M
MioMyo
Guest
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/01/20030128-19.html
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Speaker, Vice President Cheney, members of Congress,
distinguished citizens and fellow citizens: Every year, by law and by
custom, we meet here to consider the state of the union. This year, we
gather in this chamber deeply aware of decisive days that lie ahead.
You and I serve our country in a time of great consequence. During this
session of Congress, we have the duty to reform domestic programs vital to
our country; we have the opportunity to save millions of lives abroad from a
terrible disease. We will work for a prosperity that is broadly shared, and
we will answer every danger and every enemy that threatens the American
people. (Applause.)
In all these days of promise and days of reckoning, we can be confident. In
a whirlwind of change and hope and peril, our faith is sure, our resolve is
firm, and our union is strong. (Applause.)
This country has many challenges. We will not deny, we will not ignore, we
will not pass along our problems to other Congresses, to other presidents,
and other generations. (Applause.) We will confront them with focus and
clarity and courage.
During the last two years, we have seen what can be accomplished when we
work together. To lift the standards of our public schools, we achieved
historic education reform -- which must now be carried out in every school
and in every classroom, so that every child in America can read and learn
and succeed in life. (Applause.) To protect our country, we reorganized our
government and created the Department of Homeland Security, which is
mobilizing against the threats of a new era. To bring our economy out of
recession, we delivered the largest tax relief in a generation. (Applause.)
To insist on integrity in American business we passed tough reforms, and we
are holding corporate criminals to account. (Applause.)
Some might call this a good record; I call it a good start. Tonight I ask
the House and Senate to join me in the next bold steps to serve our fellow
citizens.
Our first goal is clear: We must have an economy that grows fast enough to
employ every man and woman who seeks a job. (Applause.) After recession,
terrorist attacks, corporate scandals and stock market declines, our economy
is recovering -- yet it's not growing fast enough, or strongly enough. With
unemployment rising, our nation needs more small businesses to open, more
companies to invest and expand, more employers to put up the sign that says,
"Help Wanted." (Applause.)
Jobs are created when the economy grows; the economy grows when Americans
have more money to spend and invest; and the best and fairest way to make
sure Americans have that money is not to tax it away in the first place.
(Applause.)
I am proposing that all the income tax reductions set for 2004 and 2006 be
made permanent and effective this year. (Applause.) And under my plan, as
soon as I sign the bill, this extra money will start showing up in workers'
paychecks. Instead of gradually reducing the marriage penalty, we should do
it now. (Applause.) Instead of slowly raising the child credit to $1,000, we
should send the checks to American families now. (Applause.)
The tax relief is for everyone who pays income taxes -- and it will help our
economy immediately: 92 million Americans will keep, this year, an average
of almost $1,000 more of their own money. A family of four with an income of
$40,000 would see their federal income taxes fall from $1,178 to $45 per
year. (Applause.) Our plan will improve the bottom line for more than 23
million small businesses.
You, the Congress, have already passed all these reductions, and promised
them for future years. If this tax relief is good for Americans three, or
five, or seven years from now, it is even better for Americans today.
(Applause.)
We should also strengthen the economy by treating investors equally in our
tax laws. It's fair to tax a company's profits. It is not fair to again tax
the shareholder on the same profits. (Applause.) To boost investor
confidence, and to help the nearly 10 million senior who receive dividend
income, I ask you to end the unfair double taxation of dividends.
(Applause.)
Lower taxes and greater investment will help this economy expand. More jobs
mean more taxpayers, and higher revenues to our government. The best way to
address the deficit and move toward a balanced budget is to encourage
economic growth, and to show some spending discipline in Washington, D.C.
(Applause.)
We must work together to fund only our most important priorities. I will
send you a budget that increases discretionary spending by 4 percent next
year -- about as much as the average family's income is expected to grow.
And that is a good benchmark for us. Federal spending should not rise any
faster than the paychecks of American families. (Applause.)
A growing economy and a focus on essential priorities will also be crucial
to the future of Social Security. As we continue to work together to keep
Social Security sound and reliable, we must offer younger workers a chance
to invest in retirement accounts that they will control and they will own.
(Applause.)
Our second goal is high quality, affordable health care for all Americans.
(Applause.) The American system of medicine is a model of skill and
innovation, with a pace of discovery that is adding good years to our lives.
Yet for many people, medical care costs too much -- and many have no
coverage at all. These problems will not be solved with a nationalized
health care system that dictates coverage and rations care. (Applause.)
Instead, we must work toward a system in which all Americans have a good
insurance policy, choose their own doctors, and seniors and low-income
Americans receive the help they need. (Applause.) Instead of bureaucrats and
trial lawyers and HMOs, we must put doctors and nurses and patients back in
charge of American medicine. (Applause.)
Health care reform must begin with Medicare; Medicare is the binding
commitment of a caring society. (Applause.) We must renew that commitment by
giving seniors access to preventive medicine and new drugs that are
transforming health care in America.
Seniors happy with the current Medicare system should be able to keep their
coverage just the way it is. (Applause.) And just like you -- the members of
Congress, and your staffs, and other federal employees -- all seniors should
have the choice of a health care plan that provides prescription drugs.
(Applause.)
My budget will commit an additional $400 billion over the next decade to
reform and strengthen Medicare. Leaders of both political parties have
talked for years about strengthening Medicare. I urge the members of this
new Congress to act this year. (Applause.)
To improve our health care system, we must address one of the prime causes
of higher cost, the constant threat that physicians and hospitals will be
unfairly sued. (Applause.) Because of excessive litigation, everybody pays
more for health care, and many parts of America are losing fine doctors. No
one has ever been healed by a frivolous lawsuit. I urge the Congress to pass
medical liability reform. (Applause.)
Our third goal is to promote energy independence for our country, while
dramatically improving the environment. (Applause.) I have sent you a
comprehensive energy plan to promote energy efficiency and conservation, to
develop cleaner technology, and to produce more energy at home. (Applause.)
I have sent you Clear Skies legislation that mandates a 70-percent cut in
air pollution from power plants over the next 15 years. (Applause.) I have
sent you a Healthy Forests Initiative, to help prevent the catastrophic
fires that devastate communities, kill wildlife, and burn away millions of
acres of treasured forest. (Applause.)
