join the Atlantic alliance. Georgia is seeking NATO 
membership as well, and as it continues on the path of reform, we will 
continue to support Georgia's desire to become a NATO ally. We are also 
supporting the leaders of Ukraine as they work to curb corruption, 
promote the rule of law, and serve the cause of peace. Our position is 
clear: As democracy takes hold in Ukraine and its leaders pursue vital 
reforms, NATO membership will be open to the Ukrainian people if they 
choose it.
    We're also working with Russia through the NATO-Russia Council. We 
recognize that Russia is a vital and important country, and that it's in 
our interests to increase our cooperation with Russia in areas such as 
countering terrorism and preventing the spread of weapons of mass 
destruction. By building ties between Russia and this alliance, we will 
strengthen our common security, and we will advance the cause of peace.
    As we help the new democracies of Europe join the institutions of 
Europe, we must not forget those who still languish in tyranny. Just 
across the border from here lies the nation of Belarus--a place where 
peaceful protesters are beaten and opposition leaders are 
``disappeared'' by the agents of a cruel regime. The existence of such 
oppression in our midst offends the conscience of Europe, and it offends 
the conscience of America. We have a message for the people of Belarus: 
The vision of a Europe whole, free, and at peace includes you, and we 
stand with you in your struggle for freedom.
    Another great responsibility of this alliance is to transform for 
new challenges. When NATO was formed in 1949, its principal mission was 
to protect Europe from a Soviet tank invasion. Today, the Soviet threat 
is gone. And under the able leadership of the Secretary General, NATO is 
transforming from a static alliance focused on the defense of Europe, 
into an expedentiary [expeditionary] * alliance ready to deploy outside 
of Europe in the defense of freedom. This is a vital mission.
    * White House correction.

[[Page 2101]]

    Over the past 6 years, we've taken decisive action to transform our 
capabilities in the alliance. We created a new NATO transformation 
command to ensure that our alliance is always preparing for the threats 
of the future. We created a new NATO battalion to counter the threats of 
enemies armed with weapons of mass destruction. We created a new NATO 
Response Force, to ensure that our alliance can deploy rapidly and 
effectively.
    Here in Riga, we're taking new steps to build on this progress. At 
this summit, we will launch a NATO Special Operations Forces Initiative 
that will strengthen the ability of special operations personnel from 
NATO nations to work together on the battlefield. We will announce a new 
Strategic Airlift Initiative that will ensure that participating NATO 
members have a dedicated fleet of C-17 aircraft at their disposal. We 
will launch the Riga Global Partnership Initiative that will allow NATO 
to conduct joint training and joint exercises and common defense 
planning with nations like Japan and Australia--countries that share 
NATO's values and want to work with our alliance in the cause of peace. 
We will launch a new NATO Training Cooperation Initiative that will 
allow military forces in the Middle East to receive NATO training in 
counterterrorism and counterproliferation and peace support operations. 
And as we take these steps, every NATO nation must take the defensive--
must make the defensive investments necessary to give NATO the 
capabilities it needs, so that our alliance is ready for any challenge 
that may emerge in the decades to come.
    The most basic responsibility of this alliance is to defend our 
people against the threats of a new century. We're in a long struggle 
against terrorists and extremists who follow a hateful ideology and seek 
to establish a totalitarian empire from Spain to Indonesia. We fight 
against the extremists who desire safe havens and are willing to kill 
innocents anywhere to achieve their objectives.
    NATO has recognized this threat. And 3 years ago, NATO took an 
unprecedented step when it sent allied forces to defend a young 
democracy more than 3,000 miles from Europe. Since taking command of the 
International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan, NATO has 
expanded it from a small force that was operating only in Kabul into a 
robust force that conducts security operations in all of Afghanistan. 
NATO is helping to train the Afghan National Army. The alliance is 
operating 25 Provincial Reconstruction Teams that are helping the 
central government extend its reach into distant regions of that 
country. At this moment, all 26 NATO allies and 11 partner nations are 
contributing forces to NATO's mission in Afghanistan. They're serving 
with courage, and they are doing the vital work necessary to help this 
young democracy secure the peace.
    We saw the effectiveness of NATO forces this summer, when NATO took 
charge of security operations in Southern Afghanistan from the United 
States. The Taliban radicals who are trying to pull down Afghanistan's 
democracy and regain power saw the transfer from American to NATO 
control as a window of opportunity to test the will of the alliance. So 
the Taliban massed a large fighting force near Kandahar to face the NATO 
troops head on. It was a mistake. Together with the Afghan National 
Army, NATO forces from Canada and Denmark and the Netherlands and 
Britain and Australia and the United States engaged the enemy--with 
operational support from Romanian, Portuguese, and Estonian forces. 
According to NATO commanders, allied forces fought bravely and inflicted 
great damage on the Taliban.
    General David Richards, the British commander of NATO troops in 
Afghanistan, puts it this way: ``There were doubts about NATO and our 
ability to conduct demanding security operations. There are no questions 
about our ability now. We've killed many hundreds of Taliban, and it has 
removed any doubt in anybody's mind that NATO can do what we were sent 
here to do.''
    Taliban and Al Qaida fighters and drug traffickers and criminal 
elements and local warlords remain active and committed to destroying 
democracy in Afghanistan. Defeating them will require the full 
commitment of our alliance. For NATO to succeed, its commanders on the 
ground must have the resources and flexibility they need to do their 
jobs. The alliance was founded on a clear principle: An attack on one is 
an attack on

