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.

And that is the source of our urgent concern about SaddamHussein's links to international terrorist groups. Over the years,Iraq has provided safe haven to terrorists such as Abu Nidal, whoseterror organization carried out more than ninety terrorist attacksin twenty countries that killed or injured nearly 900 people,including 12 Americans. Iraq has also provided safe haven to AbuAbbas, who was responsible for seizing the Achille Lauro andkilling an American passenger. And we know that Iraq is continuingto finance terror, and gives assistance to groups that useterrorism to undermine Middle East peace.

We know that Iraq and the al Qaeda terrorist network share acommon enemy — the United States of America. We know that Iraq andal Qaeda have had high-level contacts that go back a decade. Someal Qaeda leaders who fled Afghanistan went to Iraq.

These include one very senior al Qaeda leader who receivedmedical treatment in Baghdad this year, and who has been associatedwith planning for chemical and biological attacks. We have learnedthat Iraq has trained al Qaeda members in bomb making, poisons, anddeadly gases. And we know that after September 11th, SaddamHussein's regime gleefully celebrated the terrorist attacks onAmerica.

Iraq could decide on any given day to provide a biological orchemical weapon to a terrorist group or individual terrorists.Alliances with terrorists could allow the Iraqi regime to attackAmerica without leaving any fingerprints.

Some have argued that confronting the threat from Iraq coulddetract from the war against terror. To the contrary, confrontingthe threat posed by Iraq is crucial to winning the war on terror.When I spoke to the Congress more than a year ago, I said thatthose who harbor terrorists are as guilty as the terroriststhemselves. Saddam Hussein is harboring terrorists and theinstruments of terror, the instruments of mass death anddestruction. And he cannot be trusted. The risk is simply too greatthat he will use them, or provide them to a terror network.

Terror cells, and outlaw regimes building weapons of massdestruction, are different faces of the same evil. Our securityrequires that we confront both. And the United States military iscapable of confronting both.

Many people have asked how close Saddam Hussein is to developinga nuclear weapon. We don't know exactly, and that is the problem.Before the Gulf War, the best intelligence indicated that Iraq waseight to ten years away from developing a nuclear weapon; after thewar, international inspectors learned that the regime had been muchcloser. The regime in Iraq would likely have possessed a nuclearweapon no later than 1993. The inspectors discovered that Iraq hadan advanced nuclear weapons development program, had a design for aworkable nuclear weapon, and was pursuing several different methodsof enriching uranium for a bomb. Before being barred from Iraq in1998, the International Atomic Energy Agency dismantled extensivenuclear weapons-related facilities, including threeuranium-enrichment sites. That same year, information from ahigh-ranking Iraqi nuclear engineer who had defected, revealed thatdespite his public promises, Saddam Hussein had ordered his nuclearprogram to continue.

The evidence indicates that Iraq is reconstituting its nuclearweapons program. Saddam Hussein has held numerous meetings withIraqi nuclear scientists, a group he calls his "nuclearmujahedeen" — his nuclear holy warriors. Satellite photographsreveal that Iraq is rebuilding facilities at sites that have beenpart of its nuclear program in the past. Iraq has attempted topurchase high-strength aluminum tubes and other equipment neededfor gas centrifuges, which are used to enrich uranium for nuclearweapons.

If the Iraqi regime is able to produce, buy, or steal an amountof highly enriched uranium a little larger than a single softball,it could have a nuclear weapon in less than a year. And if we allowthat to happen, a terrible line would be crossed. Saddam Husseinwould be in a position to blackmail anyone who opposes hisaggression. He would be in a position to dominate the Middle East.He would be in a position to threaten America. And Saddam Husseinwould be in a position to pass nuclear technology to terrorists.

Some citizens wonder: After eleven years of living with thisproblem, why do we need to confront it now? There is a reason. Wehave experienced the horror of September 11th. We have seen thatthose who hate America are willing to crash airplanes intobuildings full of innocent people. Our enemies would be no lesswilling — in fact they would be eager — to use a biological, orchemical weapon, or, when they have one, a nuclear weapon.

Knowing these realities, America must not ignore the threatgathering against us. Facing clear evidence of peril, we cannotwait for the final proof — the smoking gun — that could come inthe form of a mushroom cloud. As President Kennedy said in Octoberof 1962: "Neither the United States of America nor the worldcommunity of nations can tolerate deliberate deception andoffensive threats on the part of any nation, large or small. We nolonger live in a world," he said, "where only the actual firingof weapons represents a sufficient challenge to a nation's securityto constitute maximum peril."

Understanding the threats of our time, knowing the designs anddeceptions of the Iraqi regime, we have every reason to assume theworst, and we have an urgent duty to prevent the worst fromoccurring. Some believe we can address this danger by simply resuming theold approach to inspections, and applying diplomatic and economicpressure. Yet this is precisely what the world has tried to dosince 1991. The U.N. inspections program was met with systematicdeception. The Iraqi regime bugged hotel rooms and offices ofinspectors to find where they were going next. They forgeddocuments, destroyed evidence, and developed mobile weaponsfacilities to keep a step ahead of inspectors. Eight so-calledpresidential palaces were declared off-limits to unfetteredinspections. These sites actually encompass twelve square miles,with hundreds of structures, both above and below the ground, wheresensitive materials could be hidden.

The world has also tried economic sanctions, and watched Iraquse billions of dollars in illegal oil revenues to fund moreweapons purchases, rather than providing for the needs of the Iraqipeople.