I urge you to pass these measures, for the good of both our environment and
our economy. (Applause.) Even more, I ask you to take a crucial step and
protect our environment in ways that generations before us could not have
imagined.
In this century, the greatest environmental progress will come about not
through endless lawsuits or command-and-control regulations, but through
technology and innovation. Tonight I'm proposing $1.2 billion in research
funding so that America can lead the world in developing clean,
hydrogen-powered automobiles. (Applause.)
A single chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen generates energy,
which can be used to power a car -- producing only water, not exhaust fumes.
With a new national commitment, our scientists and engineers will overcome
obstacles to taking these cars from laboratory to showroom, so that the
first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen, and
pollution-free. (Applause.)
Join me in this important innovation to make our air significantly cleaner,
and our country much less dependent on foreign sources of energy.
(Applause.)
Our fourth goal is to apply the compassion of America to the deepest
problems of America. For so many in our country -- the homeless and the
fatherless, the addicted -- the need is great. Yet there's power,
wonder-working power, in the goodness and idealism and faith of the American
people.
Americans are doing the work of compassion every day -- visiting prisoners,
providing shelter for battered women, bringing companionship to lonely
seniors. These good works deserve our praise; they deserve our personal
support; and when appropriate, they deserve the assistance of the federal
government. (Applause.)
I urge you to pass both my faith-based initiative and the Citizen Service
Act, to encourage acts of compassion that can transform America, one heart
and one soul at a time. (Applause.)
Last year, I called on my fellow citizens to participate in the USA Freedom
Corps, which is enlisting tens of thousands of new volunteers across
America. Tonight I ask Congress and the American people to focus the spirit
of service and the resources of government on the needs of some of our most
vulnerable citizens -- boys and girls trying to grow up without guidance and
attention, and children who have to go through a prison gate to be hugged by
their mom or dad.
I propose a $450-million initiative to bring mentors to more than a million
disadvantaged junior high students and children of prisoners. Government
will support the training and recruiting of mentors; yet it is the men and
women of America who will fill the need. One mentor, one person can change a
life forever. And I urge you to be that one person. (Applause.)
Another cause of hopelessness is addiction to drugs. Addiction crowds out
friendship, ambition, moral conviction, and reduces all the richness of life
to a single destructive desire. As a government, we are fighting illegal
drugs by cutting off supplies and reducing demand through anti-drug
education programs. Yet for those already addicted, the fight against drugs
is a fight for their own lives. Too many Americans in search of treatment
cannot get it. So tonight I propose a new $600-million program to help an
additional 300,000 Americans receive treatment over the next three years.
(Applause.)
Our nation is blessed with recovery programs that do amazing work. One of
them is found at the Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A man
in the program said, "God does miracles in people's lives, and you never
think it could be you." Tonight, let us bring to all Americans who struggle
with drug addiction this message of hope: The miracle of recovery is
possible, and it could be you. (Applause.)
By caring for children who need mentors, and for addicted men and women who
need treatment, we are building a more welcoming society -- a culture that
values every life. And in this work we must not overlook the weakest among
us. I ask you to protect infants at the very hour of their birth and end the
practice of partial-birth abortion. (Applause.) And because no human life
should be started or ended as the object of an experiment, I ask you to set
a high standard for humanity, and pass a law against all human cloning.
(Applause.)
The qualities of courage and compassion that we strive for in America also
determine our conduct abroad. The American flag stands for more than our
power and our interests. Our founders dedicated this country to the cause of
human dignity, the rights of every person, and the possibilities of every
life. This conviction leads us into the world to help the afflicted, and
defend the peace, and confound the designs of evil men.
In Afghanistan, we helped liberate an oppressed people. And we will continue
helping them secure their country, rebuild their society, and educate all
their children -- boys and girls. (Applause.) In the Middle East, we will
continue to seek peace between a secure Israel and a democratic Palestine.
(Applause.) Across the Earth, America is feeding the hungry -- more than 60
percent of international food aid comes as a gift from the people of the
United States. As our nation moves troops and builds alliances to make our
world safer, we must also remember our calling as a blessed country is to
make this world better.
Today, on the continent of Africa, nearly 30 million people have the AIDS
virus -- including 3 million children under the age 15. There are whole
countries in Africa where more than one-third of the adult population
carries the infection. More than 4 million require immediate drug treatment.
Yet across that continent, only 50,000 AIDS victims -- only 50,000 -- are
receiving the medicine they need.
Because the AIDS diagnosis is considered a death sentence, many do not seek
treatment. Almost all who do are turned away. A doctor in rural South Africa
describes his frustration. He says, "We have no medicines. Many hospitals
tell people, you've got AIDS, we can't help you. Go home and die." In an age
of miraculous medicines, no person should have to hear those words.
(Applause.)
AIDS can be prevented. Anti-retroviral drugs can extend life for many years.
And the cost of those drugs has dropped from $12,000 a year to under $300 a
year -- which places a tremendous possibility within our grasp. Ladies and
gentlemen, seldom has history offered a greater opportunity to do so much
for so many.
We have confronted, and will continue to confront, HIV/AIDS in our own
country. And to meet a severe and urgent crisis abroad, tonight I propose
the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief -- a work of mercy beyond all current
international efforts to help the people of Africa. This comprehensive plan
will prevent 7 million new AIDS infections, treat at least 2 million people
with life-extending drugs, and provide humane care for millions of people
suffering from AIDS, and for children orphaned by AIDS. (Applause.)
I ask the Congress to commit $15 billion over the next five years, including
nearly $10 billion in new money, to turn the tide against AIDS in the most
afflicted nations of Africa and the Caribbean. (Applause.)
This nation can lead the world in sparing innocent people from a plague of
nature. And this nation is leading the world in confronting and defeating
the man-made evil of international terrorism. (Applause.)
There are days when our fellow citizens do not hear news about the war on
terror. There's never a day when I do not learn of another threat, or
receive reports of operations in progress, or give an order in this global
war against a scattered network of killers. The war goes on, and we are
winning. (Applause.)
