President Bush's UN Speech: Full Text
Here is the full text of President Bush's speech to the United Nations
General Assembly on Thursday September 12, 2002
Mr. Secretary General, Mr. President, distinguished delegates, and
ladies and gentlemen: We meet one year and one day after a terrorist
attack brought grief to my country, and brought grief to many citizens of
our world. Yesterday, we remembered the innocent lives taken that
terrible morning. Today, we turn to the urgent duty of protecting other
lives, without illusion and without fear.
We've accomplished much in the last year -- in Afghanistan and
beyond. We have much yet to do -- in Afghanistan and beyond. Many
nations represented here have joined in the fight against global terror,
and the people of the United States are grateful.
The United Nations was born in the hope that survived a world war --
the hope of a world moving toward justice, escaping old patterns of
conflict and fear. The founding members resolved that the peace of the
world must never again be destroyed by the will and wickedness of any
man. We created the United Nations Security Council, so that, unlike
the League of Nations, our deliberations would be more than talk, our
resolutions would be more than wishes. After generations of deceitful
dictators and broken treaties and squandered lives, we dedicated
ourselves to standards of human dignity shared by all, and to a system
of security defended by all.
Today, these standards, and this security, are challenged. Our
commitment to human dignity is challenged by persistent poverty and
raging disease. The suffering is great, and our responsibilities are
clear. The United States is joining with the world to supply aid where it
reaches people and lifts up lives, to extend trade and the prosperity it
brings, and to bring medical care where it is desperately needed.
As a symbol of our commitment to human dignity, the United States will
return to UNESCO. (Applause.) This organization has been reformed
and America will participate fully in its mission to advance human rights
and tolerance and learning.
Our common security is challenged by regional conflicts -- ethnic and
religious strife that is ancient, but not inevitable. In the Middle East,
there can be no peace for either side without freedom for both sides.
America stands committed to an independent and democratic Palestine,
living side by side with Israel in peace and security. Like all other
people, Palestinians deserve a government that serves their interests
and listens to their voices. My nation will continue to encourage all
parties to step up to their responsibilities as we seek a just and
comprehensive settlement to the conflict.
Above all, our principles and our security are challenged today by
outlaw groups and regimes that accept no law of morality and have no
limit to their violent ambitions. In the attacks on America a year ago, we
saw the destructive intentions of our enemies. This threat hides within
many nations, including my own. In cells and camps, terrorists are
plotting further destruction, and building new bases for their war against
civilization. And our greatest fear is that terrorists will find a shortcut to
their mad ambitions when an outlaw regime supplies them with the
technologies to kill on a massive scale.
In one place -- in one regime -- we find all these dangers, in their most
lethal and aggressive forms, exactly the kind of aggressive threat the
United Nations was born to confront.
Twelve years ago, Iraq invaded Kuwait without provocation. And the
regime's forces were poised to continue their march to seize other
countries and their resources. Had Saddam Hussein been appeased
instead of stopped, he would have endangered the peace and stability
of the world. Yet this aggression was stopped -- by the might of
coalition forces and the will of the United Nations.
To suspend hostilities, to spare himself, Iraq's dictator accepted a
series of commitments. The terms were clear, to him and to all. And he
agreed to prove he is complying with every one of those obligations.
He has proven instead only his contempt for the United Nations, and for
all his pledges. By breaking every pledge -- by his deceptions, and by
his cruelties -- Saddam Hussein has made the case against himself.
In 1991, Security Council Resolution 688 demanded that the Iraqi
regime cease at once the repression of its own people, including the
systematic repression of minorities -- which the Council said,
threatened international peace and security in the region. This demand
goes ignored.
Last year, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights found that Iraq
continues to commit extremely grave violations of human rights, and
that the regime's repression is all pervasive. Tens of thousands of
political opponents and ordinary citizens have been subjected to
arbitrary arrest and imprisonment, summary execution, and torture by
beating and burning, electric shock, starvation, mutilation, and rape.
Wives are tortured in front of their husbands, children in the presence
of their parents -- and all of these horrors concealed from the world by
the apparatus of a totalitarian state.
In 1991, the U.N. Security Council, through Resolutions 686 and 687,
demanded that Iraq return all prisoners from Kuwait and other lands.
Iraq's regime agreed. It broke its promise. Last year the Secretary
General's high-level coordinator for this issue reported that Kuwait,
Saudi, Indian, Syrian, Lebanese, Iranian, Egyptian, Bahraini, and
Omani nationals remain unaccounted for -- more than 600 people. One
American pilot is among them.