[[Page 2102]]

all. That principle holds true whether the attack is on our home soil or 
on our forces deployed on a NATO mission abroad. Today, Afghanistan is 
NATO's most important military operation, and by standing together in 
Afghanistan, we'll protect our people, defend our freedom, and send a 
clear message to the extremists--the forces of freedom and decency will 
prevail.
    Every ally can take pride in the transformation that NATO is making 
possible for the people of Afghanistan. Because of our efforts, 
Afghanistan has gone from a totalitarian nightmare to a free nation with 
an elected President, a democratic Constitution, and brave soldiers and 
police fighting for their country.
    Over 4.6 million Afghan refugees have come home. It's one of the 
largest return movements in history. The Afghan economy has tripled in 
size over the past 5 years. About 2 million girls are now in school--
compared to zero under the Taliban--and 85 women were elected or 
appointed to the Afghan National Assembly. A nation that was once a 
terrorist sanctuary has been transformed into an ally in the war on 
terror, led by a brave President, Hamid Karzai. Our work in Afghanistan 
is bringing freedom to the Afghan people; it is bringing security to the 
Euro-Atlantic community; and it's bringing pride to the NATO alliance.
    NATO allies are also making vital contributions to the struggle for 
freedom in Iraq. At this moment, a dozen NATO allies, including every 
one of the Baltic nations, are contributing forces to the coalition in 
Iraq. And 18 NATO countries plus Ukraine are contributing forces to the 
NATO Training Mission that is helping develop the next generation of 
leaders for the Iraqi security forces. To date, NATO has trained nearly 
3,000 Iraqi personnel, including nearly 2,000 officers and civilian 
defense officials trained inside Iraq, plus an additional 800 Iraqis 
trained outside the country. NATO has also helped Iraqis stand up a new 
military academy near Baghdad, so Iraqis can develop their own military 
leaders in the years to come. And NATO has contributed $128 million in 
military equipment to the Iraqi military, including 77 Hungarian T-72 
battle tanks. By helping to equip the Iraqi security forces and training 
the next group of Iraqi military leaders, NATO is helping the Iraqi 
people in the difficult work of securing their country and their 
freedom.
    Tomorrow I'm going to travel to Jordan where I will meet with the 
Prime Minister of Iraq. We will discuss the situation on the ground in 
his country, our ongoing efforts to transfer more responsibility to the 
Iraqi security forces, and the responsibility of other nations in the 
region to support the security and stability of Iraq. We'll continue to 
be flexible, and we'll make the changes necessary to succeed. But 
there's one thing I'm not going to do: I'm not going to pull our troops 
off the battlefield before the mission is complete.
    The battles in Iraq and Afghanistan are part of a struggle between 
moderation and extremism that is unfolding across the broader Middle 
East. Our enemy follows a hateful ideology that rejects fundamental 
freedoms like the freedom to speak, to assemble, or to worship God in 
the way you see fit. It opposes the rights for women. Their goal is to 
overthrow governments and to impose their totalitarian rule on millions. 
They have a strategy to achieve these aims. They seek to convince 
America and our allies that we cannot defeat them and that our only hope 
is to withdraw and abandon an entire region to their domination. The war 
on terror we fight today is more than a military conflict; it is the 
decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century. And in this struggle, 
we can accept nothing less than victory for our children and our 
grandchildren.
    We see this struggle in Lebanon, where last week, gunmen 
assassinated that country's Industry Minister, Pierre Gemayel, a 
prominent leader of the movement that secured Lebanon's independence 
last year. His murder showed once again the viciousness of those who are 
trying to destabilize Lebanon's young democracy. We see this struggle in 
Syria, where the regime allows Iranian weapons to pass through its 
territory into Lebanon and provides weapons and political support to 
Hizballah. We see this struggle in Iran, where a reactionary regime 
subjugates its proud people, arrests free trade union leaders, and uses 
Iran's resources to fund the spread of terror and pursue nuclear 
weapons.