To date, we've arrested or otherwise dealt with many key commanders of al
Qaeda. They include a man who directed logistics and funding for the
September the 11th attacks; the chief of al Qaeda operations in the Persian
Gulf, who planned the bombings of our embassies in East Africa and the USS
Cole; an al Qaeda operations chief from Southeast Asia; a former director of
al Qaeda's training camps in Afghanistan; a key al Qaeda operative in
Europe; a major al Qaeda leader in Yemen. All told, more than 3,000
suspected terrorists have been arrested in many countries. Many others have
met a different fate. Let's put it this way -- they are no longer a problem
to the United States and our friends and allies. (Applause.)
We are working closely with other nations to prevent further attacks.
America and coalition countries have uncovered and stopped terrorist
conspiracies targeting the American embassy in Yemen, the American embassy
in Singapore, a Saudi military base, ships in the Straits of Hormuz and the
Straits the Gibraltar. We've broken al Qaeda cells in Hamburg, Milan,
Madrid, London, Paris, as well as, Buffalo, New York.
We have the terrorists on the run. We're keeping them on the run. One by
one, the terrorists are learning the meaning of American justice.
(Applause.)
As we fight this war, we will remember where it began -- here, in our own
country. This government is taking unprecedented measures to protect our
people and defend our homeland. We've intensified security at the borders
and ports of entry, posted more than 50,000 newly-trained federal screeners
in airports, begun inoculating troops and first responders against smallpox,
and are deploying the nation's first early warning network of sensors to
detect biological attack. And this year, for the first time, we are
beginning to field a defense to protect this nation against ballistic
missiles. (Applause.)
I thank the Congress for supporting these measures. I ask you tonight to add
to our future security with a major research and production effort to guard
our people against bioterrorism, called Project Bioshield. The budget I send
you will propose almost $6 billion to quickly make available effective
vaccines and treatments against agents like anthrax, botulinum toxin, Ebola,
and plague. We must assume that our enemies would use these diseases as
weapons, and we must act before the dangers are upon us. (Applause.)
Since September the 11th, our intelligence and law enforcement agencies have
worked more closely than ever to track and disrupt the terrorists. The FBI
is improving its ability to analyze intelligence, and is transforming itself
to meet new threats. Tonight, I am instructing the leaders of the FBI, the
CIA, the Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense to develop a
Terrorist Threat Integration Center, to merge and analyze all threat
information in a single location. Our government must have the very best
information possible, and we will use it to make sure the right people are
in the right places to protect all our citizens. (Applause.)
Our war against terror is a contest of will in which perseverance is power.
In the ruins of two towers, at the western wall of the Pentagon, on a field
in Pennsylvania, this nation made a pledge, and we renew that pledge
tonight: Whatever the duration of this struggle, and whatever the
difficulties, we will not permit the triumph of violence in the affairs of
men -- free people will set the course of history. (Applause.)
Today, the gravest danger in the war on terror, the gravest danger facing
America and the world, is outlaw regimes that seek and possess nuclear,
chemical, and biological weapons. These regimes could use such weapons for
blackmail, terror, and mass murder. They could also give or sell those
weapons to terrorist allies, who would use them without the least
hesitation.
This threat is new; America's duty is familiar. Throughout the 20th century,
small groups of men seized control of great nations, built armies and
arsenals, and set out to dominate the weak and intimidate the world. In each
case, their ambitions of cruelty and murder had no limit. In each case, the
ambitions of Hitlerism, militarism, and communism were defeated by the will
of free peoples, by the strength of great alliances, and by the might of the
United States of America. (Applause.)
Now, in this century, the ideology of power and domination has appeared
again, and seeks to gain the ultimate weapons of terror. Once again, this
nation and all our friends are all that stand between a world at peace, and
a world of chaos and constant alarm. Once again, we are called to defend the
safety of our people, and the hopes of all mankind. And we accept this
responsibility. (Applause.)
America is making a broad and determined effort to confront these dangers.
We have called on the United Nations to fulfill its charter and stand by its
demand that Iraq disarm. We're strongly supporting the International Atomic
Energy Agency in its mission to track and control nuclear materials around
the world. We're working with other governments to secure nuclear materials
in the former Soviet Union, and to strengthen global treaties banning the
production and shipment of missile technologies and weapons of mass
destruction.
In all these efforts, however, America's purpose is more than to follow a
process -- it is to achieve a result: the end of terrible threats to the
civilized world. All free nations have a stake in preventing sudden and
catastrophic attacks. And we're asking them to join us, and many are doing
so. Yet the course of this nation does not depend on the decisions of
others. (Applause.) Whatever action is required, whenever action is
necessary, I will defend the freedom and security of the American people.
(Applause.)
Different threats require different strategies. In Iran, we continue to see
a government that represses its people, pursues weapons of mass destruction,
and supports terror. We also see Iranian citizens risking intimidation and
death as they speak out for liberty and human rights and democracy.
Iranians, like all people, have a right to choose their own government and
determine their own destiny -- and the United States supports their
aspirations to live in freedom. (Applause.)
On the Korean Peninsula, an oppressive regime rules a people living in fear
and starvation. Throughout the 1990s, the United States relied on a
negotiated framework to keep North Korea from gaining nuclear weapons. We
now know that that regime was deceiving the world, and developing those
weapons all along. And today the North Korean regime is using its nuclear
program to incite fear and seek concessions. America and the world will not
be blackmailed. (Applause.)
America is working with the countries of the region -- South Korea, Japan,
China, and Russia -- to find a peaceful solution, and to show the North
Korean government that nuclear weapons will bring only isolation, economic
stagnation, and continued hardship. (Applause.) The North Korean regime will
find respect in the world and revival for its people only when it turns away
from its nuclear ambitions. (Applause.)
Our nation and the world must learn the lessons of the Korean Peninsula and
not allow an even greater threat to rise up in Iraq. A brutal dictator, with
a history of reckless aggression, with ties to terrorism, with great
potential wealth, will not be permitted to dominate a vital region and
threaten the United States. (Applause.)
