INDEPTH: GEORGE W. BUSH
Bush's address to the UN
CBC News Online | September 12, 2002
 CBC VIDEO (Runs 26:06)
Text from the White House of U.S. President George W. Bush's address to the 57th session of the UN General Assembly on Sept. 12, 2002:
Mr. Secretary General, Mr. President, distinguished ladies and
gentlemen: We meet one year and one day after a terrorist attack
brought grief to my country, and to the citizens of many countries.
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 have 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 a United Nations Security
Council, so that, unlike the League of Nations, our deliberations
would be more than talk, and our resolutions would be more than
wishes. After generations of deceitful dictators, broken treaties
and squandered lives, we dedicate 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. This organization has been reformed and
America will participate fully in its mission to advance human
rights, 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 beside 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 and 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
again 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,
"threaten(ed) international peace and security in the region."
This demand goes ignored. Last year, the UN Commissioner 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, burning,
electric shock, starvation, mutilation, and rape. Wives are
tortured in front of their husbands; children in the presence of
their parents – all of these horrors concealed from the world by
the apparatus of a totalitarian state.
In 1991, the UN 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 co-ordinator of this issue reported
that Kuwaiti, 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 UN 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 its 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 11th. And al-Qaeda terrorists escaped from Afghanistan
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 litres of anthrax and other deadly biological agents
for use with Scud warheads, aerial bombs, and aircraft spray tanks.
UN 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 reveal 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 kilometres permitted by the UN. Work at testing and
production facilities shows that Iraq is building more long-range
missiles that could 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
arms 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 UN 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
UN inspectors before ceasing co-operation entirely. Just months
after the 1991 cease-fire, the Security Council twice renewed its
demand that the Iraqi regime co-operate 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 behaviour "totally unacceptable." And in
1999, the demand was renewed yet again.
As we meet today, it has been almost four years since the last
UN inspectors set foot in Iraq – four years for the Iraqi regime
to plan and build and test behind a cloak of secrecy.
We know that Saddam Hussein pursued weapons of mass murder even
when inspectors were in the 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 have tried sanctions. We have 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 nuclear weapons is when, God forbid, 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 UN 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 honoured 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
UN to be effective and respected and successful. We want the
resolutions of the world's most important multilateral body to be
enforced. Right now these 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 UN 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 co-operate with international efforts to resolve these issues
– as required by the 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 UN
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, who have
suffered for 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 and 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 harbour no illusions. Saddam Hussein attacked Iran in
1980, and Kuwait in 1990. He has fired ballistic missiles at Iran,
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 UN Security Council on a new
resolution to meet our common challenge. If Iraq's regime defies us
again, the world must move deliberately and decisively to hold Iraq
to account. 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, dominate and conquer its neighbours, condemning the
Middle East to more years of bloodshed and fear. 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 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 hopes
of mankind. By heritage and by choice, the United States of America
will make that stand. Delegates to the United Nations, you have the
power to make that stand as well.
Thank you.
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