[[Page 2103]]

We see this struggle in the Palestinian Territories, where extremists 
are working to stop moderate leaders from making progress toward the 
vision of two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by 
side in peace and security.
    In each of these places, extremists are using terror to stop the 
spread of freedom. Some are Shi'a extremists; other are Sunni 
extremists; but they represent different faces of the same threat. And 
if they succeed in undermining fragile democracies and drive the forces 
of freedom out of the region, they will have an open field to pursue 
their goals. Each strain of violent Islamic radicalism would be 
emboldened in its efforts to gain control of states and establish new 
safe havens. The extremists would use oil resources to fuel their 
radical agenda and to punish industrialized nations and pursue weapons 
of mass destruction. Armed with nuclear weapons, they could blackmail 
the free world, spread their ideologies of hate, and raise a mortal 
threat to Europe, America, and the entire civilized world.
    If we allow the extremists to do this, then 50 years from now, 
history will look back on our time with unforgiving clarity and demand 
to know why we did not act. Our alliance has a responsibility to act. We 
must lift up and support the moderates and reformers who are working for 
change across the broader Middle East. We must bring hope to millions by 
strengthening young democracies from Kabul to Baghdad to Beirut. And we 
must advance freedom as the great alternative to tyranny and terror.
    I know some in my country and some here in Europe are pessimistic 
about the prospects of democracy and peace in the Middle East. Some 
doubt whether the people of that region are ready for freedom, or want 
it badly enough, or have the courage to overcome the forces of 
totalitarian extremism. I understand these doubts, but I do not share 
them. I believe in the universality of freedom. I believe that the 
people of the Middle East want their liberty. I'm impressed by the 
courage I see in the people across the region who are fighting for that 
liberty.
    We see this courage in the 8 million Afghans who defied terrorist 
threats and went to the polls to choose their leaders. We see this 
courage in the nearly 12 million Iraqis who refused to let the car 
bombers and assassins stop them from voting for the free future of their 
country. We see this courage in the more than one million Lebanese who 
voted for a free and sovereign government to rule their land. And we see 
this courage in citizens from Damascus to Tehran, who, like the citizens 
of Riga before them, keep the flame of liberty burning deep within their 
hearts, knowing that one day its light will shine throughout their 
nations.
    There was a time, not so long ago, when many doubted that liberty 
could succeed in Europe. Here in the Baltics, many can still recall the 
early years of the cold war when freedom's victory was not so obvious or 
assured. In 1944, the Soviet Red Army reoccupied Latvia, Lithuania, and 
Estonia, plunging this region into nearly five decades of Communist 
rule. In 1947, Communist forces were threatening Greece and Turkey, the 
reconstruction of Germany was faltering, and mass starvation was setting 
in across Europe. In 1948, Czechoslovakia fell to communism, France and 
Italy were threatened by the same fate, and Berlin was blockaded on the 
orders of Josef Stalin. In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded a nuclear 
weapon. And weeks later, Communist forces took control in China. And in 
the summer of 1950, seven North Korean divisions poured across the 
border into South Korea, marking the start of the first direct military 
clash of the cold war. All of this took place in the 6 years following 
World War II.
    Yet today, six decades later, the cold war is over, the Soviet Union 
is no more, and the NATO alliance is meeting in the capital of a free 
Latvia. Europe no longer produces armed ideologies that threaten other 
nations with aggression and conquest and occupation. And a continent 
that was for generations a source of instability and global war has 
become a source of stability and peace. Freedom in Europe has brought 
peace to Europe, and freedom has brought the power to bring peace to the 
broader Middle East.
    Soon after I took office, I spoke to students at Warsaw University. 
I told them America had learned the lessons of history. I said, ``No 
more Munichs and no more Yaltas.'' I was speaking at the time about 
Europe, but the