Twelve years ago, Saddam Hussein faced the prospect of being the last
casualty in a war he had started and lost. To spare himself, he agreed to
disarm of all weapons of mass destruction. For the next 12 years, he
systematically violated that agreement. He pursued chemical, biological, and
nuclear weapons, even while inspectors were in his country. Nothing to date
has restrained him from his pursuit of these weapons -- not economic
sanctions, not isolation from the civilized world, not even cruise missile
strikes on his military facilities.
Almost three months ago, the United Nations Security Council gave Saddam
Hussein his final chance to disarm. He has shown instead utter contempt for
the United Nations, and for the opinion of the world. The 108 U.N.
inspectors were sent to conduct -- were not sent to conduct a scavenger hunt
for hidden materials across a country the size of California. The job of the
inspectors is to verify that Iraq's regime is disarming. It is up to Iraq to
show exactly where it is hiding its banned weapons, lay those weapons out
for the world to see, and destroy them as directed. Nothing like this has
happened.
The United Nations concluded in 1999 that Saddam Hussein had biological
weapons sufficient to produce over 25,000 liters of anthrax -- enough doses
to kill several million people. He hasn't accounted for that material. He's
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 hadn'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's 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's 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. Iraqi officials accompany the inspectors in order to intimidate
witnesses.
Iraq is blocking U-2 surveillance flights requested by the United Nations.
Iraqi intelligence officers are posing as the scientists inspectors are
supposed to interview. Real scientists have been coached by Iraqi officials
on what to say. Intelligence sources indicate that Saddam Hussein has
ordered that scientists who cooperate with U.N. inspectors in disarming Iraq
will be killed, along with their families.
Year after year, Saddam Hussein has gone to elaborate lengths, spent
enormous sums, taken great risks to build and keep weapons of mass
destruction. But why? The only possible explanation, the only possible use
he could have for those weapons, is to dominate, intimidate, or attack.
With nuclear arms or a full arsenal of chemical and biological weapons,
Saddam Hussein could resume his ambitions of conquest in the Middle East and
create deadly havoc in that region. And this Congress and the America people
must recognize another threat. Evidence from intelligence sources, secret
communications, and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam
Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda.
Secretly, and without fingerprints, he could provide one of his hidden
weapons to terrorists, or help them develop their own.
Before September the 11th, many in the world believed that Saddam Hussein
could be contained. But chemical agents, lethal viruses and shadowy
terrorist networks are not easily contained. Imagine those 19 hijackers with
other weapons and other plans -- this time armed by Saddam Hussein. It would
take one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a
day of horror like none we have ever known. We will do everything in our
power to make sure that that day never comes. (Applause.)
Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have
terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on
notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly
emerge, all actions, all words, and all recriminations would come too late.
Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy,
and it is not an option. (Applause.)
The dictator who is assembling the world's most dangerous weapons has
already used them on whole villages -- leaving thousands of his own citizens
dead, blind, or disfigured. Iraqi refugees tell us how forced confessions
are obtained -- by torturing children while their parents are made to watch.
International human rights groups have catalogued other methods used in the
torture chambers of Iraq: electric shock, burning with hot irons, dripping
acid on the skin, mutilation with electric drills, cutting out tongues, and
rape. If this is not evil, then evil has no meaning. (Applause.)
And tonight I have a message for the brave and oppressed people of Iraq:
Your enemy is not surrounding your country -- your enemy is ruling your
country. (Applause.) And the day he and his regime are removed from power
will be the day of your liberation. (Applause.)
The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. America will not accept a
serious and mounting threat to our country, and our friends and our allies.
The United States will ask the U.N. Security Council to convene on February
the 5th to consider the facts of Iraq's ongoing defiance of the world.
Secretary of State Powell will present information and intelligence about
Iraqi's legal -- Iraq's illegal weapons programs, its attempt to hide those
weapons from inspectors, and its links to terrorist groups.
We will consult. But let there be no misunderstanding: If Saddam Hussein
does not fully disarm, for the safety of our people and for the peace of the
world, we will lead a coalition to disarm him. (Applause.)
Tonight I have a message for the men and women who will keep the peace,
members of the American Armed Forces: Many of you are assembling in or near
the Middle East, and some crucial hours may lay ahead. In those hours, the
success of our cause will depend on you. Your training has prepared you.
Your honor will guide you. You believe in America, and America believes in
you. (Applause.)
Sending Americans into battle is the most profound decision a President can
make. The technologies of war have changed; the risks and suffering of war
have not. For the brave Americans who bear the risk, no victory is free from
sorrow. This nation fights reluctantly, because we know the cost and we
dread the days of mourning that always come.
We seek peace. We strive for peace. And sometimes peace must be defended. A
future lived at the mercy of terrible threats is no peace at all. If war is
forced upon us, we will fight in a just cause and by just means -- sparing,
in every way we can, the innocent. And if war is forced upon us, we will
fight with the full force and might of the United States military -- and we
will prevail. (Applause.)
And as we and our coalition partners are doing in Afghanistan, we will bring
to the Iraqi people food and medicines and supplies -- and freedom.
(Applause.)
Many challenges, abroad and at home, have arrived in a single season. In two
years, America has gone from a sense of invulnerability to an awareness of
peril; from bitter division in small matters to calm unity in great causes.
And we go forward with confidence, because this call of history has come to
the right country.
Americans are a resolute people who have risen to every test of our time.
Adversity has revealed the character of our country, to the world and to
ourselves. America is a strong nation, and honorable in the use of our
strength. We exercise power without conquest, and we sacrifice for the
liberty of strangers.
Americans are a free people, who know that freedom is the right of every
person and the future of every nation. The liberty we prize is not America's
gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity. (Applause.)
We Americans have faith in ourselves, but not in ourselves alone. We do not
know -- we do not claim to know all the ways of Providence, yet we can trust
in them, placing our confidence in the loving God behind all of life, and
all of history.
May He guide us now. And may God continue to bless the United States of
America. (Applause.)
THE PRESIDENT: Mr. Speaker, Vice President Cheney, members of Congress,
distinguished citizens and fellow citizens: Every year, by law and by
custom, we meet here to consider the state of the union. This year, we
gather in this chamber deeply aware of decisive days that lie ahead.