In 1991, the U.N. Security Council, through Resolution 687, demanded
that Iraq renounce all involvement with terrorism, and permit no terrorist
organizations to operate in Iraq. Iraq's regime agreed. It broke this
promise. In violation of Security Council Resolution 1373, Iraq
continues to shelter and support terrorist organizations that direct
violence against Iran, Israel, and Western governments. Iraqi dissidents
abroad are targeted for murder. In 1993, Iraq attempted to assassinate
the Emir of Kuwait and a former American President. Iraq's government
openly praised the attacks of September the 11th. And al Qaeda
terrorists escaped from Afghanistan and are known to be in Iraq.
In 1991, the Iraqi regime agreed to destroy and stop developing all
weapons of mass destruction and long-range missiles, and to prove to
the world it has done so by complying with rigorous inspections. Iraq
has broken every aspect of this fundamental pledge.
>From 1991 to 1995, the Iraqi regime said it had no biological weapons.
After a senior official in its weapons program defected and exposed this
lie, the regime admitted to producing tens of thousands of liters of
anthrax and other deadly biological agents for use with Scud warheads,
aerial bombs, and aircraft spray tanks. U.N. inspectors believe Iraq has
produced two to four times the amount of biological agents it declared,
and has failed to account for more than three metric tons of material
that could be used to produce biological weapons. Right now, Iraq is
expanding and improving facilities that were used for the production of
biological weapons.
United Nations' inspections also revealed that Iraq likely maintains
stockpiles of VX, mustard and other chemical agents, and that the
regime is rebuilding and expanding facilities capable of producing
chemical weapons.
And in 1995, after four years of deception, Iraq finally admitted it had a
crash nuclear weapons program prior to the Gulf War. We know now,
were it not for that war, the regime in Iraq would likely have possessed
a nuclear weapon no later than 1993.
Today, Iraq continues to withhold important information about its
nuclear program -- weapons design, procurement logs, experiment
data, an accounting of nuclear materials and documentation of foreign
assistance. Iraq employs capable nuclear scientists and technicians. It
retains physical infrastructure needed to build a nuclear weapon. Iraq
has made several attempts to buy high-strength aluminum tubes used
to enrich uranium for a nuclear weapon. Should Iraq acquire fissile
material, it would be able to build a nuclear weapon within a year. And
Iraq's state-controlled media has reported numerous meetings between
Saddam Hussein and his nuclear scientists, leaving little doubt about
his continued appetite for these weapons.
Iraq also possesses a force of Scud-type missiles with ranges beyond
the 150 kilometers permitted by the U.N. Work at testing and production
facilities shows that Iraq is building more long-range missiles that it can
inflict mass death throughout the region.
In 1990, after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the world imposed economic
sanctions on Iraq. Those sanctions were maintained after the war to
compel the regime's compliance with Security Council resolutions. In
time, Iraq was allowed to use oil revenues to buy food. Saddam
Hussein has subverted this program, working around the sanctions to
buy missile technology and military materials. He blames the suffering
of Iraq's people on the United Nations, even as he uses his oil wealth to
build lavish palaces for himself, and to buy arms for his country. By
refusing to comply with his own agreements, he bears full guilt for the
hunger and misery of innocent Iraqi citizens.
In 1991, Iraq promised U.N. inspectors immediate and unrestricted
access to verify Iraq's commitment to rid itself of weapons of mass
destruction and long-range missiles. Iraq broke this promise, spending
seven years deceiving, evading, and harassing U.N. inspectors before
ceasing cooperation entirely. Just months after the 1991 cease-fire, the
Security Council twice renewed its demand that the Iraqi regime
cooperate fully with inspectors, condemning Iraq's serious violations of
its obligations. The Security Council again renewed that demand in
1994, and twice more in 1996, deploring Iraq's clear violations of its
obligations. The Security Council renewed its demand three more times
in 1997, citing flagrant violations; and three more times in 1998, calling
Iraq's behavior totally unacceptable. And in 1999, the demand was
renewed yet again.
As we meet today, it's been almost four years since the last U.N.
inspectors set foot in Iraq, four years for the Iraqi regime to plan, and to
build, and to test behind the cloak of secrecy.
We know that Saddam Hussein pursued weapons of mass murder even
when inspectors were in his country. Are we to assume that he stopped
when they left? The history, the logic, and the facts lead to one
conclusion: Saddam Hussein's regime is a grave and gathering danger.
To suggest otherwise is to hope against the evidence. To assume this
regime's good faith is to bet the lives of millions and the peace of the
world in a reckless gamble. And this is a risk we must not take.
Delegates to the General Assembly, we have been more than patient.
We've tried sanctions. We've tried the carrot of oil for food, and the
stick of coalition military strikes. But Saddam Hussein has defied all
these efforts and continues to develop weapons of mass destruction.
