State of the Union Address, 2002 - excerpt:
"Our second goal is to prevent regimes that sponsor terror from
threatening America or our friends and allies with weapons of mass
destruction. Some of these regimes have been pretty quiet since
September the 11th. But we know their true nature. North Korea is a
regime arming with missiles and weapons of mass destruction, while
starving its citizens. Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and
exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people’s
hope for freedom. Iraq continues to flaunt its hostility toward
America and to support terror. The Iraqi regime has plotted to
develop anthrax, and nerve gas, and nuclear weapons for over a
decade. This is a regime that has already used poison gas to murder
thousands of its own citizens... leaving the bodies of mothers
huddled over their dead children. This is a regime that agreed to
international inspections... then kicked out the inspectors. This is
a regime that has something to hide from the civilized world. States
like these, and their terrorist allies, constitute an axis of evil,
arming to threaten the peace of the world. By seeking weapons of
mass destruction, these regimes pose a grave and growing danger.
They could provide these arms to terrorists, giving them the means
to match their hatred. They could attack our allies or attempt to
blackmail the United States. In any of these cases, the price of
indifference would be catastrophic."
State of the Union Address, 2003 - excerpt:
"The United Nations concluded in 1999 that Saddam Hussein had
biological weapons materials sufficient to produce over 25,000
liters of anthrax; enough doses to kill several million people. He
hasn't accounted for that material. He has given no evidence that he
has destroyed it.
"The United Nations concluded that Saddam Hussein had materials
sufficient to produce more than 38,000 liters of botulinum toxin;
enough to subject millions of people to death by respiratory
failure. He hasn't accounted for that material. He's given no
evidence that he has destroyed it.
"Our intelligence officials estimate that Saddam Hussein had the
materials to produce as much as 500 tons of sarin, mustard and VX
nerve agent. In such quantities, these chemical agents could also
kill untold thousands. He's not accounted for these materials. He
has given no evidence that he has destroyed them.
"U.S. intelligence indicates that Saddam Hussein had upwards of
30,000 munitions capable of delivering chemical agents. Inspectors
recently turned up 16 of them, despite Iraq's recent declaration
denying their existence. Saddam Hussein has not accounted for the
remaining 29,984 of these prohibited munitions. He has given no
evidence that he has destroyed them.
"From three Iraqi defectors we know that Iraq, in the late 1990s,
had several mobile biological weapons labs. These are designed to
produce germ warfare agents and can be moved from place to a place
to evade inspectors. Saddam Hussein has not disclosed these
facilities. He has given no evidence that he has destroyed them.
"The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed in the 1990s
that Saddam Hussein had an advanced nuclear weapons development
program, had a design for a nuclear weapon and was working on five
different methods of enriching uranium for a bomb.
"The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently
sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa.
"Our intelligence sources tell us that he has attempted to
purchase high-strength aluminum tubes suitable for nuclear weapons
production.
"Saddam Hussein has not credibly explained these activities. He
clearly has much to hide.
"The dictator of Iraq is not disarming. To the contrary, he is
deceiving.
"From intelligence sources, we know, for instance, that thousands
of Iraqi security personnel are at work hiding documents and
materials from the U.N. inspectors, sanitizing inspection sites and
monitoring the inspectors themselves."
State of the Union Address, 2005 - excerpt:
highlighted in bold - reference to both Iraq and 9-11/Al-Qaeda
highlighted in Red - reference to
9-11/Al-Qaeda/Taliban
highlighted in Green - reference to Iraq
or Saddam Hussein
(all highlighting and emphasis is mine)
Our third responsibility to future generations is to leave them
an America that is safe from danger, and protected by peace. We will
pass along to our children all the freedoms we enjoy -- and chief
among them is freedom from fear.
In the three and a half years since
September the 11th, 2001, we have taken unprecedented
actions to protect Americans. We've created a new department of
government to defend our homeland, focused the FBI on preventing
terrorism, begun to reform our intelligence agencies, broken up
terror cells across the country, expanded research on
defenses against biological and chemical
attack, improved border security, and trained more than a
half-million first responders. Police and
firefighters, air marshals, researchers, and so many
others are working every day to make our homeland safer, and we
thank them all.
Our nation, working with allies and friends, has also
confronted the enemy abroad,
with measures that are determined, successful, and continuing. The
al Qaeda terror network that
attacked our country still has leaders -- but
many of its top commanders have been removed. There
are still governments that sponsor and
harbor terrorists -- but
their number has declined. There are still regimes seeking weapons
of mass destruction -- but no longer without attention and without
consequence. Our country is still the target of
terrorists who want to kill many,
and intimidate us all -- and we will stay on the offensive against
them, until the fight is won.