You and I serve our country in a time of great consequence. During this
session of Congress, we have the duty to reform domestic programs vital to
our country; we have the opportunity to save millions of lives abroad from a
terrible disease. We will work for a prosperity that is broadly shared, and
we will answer every danger and every enemy that threatens the American
people. (Applause.)
In all these days of promise and days of reckoning, we can be confident. In
a whirlwind of change and hope and peril, our faith is sure, our resolve is
firm, and our union is strong. (Applause.)
This country has many challenges. We will not deny, we will not ignore, we
will not pass along our problems to other Congresses, to other presidents,
and other generations. (Applause.) We will confront them with focus and
clarity and courage.
During the last two years, we have seen what can be accomplished when we
work together. To lift the standards of our public schools, we achieved
historic education reform -- which must now be carried out in every school
and in every classroom, so that every child in America can read and learn
and succeed in life. (Applause.) To protect our country, we reorganized our
government and created the Department of Homeland Security, which is
mobilizing against the threats of a new era. To bring our economy out of
recession, we delivered the largest tax relief in a generation. (Applause.)
To insist on integrity in American business we passed tough reforms, and we
are holding corporate criminals to account. (Applause.)
Some might call this a good record; I call it a good start. Tonight I ask
the House and Senate to join me in the next bold steps to serve our fellow
citizens.
Our first goal is clear: We must have an economy that grows fast enough to
employ every man and woman who seeks a job. (Applause.) After recession,
terrorist attacks, corporate scandals and stock market declines, our economy
is recovering -- yet it's not growing fast enough, or strongly enough. With
unemployment rising, our nation needs more small businesses to open, more
companies to invest and expand, more employers to put up the sign that says,
"Help Wanted." (Applause.)
Jobs are created when the economy grows; the economy grows when Americans
have more money to spend and invest; and the best and fairest way to make
sure Americans have that money is not to tax it away in the first place.
(Applause.)
I am proposing that all the income tax reductions set for 2004 and 2006 be
made permanent and effective this year. (Applause.) And under my plan, as
soon as I sign the bill, this extra money will start showing up in workers'
paychecks. Instead of gradually reducing the marriage penalty, we should do
it now. (Applause.) Instead of slowly raising the child credit to $1,000, we
should send the checks to American families now. (Applause.)
The tax relief is for everyone who pays income taxes -- and it will help our
economy immediately: 92 million Americans will keep, this year, an average
of almost $1,000 more of their own money. A family of four with an income of
$40,000 would see their federal income taxes fall from $1,178 to $45 per
year. (Applause.) Our plan will improve the bottom line for more than 23
million small businesses.
You, the Congress, have already passed all these reductions, and promised
them for future years. If this tax relief is good for Americans three, or
five, or seven years from now, it is even better for Americans today.
(Applause.)
We should also strengthen the economy by treating investors equally in our
tax laws. It's fair to tax a company's profits. It is not fair to again tax
the shareholder on the same profits. (Applause.) To boost investor
confidence, and to help the nearly 10 million senior who receive dividend
income, I ask you to end the unfair double taxation of dividends.
(Applause.)
Lower taxes and greater investment will help this economy expand. More jobs
mean more taxpayers, and higher revenues to our government. The best way to
address the deficit and move toward a balanced budget is to encourage
economic growth, and to show some spending discipline in Washington, D.C.
(Applause.)
We must work together to fund only our most important priorities. I will
send you a budget that increases discretionary spending by 4 percent next
year -- about as much as the average family's income is expected to grow.
And that is a good benchmark for us. Federal spending should not rise any
faster than the paychecks of American families. (Applause.)
A growing economy and a focus on essential priorities will also be crucial
to the future of Social Security. As we continue to work together to keep
Social Security sound and reliable, we must offer younger workers a chance
to invest in retirement accounts that they will control and they will own.
(Applause.)
Our second goal is high quality, affordable health care for all Americans.
(Applause.) The American system of medicine is a model of skill and
innovation, with a pace of discovery that is adding good years to our lives.
Yet for many people, medical care costs too much -- and many have no
coverage at all. These problems will not be solved with a nationalized
health care system that dictates coverage and rations care. (Applause.)
Instead, we must work toward a system in which all Americans have a good
insurance policy, choose their own doctors, and seniors and low-income
Americans receive the help they need. (Applause.) Instead of bureaucrats and
trial lawyers and HMOs, we must put doctors and nurses and patients back in
charge of American medicine. (Applause.)
Health care reform must begin with Medicare; Medicare is the binding
commitment of a caring society. (Applause.) We must renew that commitment by
giving seniors access to preventive medicine and new drugs that are
transforming health care in America.
Seniors happy with the current Medicare system should be able to keep their
coverage just the way it is. (Applause.) And just like you -- the members of
Congress, and your staffs, and other federal employees -- all seniors should
have the choice of a health care plan that provides prescription drugs.
(Applause.)
My budget will commit an additional $400 billion over the next decade to
reform and strengthen Medicare. Leaders of both political parties have
talked for years about strengthening Medicare. I urge the members of this
new Congress to act this year. (Applause.)
To improve our health care system, we must address one of the prime causes
of higher cost, the constant threat that physicians and hospitals will be
unfairly sued. (Applause.) Because of excessive litigation, everybody pays
more for health care, and many parts of America are losing fine doctors. No
one has ever been healed by a frivolous lawsuit. I urge the Congress to pass
medical liability reform. (Applause.)
Our third goal is to promote energy independence for our country, while
dramatically improving the environment. (Applause.) I have sent you a
comprehensive energy plan to promote energy efficiency and conservation, to
develop cleaner technology, and to produce more energy at home. (Applause.)
I have sent you Clear Skies legislation that mandates a 70-percent cut in
air pollution from power plants over the next 15 years. (Applause.) I have
sent you a Healthy Forests Initiative, to help prevent the catastrophic
fires that devastate communities, kill wildlife, and burn away millions of
acres of treasured forest. (Applause.)
I urge you to pass these measures, for the good of both our environment and
our economy. (Applause.) Even more, I ask you to take a crucial step and
protect our environment in ways that generations before us could not have
imagined.