The first time we may be completely certain he has a -- nuclear
weapons is when, God forbids, he uses one. We owe it to all our
citizens to do everything in our power to prevent that day from coming.
The conduct of the Iraqi regime is a threat to the authority of the United
Nations, and a threat to peace. Iraq has answered a decade of U.N.
demands with a decade of defiance. All the world now faces a test, and
the United Nations a difficult and defining moment. Are Security Council
resolutions to be honored and enforced, or cast aside without
consequence? Will the United Nations serve the purpose of its
founding, or will it be irrelevant?
The United States helped found the United Nations. We want the
United Nations to be effective, and respectful, and successful. We want
the resolutions of the world's most important multilateral body to be
enforced. And right now those resolutions are being unilaterally
subverted by the Iraqi regime. Our partnership of nations can meet the
test before us, by making clear what we now expect of the Iraqi regime.
If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately and unconditionally
forswear, disclose, and remove or destroy all weapons of mass
destruction, long-range missiles, and all related material.
If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately end all support for
terrorism and act to suppress it, as all states are required to do by U.N.
Security Council resolutions.
If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will cease persecution of its civilian
population, including Shi'a, Sunnis, Kurds, Turkomans, and others,
again as required by Security Council resolutions.
If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will release or account for all Gulf
War personnel whose fate is still unknown. It will return the remains of
any who are deceased, return stolen property, accept liability for losses
resulting from the invasion of Kuwait, and fully cooperate with
international efforts to resolve these issues, as required by Security
Council resolutions.
If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will release or account for all Gulf
War personnel whose fate is still unknown. It will return the remains of
any who are deceased, return stolen property, accept liability for losses
resulting from the invasion of Kuwait, and fully cooperate with the
international efforts to resolve these issues, as required by Security
Council resolutions.
If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately end all illicit trade
outside the oil-for-food program. It will accept U.N. administration of
funds from that program, to ensure that the money is used fairly and
promptly for the benefit of the Iraqi people.
If all these steps are taken, it will signal a new openness and
accountability in Iraq. And it could open the prospect of the United
Nations helping to build a government that represents all Iraqis -- a
government based on respect for human rights, economic liberty, and
internationally supervised elections.
The United States has no quarrel with the Iraqi people; they've suffered
too long in silent captivity. Liberty for the Iraqi people is a great moral
cause, and a great strategic goal. The people of Iraq deserve it; the
security of all nations requires it. Free societies do not intimidate
through cruelty and conquest, and open societies do not threaten the
world with mass murder. The United States supports political and
economic liberty in a unified Iraq.
We can harbor no illusions -- and that's important today to remember.
Saddam Hussein attacked Iran in 1980 and Kuwait in 1990. He's fired
ballistic missiles at Iran and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Israel. His
regime once ordered the killing of every person between the ages of 15
and 70 in certain Kurdish villages in northern Iraq. He has gassed many
Iranians, and 40 Iraqi villages.
My nation will work with the U.N. Security Council to meet our common
challenge. If Iraq's regime defies us again, the world must move
deliberately, decisively to hold Iraq to account. We will work with the
U.N. Security Council for the necessary resolutions. But the purposes of
the United States should not be doubted. The Security Council
resolutions will be enforced -- the just demands of peace and security
will be met -- or action will be unavoidable. And a regime that has lost
its legitimacy will also lose its power.
Events can turn in one of two ways: If we fail to act in the face of
danger, the people of Iraq will continue to live in brutal submission. The
regime will have new power to bully and dominate and conquer its
neighbors, condemning the Middle East to more years of bloodshed
and fear. The regime will remain unstable -- the region will remain
unstable, with little hope of freedom, and isolated from the progress of
our times. With every step the Iraqi regime takes toward gaining and
deploying the most terrible weapons, our own options to confront that
regime will narrow. And if an emboldened regime were to supply these
weapons to terrorist allies, then the attacks of September the 11th
would be a prelude to far greater horrors.
If we meet our responsibilities, if we overcome this danger, we can
arrive at a very different future. The people of Iraq can shake off their
captivity. They can one day join a democratic Afghanistan and a
democratic Palestine, inspiring reforms throughout the Muslim world.
These nations can show by their example that honest government, and
respect for women, and the great Islamic tradition of learning can
triumph in the Middle East and beyond. And we will show that the
promise of the United Nations can be fulfilled in our time.
Neither of these outcomes is certain. Both have been set before us. We
must choose between a world of fear and a world of progress. We
cannot stand by and do nothing while dangers gather. We must stand
up for our security, and for the permanent rights and the hopes of
mankind. By heritage and by choice, the United States of America will
make that stand. And, delegates to the United Nations, you have the
power to make that stand, as well.
Thank you very much. (Applause.)
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