Pursuing our enemies is a vital commitment of the
war on terror -- and I thank the
Congress for providing our servicemen and women with the resources
they have needed. During this time of war,
we must continue to support our military and give them
the tools for victory.
Other nations around the globe have stood with us. In
Afghanistan, an international
force is helping provide security. In Iraq,
28 countries have troops on the ground, the United Nations and the
European Union provided technical assistance for the elections, and
NATO is leading a mission to help train
Iraqi officers. We're cooperating with 60 governments in
the Proliferation Security Initiative, to detect and stop the
transit of dangerous materials. We're working closely with the
governments in Asia to convince North Korea to abandon its nuclear
ambitions. Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and nine other countries have
captured or detained al Qaeda terrorists.
In the next four years, my administration will continue to build the
coalitions that will defeat the
dangers of our time.
In the long-term, the peace we seek will only be achieved by
eliminating the conditions that feed
radicalism and ideologies of murder. If whole
regions of the world remain in despair and grow in hatred, they will
be the recruiting grounds for terror, and that
terror will stalk America and
other free nations for decades. The only force powerful enough to
stop the rise of tyranny and
terror, and replace hatred with
hope, is the force of human freedom. Our enemies know this, and that
is why the terrorist Zarqawi recently declared war on what he
called the "evil principle" of democracy. And we've declared our own
intention: America will stand with the allies of freedom to
support democratic movements in the Middle
East and beyond, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny
in our world.
The United States has no right, no desire, and no intention to
impose our form of government on
anyone else. That is one of the main differences between us and our
enemies. They seek to impose and expand an empire of oppression,
in which a tiny group of brutal,
self-appointed rulers control every aspect of every life.
Our aim is to build and preserve a community of free and independent
nations, with governments that answer to their citizens, and reflect
their own cultures. And because democracies respect their own people
and their neighbors, the advance of freedom will lead to peace.
That advance has great momentum in our time -- shown by
women voting in Afghanistan, and
Palestinians choosing a new direction, and the people of Ukraine
asserting their democratic rights and electing a president. We are
witnessing landmark events in the history of liberty. And in the
coming years, we will add to that story.
The beginnings of reform and democracy in the Palestinian
territories are now showing the power of freedom to break old
patterns of violence and failure. Tomorrow morning, Secretary of
State Rice departs on a trip that will take her to Israel and the
West Bank for meetings with Prime Minister Sharon and President
Abbas. She will discuss with them how we and our friends can help
the Palestinian people end terror and build the institutions of a
peaceful, independent, democratic state. To promote this democracy,
I will ask Congress for $350 million to support Palestinian
political, economic, and security reforms. The goal of two
democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in
peace, is within reach -- and America will help them achieve that
goal.
To promote peace and stability in the broader Middle East, the
United States will work with our friends in the region to
fight the common threat of terror,
while we encourage a higher standard of freedom. Hopeful reform is
already taking hold in an arc from Morocco to Jordan to Bahrain. The
government of Saudi Arabia can demonstrate its leadership in the
region by expanding the role of its people in determining their
future. And the great and proud nation of Egypt, which showed the
way toward peace in the Middle East, can now show the way toward
democracy in the Middle East.
To promote peace in the broader Middle East, we must confront
regimes that continue to harbor terrorists and
pursue weapons of mass murder.
Syria still allows its territory, and parts of Lebanon, to be
used by terrorists who seek to destroy every chance of peace in
the region. You have passed, and we are applying, the Syrian
Accountability Act -- and we expect the Syrian government to end all
support for terror and open the door to freedom. Today, Iran remains
the world's primary state sponsor of terror -- pursuing nuclear
weapons while depriving its people of the freedom they seek and
deserve. We are working with European allies to make clear to the
Iranian regime that it must give up its uranium enrichment program
and any plutonium reprocessing, and end its support for terror. And
to the Iranian people, I say tonight: As you stand for your own
liberty, America stands with you.
Our generational commitment to the advance of freedom, especially
in the Middle East, is now being tested and
honored in Iraq. That country is a vital front in the
war on terror, which is why the
terrorists have chosen to
make a stand there. Our men and
women in uniform are fighting terrorists
in Iraq, so we do not have to
face them here at home. And the
victory of freedom in Iraq will
strengthen a new ally in the war on terror,
inspire democratic reformers
from Damascus to Tehran, bring more hope and progress to a troubled
region, and thereby lift a terrible threat
from the lives of our children and grandchildren.
We will succeed because the Iraqi people
value their own liberty -- as they showed the world last Sunday.
Across Iraq, often at great
risk, millions of citizens went to the polls and elected 275 men and
women to represent them in a new Transitional National Assembly. A
young woman in Baghdad told of waking to the sound of mortar fire on
election day, and wondering if it might be too dangerous to vote.