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lessons of Yalta apply equally across the world. The question facing our 
nations today is this: Will we turn the fate of millions over to 
totalitarian extremists and allow the enemy to impose their hateful 
ideology across the Middle East, or will we stand with the forces of 
freedom in that part of the world and defend the moderate majority who 
want a future of peace?
    My country has made its choice, and so has the NATO alliance. We 
refuse to give in to the pessimism that consigns millions across the 
Middle East to endless oppression. We understand that, ultimately, the 
only path to lasting peace is through the rise of lasting free 
societies.
    Here in the Baltic region, many understand that freedom is universal 
and worth the struggle. During the Second World War, a young girl here 
in Riga escaped with her family from the advancing Red Army. She fled 
westward, moving first to a refugee camp in Germany and then later to 
Morocco, where she and her family settled for 5\1/2\ years. Spending her 
teenage years in a Muslim nation, this Latvian girl came to understand a 
fundamental truth about humanity: Moms and dads in the Muslim world want 
the same things for their children as moms and dads here in Riga--a 
future of peace, a chance to live in freedom, and the opportunity to 
build a better life.
    Today, that Latvian girl is the leader of a free country--the Iron 
Lady of the Baltics, the President of Latvia. And the lessons she 
learned growing up in Casablanca guide her as she leads her nation in 
this world. Here is how she put it earlier this year in an address to a 
joint meeting of the United States Congress: ``We know the value of 
freedom and feel compassion for those who are still deprived of it. 
Every nation on Earth is entitled to freedom,'' your President said. She 
said, ``We must share the dream that someday, there won't be a tyranny 
left anywhere in the world. We must work for this future, all of us, 
large and small, together.''
    Like your President, I believe this dream is within reach. And 
through the NATO alliance, nations large and small are working together 
to achieve it.
    We thank the people of Latvia for your contributions to NATO and for 
the powerful example you set for liberty. I appreciate your hospitality 
at this summit. America is proud to call you friends and allies in the 
cause of peace and freedom. May God bless you, and may God continue to 
bless America. Thank you very much.

Note: The President spoke at 4:30 p.m. in the Grand Hall. In his 
remarks, he referred to President Vaira Vike-Freiberga, Speaker of the 
Saeima Indulis Emsis, and Prime Minister Aigars Kalvitis of Latvia; Marc 
Leland, cochairman, German Marshall Fund; Ivars Lacis, rector, Latvia 
University; Secretary General Jakob Gijsbert ``Jaap'' de Hoop Scheffer 
of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization; and Prime Minister Nuri al-
Maliki of Iraq.