In this century, the greatest environmental progress will come about not
through endless lawsuits or command-and-control regulations, but through
technology and innovation. Tonight I'm proposing $1.2 billion in research
funding so that America can lead the world in developing clean,
hydrogen-powered automobiles. (Applause.)
A single chemical reaction between hydrogen and oxygen generates energy,
which can be used to power a car -- producing only water, not exhaust fumes.
With a new national commitment, our scientists and engineers will overcome
obstacles to taking these cars from laboratory to showroom, so that the
first car driven by a child born today could be powered by hydrogen, and
pollution-free. (Applause.)
Join me in this important innovation to make our air significantly cleaner,
and our country much less dependent on foreign sources of energy.
(Applause.)
Our fourth goal is to apply the compassion of America to the deepest
problems of America. For so many in our country -- the homeless and the
fatherless, the addicted -- the need is great. Yet there's power,
wonder-working power, in the goodness and idealism and faith of the American
people.
Americans are doing the work of compassion every day -- visiting prisoners,
providing shelter for battered women, bringing companionship to lonely
seniors. These good works deserve our praise; they deserve our personal
support; and when appropriate, they deserve the assistance of the federal
government. (Applause.)
I urge you to pass both my faith-based initiative and the Citizen Service
Act, to encourage acts of compassion that can transform America, one heart
and one soul at a time. (Applause.)
Last year, I called on my fellow citizens to participate in the USA Freedom
Corps, which is enlisting tens of thousands of new volunteers across
America. Tonight I ask Congress and the American people to focus the spirit
of service and the resources of government on the needs of some of our most
vulnerable citizens -- boys and girls trying to grow up without guidance and
attention, and children who have to go through a prison gate to be hugged by
their mom or dad.
I propose a $450-million initiative to bring mentors to more than a million
disadvantaged junior high students and children of prisoners. Government
will support the training and recruiting of mentors; yet it is the men and
women of America who will fill the need. One mentor, one person can change a
life forever. And I urge you to be that one person. (Applause.)
Another cause of hopelessness is addiction to drugs. Addiction crowds out
friendship, ambition, moral conviction, and reduces all the richness of life
to a single destructive desire. As a government, we are fighting illegal
drugs by cutting off supplies and reducing demand through anti-drug
education programs. Yet for those already addicted, the fight against drugs
is a fight for their own lives. Too many Americans in search of treatment
cannot get it. So tonight I propose a new $600-million program to help an
additional 300,000 Americans receive treatment over the next three years.
(Applause.)
Our nation is blessed with recovery programs that do amazing work. One of
them is found at the Healing Place Church in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A man
in the program said, "God does miracles in people's lives, and you never
think it could be you." Tonight, let us bring to all Americans who struggle
with drug addiction this message of hope: The miracle of recovery is
possible, and it could be you. (Applause.)
By caring for children who need mentors, and for addicted men and women who
need treatment, we are building a more welcoming society -- a culture that
values every life. And in this work we must not overlook the weakest among
us. I ask you to protect infants at the very hour of their birth and end the
practice of partial-birth abortion. (Applause.) And because no human life
should be started or ended as the object of an experiment, I ask you to set
a high standard for humanity, and pass a law against all human cloning.
(Applause.)
The qualities of courage and compassion that we strive for in America also
determine our conduct abroad. The American flag stands for more than our
power and our interests. Our founders dedicated this country to the cause of
human dignity, the rights of every person, and the possibilities of every
life. This conviction leads us into the world to help the afflicted, and
defend the peace, and confound the designs of evil men.
In Afghanistan, we helped liberate an oppressed people. And we will continue
helping them secure their country, rebuild their society, and educate all
their children -- boys and girls. (Applause.) In the Middle East, we will
continue to seek peace between a secure Israel and a democratic Palestine.
(Applause.) Across the Earth, America is feeding the hungry -- more than 60
percent of international food aid comes as a gift from the people of the
United States. As our nation moves troops and builds alliances to make our
world safer, we must also remember our calling as a blessed country is to
make this world better.
Today, on the continent of Africa, nearly 30 million people have the AIDS
virus -- including 3 million children under the age 15. There are whole
countries in Africa where more than one-third of the adult population
carries the infection. More than 4 million require immediate drug treatment.
Yet across that continent, only 50,000 AIDS victims -- only 50,000 -- are
receiving the medicine they need.
Because the AIDS diagnosis is considered a death sentence, many do not seek
treatment. Almost all who do are turned away. A doctor in rural South Africa
describes his frustration. He says, "We have no medicines. Many hospitals
tell people, you've got AIDS, we can't help you. Go home and die." In an age
of miraculous medicines, no person should have to hear those words.
(Applause.)
AIDS can be prevented. Anti-retroviral drugs can extend life for many years.
And the cost of those drugs has dropped from $12,000 a year to under $300 a
year -- which places a tremendous possibility within our grasp. Ladies and
gentlemen, seldom has history offered a greater opportunity to do so much
for so many.
We have confronted, and will continue to confront, HIV/AIDS in our own
country. And to meet a severe and urgent crisis abroad, tonight I propose
the Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief -- a work of mercy beyond all current
international efforts to help the people of Africa. This comprehensive plan
will prevent 7 million new AIDS infections, treat at least 2 million people
with life-extending drugs, and provide humane care for millions of people
suffering from AIDS, and for children orphaned by AIDS. (Applause.)
I ask the Congress to commit $15 billion over the next five years, including
nearly $10 billion in new money, to turn the tide against AIDS in the most
afflicted nations of Africa and the Caribbean. (Applause.)
This nation can lead the world in sparing innocent people from a plague of
nature. And this nation is leading the world in confronting and defeating
the man-made evil of international terrorism. (Applause.)
There are days when our fellow citizens do not hear news about the war on
terror. There's never a day when I do not learn of another threat, or
receive reports of operations in progress, or give an order in this global
war against a scattered network of killers. The war goes on, and we are
winning. (Applause.)
