Bush Transcript: Case for Action

C I N C I N N A T I , Oct. 7 -- President Bush spoke to the nation tonight on Iraq. Following is a transcript of his address as released by the White House.

Good evening. Tonight I want to take a few minutes to discuss agrave threat to peace, and America's determination to lead theworld in confronting that threat.

The threat comes from Iraq. It arises directly from the Iraqiregime's own actions — its history of aggression, and its drivetoward an arsenal of terror.

Eleven years ago, as a condition for ending the Persian GulfWar, the Iraqi regime was required to destroy its weapons of massdestruction, to cease all development of such weapons, and to stopall support for terrorist groups. The Iraqi regime has violated allof those obligations. It possesses and produces chemical andbiological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons. It has givenshelter and support to terrorism, and practices terror against itsown people. The entire world has witnessed Iraq's eleven-yearhistory of defiance, deception, and bad faith.

We also must never forget the most vivid events of recenthistory. On September 11, 2001, America felt its vulnerability —even to threats that gather on the other side of the earth. Weresolved then, and we are resolved today, to confront every threat,from any source, that could bring sudden terror and suffering toAmerica.

Members of the Congress of both political parties, and membersof the United Nations Security Council, agree that Saddam Husseinis a threat to peace and must disarm. We agree that the Iraqidictator must not be permitted to threaten America and the worldwith horrible poisons, and diseases, and gases, and atomic weapons.Since we all agree on this goal, the issue is: "How can we bestachieve it?"

Many Americans have raised legitimate questions: About thenature of the threat. About the urgency of action — and why beconcerned now? About the link between Iraq developing weapons ofterror, and the wider war on terror. These are all issues we havediscussed broadly and fully within my administration. And tonight,I want to share those discussions with you.

First, some ask why Iraq is different from other countries orregimes that also have terrible weapons. While there are manydangers in the world, the threat from Iraq stands alone — becauseit gathers the most serious dangers of our age in one place. Iraq'sweapons of mass destruction are controlled by a murderous tyrant,who has already used chemical weapons to kill thousands of people.This same tyrant has tried to dominate the Middle East, has invadedand brutally occupied a small neighbor, has struck other nationswithout warning, and holds an unrelenting hostility towards theUnited States.

By its past and present actions, by its technologicalcapabilities, by the merciless nature of its regime, Iraq isunique. As a former chief weapons inspector for the U.N. has said,"The fundamental problem with Iraq remains the nature of theregime itself: Saddam Hussein is a homicidal dictator who isaddicted to weapons of mass destruction."

Some ask how urgent this danger is to America and the world. Thedanger is already significant, and it only grows worse with time.If we know Saddam Hussein has dangerous weapons today — and we do— does it make any sense for the world to wait to confront him ashe grows even stronger and develops even more dangerous weapons?

In 1995, after several years of deceit by the Iraqi regime, thehead of Iraq's military industries defected. It was then that theregime was forced to admit that it had produced more than 30,000liters of anthrax and other deadly biological agents. Theinspectors, however, concluded that Iraq had likely produced two tofour times that amount. This is a massive stockpile of biologicalweapons that has never been accounted for, and is capable ofkilling millions. We know that the regime has produced thousands oftons of chemical agents, including mustard gas, sarin nerve gas,and VX nerve gas. Saddam Hussein also has experience in usingchemical weapons. He has ordered chemical attacks on Iran, and onmore than forty villages in his own country. These actions killedor injured at least 20,000 people, more than six times the numberof people who died in the attacks of September 11th. Andsurveillance photos reveal that the regime is rebuilding facilitiesthat it has used to produce chemical and biological weapons.

Every chemical and biological weapon that Iraq has or makes is adirect violation of the truce that ended the Persian Gulf War in1991. Yet Saddam Hussein has chosen to build and keep theseweapons, despite international sanctions, U.N. demands, andisolation from the civilized world.

Iraq possesses ballistic missiles with a likely range ofhundreds of miles — far enough to strike Saudi Arabia, Israel,Turkey, and other nations — in a region where more than 135,000American civilians and service members live and work. We have alsodiscovered through intelligence that Iraq has a growing fleet ofmanned and unmanned aerial vehicles that could be used to dispersechemical or biological weapons across broad areas. We are concernedthat Iraq is exploring ways of using UAVs (unmanned aerialvehicles) for missions targeting the United States. And of course,sophisticated delivery systems are not required for a chemical orbiological attack — all that might be required are a smallcontainer and one terrorist or Iraqi intelligence operative todeliver it.