She said, "Hearing those explosions, it occurred to me -- the
insurgents are weak, they are afraid of democracy, they are losing.
So I got my husband, and I got my parents, and we all came out and
voted together."
Americans recognize that spirit of liberty, because we share it.
In any nation, casting your vote is an act of civic responsibility;
for millions of Iraqis, it was
also an act of personal courage, and they have earned the respect of
us all.
One of Iraq's leading democracy
and human rights advocates is Safia Taleb al-Suhail. She says of her
country, "We were occupied for 35 years by
Saddam Hussein. That was the real occupation. Thank you
to the American people who paid the cost, but most of all, to the
soldiers." Eleven years ago, Safia's father was assassinated by
Saddam's intelligence service. Three days ago in Baghdad, Safia was
finally able to vote for the leaders of her country -- and we are
honored that she is with us tonight.
The terrorists and
insurgents are violently
opposed to democracy, and will continue to attack it. Yet, the
terrorists' most powerful myth
is being destroyed. The whole world is seeing that the
car bombers and assassins
are not only fighting coalition forces,
they are trying to destroy the hopes of Iraqis, expressed
in free elections. And the whole world now knows that a
small group of extremists will
not overturn the will of the Iraqi people.
We will succeed in Iraq
because Iraqis are determined to fight for their own freedom, and to
write their own history. As Prime Minister Allawi said in his speech
to Congress last September,
"Ordinary Iraqis are anxious to shoulder all the security burdens
of our country as quickly as possible." That is the natural
desire of an independent nation, and it is also the stated mission
of our coalition in Iraq. The
new political situation in Iraq opens a new phase of our work in
that country.
At the recommendation of our commanders on the ground, and in
consultation with the Iraqi government,
we will increasingly focus our efforts on helping prepare more
capable Iraqi security forces -- forces with skilled officers and an
effective command structure. As those forces become more
self-reliant and take on greater security responsibilities,
America and its coalition partners will increasingly be in a
supporting role. In the end, Iraqis must be able to defend their
own country -- and we will help that proud, new nation secure
its liberty.
Recently an Iraqi interpreter
said to a reporter, "Tell America not to abandon us." He and all
Iraqis can be certain: While our military strategy is adapting to
circumstances, our commitment remains firm and unchanging. We are
standing for the freedom of our Iraqi friends, and freedom in Iraq
will make America safer for generations to
come. We will not set an
artificial timetable for leaving Iraq, because that would
embolden the terrorists and make
them believe they can wait us out. We are in
Iraq to achieve a result: A country that is
democratic, representative of all its people, at peace with its
neighbors, and able to defend itself. And when that result is
achieved, our men and women serving in Iraq will return home with
the honor they have earned.
Right now, Americans in uniform are serving at posts across
the world, often taking great risks on my orders. We have given
them training and equipment; and they have given us an example of
idealism and character that makes every American proud. The
volunteers of our military are unrelenting in battle, unwavering in
loyalty, unmatched in honor and decency, and every day they're
making our nation more secure.
Some of our servicemen and women have survived terrible injuries,
and this grateful country will do everything we can to help them
recover. And we have said farewell to some
very good men and women, who died for our freedom, and
whose memory this nation will honor forever.
One name we honor is Marine Corps Sergeant Byron Norwood of
Pflugerville, Texas, who was killed during
the assault on Fallujah. His mom, Janet, sent me a letter
and told me how much Byron loved being a Marine, and how proud he
was to be on the front line against terror.
She wrote, "When Byron was home the last time, I said that I wanted
to protect him like I had since he was born. He just hugged me and
said, 'You've done your job, Mom. Now it is
my turn to protect you.'" Ladies and gentlemen, with
grateful hearts, we honor freedom's defenders, and our military
families, represented here this evening by Sergeant Norwood's mom
and dad, Janet and Bill Norwood.
In these four years,
Americans have seen the unfolding of large events. We have
known times of sorrow, and
hours of uncertainty, and days of
victory. In all this history, even when we have
disagreed, we have seen threads of purpose that unite us. The
attack on freedom in our world
has reaffirmed our confidence in freedom's
power to change the world. We are all part of a great
venture: To extend the promise of freedom in our country, to renew
the values that sustain our liberty, and to spread
the peace that freedom brings.
As Franklin Roosevelt once reminded Americans, "Each age is a
dream that is dying, or one that is coming to birth." And we live in
the country where the biggest dreams are born. The abolition of
slavery was only a dream -- until it was fulfilled. The liberation
of Europe from fascism was only a dream -- until it was achieved.
The fall of imperial communism was only a dream -- until, one day,
it was accomplished. Our generation has dreams of its own, and we
also go forward with confidence. The road of Providence is uneven
and unpredictable -- yet we know where it leads:
It leads to freedom.
Thank you, and may God bless America.
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