To date, we've arrested or otherwise dealt with many key commanders of al
Qaeda. They include a man who directed logistics and funding for the
September the 11th attacks; the chief of al Qaeda operations in the Persian
Gulf, who planned the bombings of our embassies in East Africa and the USS
Cole; an al Qaeda operations chief from Southeast Asia; a former director of
al Qaeda's training camps in Afghanistan; a key al Qaeda operative in
Europe; a major al Qaeda leader in Yemen. All told, more than 3,000
suspected terrorists have been arrested in many countries. Many others have
met a different fate. Let's put it this way -- they are no longer a problem
to the United States and our friends and allies. (Applause.)
We are working closely with other nations to prevent further attacks.
America and coalition countries have uncovered and stopped terrorist
conspiracies targeting the American embassy in Yemen, the American embassy
in Singapore, a Saudi military base, ships in the Straits of Hormuz and the
Straits the Gibraltar. We've broken al Qaeda cells in Hamburg, Milan,
Madrid, London, Paris, as well as, Buffalo, New York.
We have the terrorists on the run. We're keeping them on the run. One by
one, the terrorists are learning the meaning of American justice.
(Applause.)
As we fight this war, we will remember where it began -- here, in our own
country. This government is taking unprecedented measures to protect our
people and defend our homeland. We've intensified security at the borders
and ports of entry, posted more than 50,000 newly-trained federal screeners
in airports, begun inoculating troops and first responders against smallpox,
and are deploying the nation's first early warning network of sensors to
detect biological attack. And this year, for the first time, we are
beginning to field a defense to protect this nation against ballistic
missiles. (Applause.)
I thank the Congress for supporting these measures. I ask you tonight to add
to our future security with a major research and production effort to guard
our people against bioterrorism, called Project Bioshield. The budget I send
you will propose almost $6 billion to quickly make available effective
vaccines and treatments against agents like anthrax, botulinum toxin, Ebola,
and plague. We must assume that our enemies would use these diseases as
weapons, and we must act before the dangers are upon us. (Applause.)
Since September the 11th, our intelligence and law enforcement agencies have
worked more closely than ever to track and disrupt the terrorists. The FBI
is improving its ability to analyze intelligence, and is transforming itself
to meet new threats. Tonight, I am instructing the leaders of the FBI, the
CIA, the Homeland Security, and the Department of Defense to develop a
Terrorist Threat Integration Center, to merge and analyze all threat
information in a single location. Our government must have the very best
information possible, and we will use it to make sure the right people are
in the right places to protect all our citizens. (Applause.)
Our war against terror is a contest of will in which perseverance is power.
In the ruins of two towers, at the western wall of the Pentagon, on a field
in Pennsylvania, this nation made a pledge, and we renew that pledge
tonight: Whatever the duration of this struggle, and whatever the
difficulties, we will not permit the triumph of violence in the affairs of
men -- free people will set the course of history. (Applause.)
Today, the gravest danger in the war on terror, the gravest danger facing
America and the world, is outlaw regimes that seek and possess nuclear,
chemical, and biological weapons. These regimes could use such weapons for
blackmail, terror, and mass murder. They could also give or sell those
weapons to terrorist allies, who would use them without the least
hesitation.
This threat is new; America's duty is familiar. Throughout the 20th century,
small groups of men seized control of great nations, built armies and
arsenals, and set out to dominate the weak and intimidate the world. In each
case, their ambitions of cruelty and murder had no limit. In each case, the
ambitions of Hitlerism, militarism, and communism were defeated by the will
of free peoples, by the strength of great alliances, and by the might of the
United States of America. (Applause.)
Now, in this century, the ideology of power and domination has appeared
again, and seeks to gain the ultimate weapons of terror. Once again, this
nation and all our friends are all that stand between a world at peace, and
a world of chaos and constant alarm. Once again, we are called to defend the
safety of our people, and the hopes of all mankind. And we accept this
responsibility. (Applause.)
America is making a broad and determined effort to confront these dangers.
We have called on the United Nations to fulfill its charter and stand by its
demand that Iraq disarm. We're strongly supporting the International Atomic
Energy Agency in its mission to track and control nuclear materials around
the world. We're working with other governments to secure nuclear materials
in the former Soviet Union, and to strengthen global treaties banning the
production and shipment of missile technologies and weapons of mass
destruction.
In all these efforts, however, America's purpose is more than to follow a
process -- it is to achieve a result: the end of terrible threats to the
civilized world. All free nations have a stake in preventing sudden and
catastrophic attacks. And we're asking them to join us, and many are doing
so. Yet the course of this nation does not depend on the decisions of
others. (Applause.) Whatever action is required, whenever action is
necessary, I will defend the freedom and security of the American people.
(Applause.)
Different threats require different strategies. In Iran, we continue to see
a government that represses its people, pursues weapons of mass destruction,
and supports terror. We also see Iranian citizens risking intimidation and
death as they speak out for liberty and human rights and democracy.
Iranians, like all people, have a right to choose their own government and
determine their own destiny -- and the United States supports their
aspirations to live in freedom. (Applause.)
On the Korean Peninsula, an oppressive regime rules a people living in fear
and starvation. Throughout the 1990s, the United States relied on a
negotiated framework to keep North Korea from gaining nuclear weapons. We
now know that that regime was deceiving the world, and developing those
weapons all along. And today the North Korean regime is using its nuclear
program to incite fear and seek concessions. America and the world will not
be blackmailed. (Applause.)
America is working with the countries of the region -- South Korea, Japan,
China, and Russia -- to find a peaceful solution, and to show the North
Korean government that nuclear weapons will bring only isolation, economic
stagnation, and continued hardship. (Applause.) The North Korean regime will
find respect in the world and revival for its people only when it turns away
from its nuclear ambitions. (Applause.)
Our nation and the world must learn the lessons of the Korean Peninsula and
not allow an even greater threat to rise up in Iraq. A brutal dictator, with
a history of reckless aggression, with ties to terrorism, with great
potential wealth, will not be permitted to dominate a vital region and
threaten the United States. (Applause.)
Twelve years ago, Saddam Hussein faced the prospect of being the last
casualty in a war he had started and lost. To spare himself, he agreed to
disarm of all weapons of mass destruction. For the next 12 years, he
systematically violated that agreement. He pursued chemical, biological, and
nuclear weapons, even while inspectors were in his country. Nothing to date
has restrained him from his pursuit of these weapons -- not economic
sanctions, not isolation from the civilized world, not even cruise missile
strikes on his military facilities.
Almost three months ago, the United Nations Security Council gave Saddam
Hussein his final chance to disarm. He has shown instead utter contempt for
the United Nations, and for the opinion of the world. The 108 U.N.
inspectors were sent to conduct -- were not sent to conduct a scavenger hunt
for hidden materials across a country the size of California. The job of the
inspectors is to verify that Iraq's regime is disarming. It is up to Iraq to
show exactly where it is hiding its banned weapons, lay those weapons out
for the world to see, and destroy them as directed. Nothing like this has
happened.
The United Nations concluded in 1999 that Saddam Hussein had biological
weapons sufficient to produce over 25,000 liters of anthrax -- enough doses
to kill several million people. He hasn't accounted for that material. He's
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 hadn'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's 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's 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. Iraqi officials accompany the inspectors in order to intimidate
witnesses.
Iraq is blocking U-2 surveillance flights requested by the United Nations.
Iraqi intelligence officers are posing as the scientists inspectors are
supposed to interview. Real scientists have been coached by Iraqi officials
on what to say. Intelligence sources indicate that Saddam Hussein has
ordered that scientists who cooperate with U.N. inspectors in disarming Iraq
will be killed, along with their families.
Year after year, Saddam Hussein has gone to elaborate lengths, spent
enormous sums, taken great risks to build and keep weapons of mass
destruction. But why? The only possible explanation, the only possible use
he could have for those weapons, is to dominate, intimidate, or attack.
With nuclear arms or a full arsenal of chemical and biological weapons,
Saddam Hussein could resume his ambitions of conquest in the Middle East and
create deadly havoc in that region. And this Congress and the America people
must recognize another threat. Evidence from intelligence sources, secret
communications, and statements by people now in custody reveal that Saddam
Hussein aids and protects terrorists, including members of al Qaeda.
Secretly, and without fingerprints, he could provide one of his hidden
weapons to terrorists, or help them develop their own.
Before September the 11th, many in the world believed that Saddam Hussein
could be contained. But chemical agents, lethal viruses and shadowy
terrorist networks are not easily contained. Imagine those 19 hijackers with
other weapons and other plans -- this time armed by Saddam Hussein. It would
take one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a
day of horror like none we have ever known. We will do everything in our
power to make sure that that day never comes. (Applause.)
Some have said we must not act until the threat is imminent. Since when have
terrorists and tyrants announced their intentions, politely putting us on
notice before they strike? If this threat is permitted to fully and suddenly
emerge, all actions, all words, and all recriminations would come too late.
Trusting in the sanity and restraint of Saddam Hussein is not a strategy,
and it is not an option. (Applause.)
The dictator who is assembling the world's most dangerous weapons has
already used them on whole villages -- leaving thousands of his own citizens
dead, blind, or disfigured. Iraqi refugees tell us how forced confessions
are obtained -- by torturing children while their parents are made to watch.
International human rights groups have catalogued other methods used in the
torture chambers of Iraq: electric shock, burning with hot irons, dripping
acid on the skin, mutilation with electric drills, cutting out tongues, and
rape. If this is not evil, then evil has no meaning. (Applause.)
And tonight I have a message for the brave and oppressed people of Iraq:
Your enemy is not surrounding your country -- your enemy is ruling your
country. (Applause.) And the day he and his regime are removed from power
will be the day of your liberation. (Applause.)
The world has waited 12 years for Iraq to disarm. America will not accept a
serious and mounting threat to our country, and our friends and our allies.
The United States will ask the U.N. Security Council to convene on February
the 5th to consider the facts of Iraq's ongoing defiance of the world.
Secretary of State Powell will present information and intelligence about
Iraqi's legal -- Iraq's illegal weapons programs, its attempt to hide those
weapons from inspectors, and its links to terrorist groups.
We will consult. But let there be no misunderstanding: If Saddam Hussein
does not fully disarm, for the safety of our people and for the peace of the
world, we will lead a coalition to disarm him. (Applause.)
Tonight I have a message for the men and women who will keep the peace,
members of the American Armed Forces: Many of you are assembling in or near
the Middle East, and some crucial hours may lay ahead. In those hours, the
success of our cause will depend on you. Your training has prepared you.
Your honor will guide you. You believe in America, and America believes in
you. (Applause.)
Sending Americans into battle is the most profound decision a President can
make. The technologies of war have changed; the risks and suffering of war
have not. For the brave Americans who bear the risk, no victory is free from
sorrow. This nation fights reluctantly, because we know the cost and we
dread the days of mourning that always come.
We seek peace. We strive for peace. And sometimes peace must be defended. A
future lived at the mercy of terrible threats is no peace at all. If war is
forced upon us, we will fight in a just cause and by just means -- sparing,
in every way we can, the innocent. And if war is forced upon us, we will
fight with the full force and might of the United States military -- and we
will prevail. (Applause.)
And as we and our coalition partners are doing in Afghanistan, we will bring
to the Iraqi people food and medicines and supplies -- and freedom.
(Applause.)
Many challenges, abroad and at home, have arrived in a single season. In two
years, America has gone from a sense of invulnerability to an awareness of
peril; from bitter division in small matters to calm unity in great causes.
And we go forward with confidence, because this call of history has come to
the right country.
Americans are a resolute people who have risen to every test of our time.
Adversity has revealed the character of our country, to the world and to
ourselves. America is a strong nation, and honorable in the use of our
strength. We exercise power without conquest, and we sacrifice for the
liberty of strangers.
Americans are a free people, who know that freedom is the right of every
person and the future of every nation. The liberty we prize is not America's
gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity. (Applause.)
We Americans have faith in ourselves, but not in ourselves alone. We do not
know -- we do not claim to know all the ways of Providence, yet we can trust
in them, placing our confidence in the loving God behind all of life, and
all of history.
May He guide us now. And may God continue to bless the United States of
America. (Applause.)
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