The world has tried limited military strikes to destroy Iraq'sweapons of mass destruction capabilities, only to see them openlyrebuilt, while the regime again denies they even exist.

The world has tried no-fly zones to keep Saddam from terrorizinghis own people, and in the last year alone, the Iraqi military hasfired upon American and British pilots more than 750 times.

After eleven years during which we have tried containment,sanctions, inspections, even selected military action, the endresult is that Saddam Hussein still has chemical and biologicalweapons, and is increasing his capabilities to make more. And he ismoving ever closer to developing a nuclear weapon.

Clearly, to actually work, any new inspections, sanctions, orenforcement mechanisms will have to be very different. Americawants the U.N. to be an effective organization that helps to keepthe peace. That is why we are urging the Security Council to adopta new resolution setting out tough, immediate requirements. Amongthose requirements, the Iraqi regime must reveal and destroy, underU.N. supervision, all existing weapons of mass destruction. Toensure that we learn the truth, the regime must allow witnesses toits illegal activities to be interviewed outside of the country.And these witnesses must be free to bring their families with them,so they are all beyond the reach of Saddam Hussein's terror andmurder. And inspectors must have access to any site, at any time,without pre-clearance, without delay, without exceptions.

The time for denying, deceiving, and delaying has come to anend. Saddam Hussein must disarm himself — or, for the sake ofpeace, we will lead a coalition to disarm him.

Many nations are joining us in insisting that Saddam Hussein'sregime be held accountable. They are committed to defending theinternational security that protects the lives of both our citizensand theirs. And that is why America is challenging all nations totake the resolutions of the U.N. Security Council seriously. Thoseresolutions are very clear. In addition to declaring and destroyingall of its weapons of mass destruction, Iraq must end its supportfor terrorism. It must cease the persecution of its civilianpopulation. It must stop all illicit trade outside the oil-for-foodprogram. And it must release or account for all Gulf War personnel,including an American pilot, whose fate is still unknown.

By taking these steps, and only by taking these steps, the Iraqiregime has an opportunity to avoid conflict. These steps would alsochange the nature of the Iraqi regime itself. America hopes theregime will make that choice. Unfortunately, at least so far, wehave little reason to expect it. This is why two administrations —mine and President Clinton's — have stated that regime change inIraq is the only certain means of removing a great danger to ournation.

I hope this will not require military action, but it may. Andmilitary conflict could be difficult. An Iraqi regime faced withits own demise may attempt cruel and desperate measures. If SaddamHussein orders such measures, his generals would be well advised torefuse those orders. If they do not refuse, they must understandthat all war criminals will be pursued and punished. If we have toact, we will take every precaution that is possible. We will plancarefully, we will act with the full power of the United Statesmilitary, we will act with allies at our side, and we will prevail.

There is no easy or risk-free course of action. Some have arguedwe should wait — and that is an option. In my view, it is theriskiest of all options — because the longer we wait, the strongerand bolder Saddam Hussein will become. We could wait and hope thatSaddam does not give weapons to terrorists, or develop a nuclearweapon to blackmail the world. But I am convinced that is a hopeagainst all evidence. As Americans, we want peace — we work andsacrifice for peace — and there can be no peace if our securitydepends on the will and whims of a ruthless and aggressivedictator. I am not willing to stake one American life on trustingSaddam Hussein.

Failure to act would embolden other tyrants; allow terroristsaccess to new weapons and new resources; and make blackmail apermanent feature of world events. The United Nations would betraythe purpose of its founding, and prove irrelevant to the problemsof our time. And through its inaction, the United States wouldresign itself to a future of fear.

That is not the America I know. That is not the America I serve.We refuse to live in fear. This nation — in world war and in ColdWar — has never permitted the brutal and lawless to set history'scourse. Now, as before, we will secure our nation, protect ourfreedom, and help others to find freedom of their own.

Some worry that a change of leadership in Iraq could createinstability and make the situation worse. The situation couldhardly get worse, for world security, and for the people of Iraq. The lives of Iraqi citizens would improve dramatically if SaddamHussein were no longer in power, just as the lives of Afghanistan'scitizens improved after the Taliban. The dictator of Iraq is astudent of Stalin, using murder as a tool of terror and control —within his own cabinet, and within his own army, and even withinhis own family. On Saddam Hussein's orders, opponents have beendecapitated, wives and mothers of political opponents have beensystematically raped as a method of intimidation, and politicalprisoners have been forced to watch their own children beingtortured.

America believes that all people are entitled to hope and humanrights — to the nonnegotiable demands of human dignity. Peopleeverywhere prefer freedom to slavery; prosperity to squalor;self-government to the rule of terror and torture. America is afriend to the people of Iraq. Our demands are directed only at theregime that enslaves them and threatens us. When these demands aremet, the first and greatest benefit will come to Iraqi men, women,and children. The oppression of Kurds, Assyrians, Turkomans,Shiites, Sunnis, and others will be lifted. The long captivity ofIraq will end, and an era of new hope will begin. Iraq is a landrich in culture, resources, and talent. Freed from the weight ofoppression, Iraq's people will be able to share in the progress andprosperity of our time.

If military action is necessary, the United States and ourallies will help the Iraqi people rebuild their economy, and createthe institutions of liberty in a unified Iraq at peace with itsneighbors.

Later this week, the United States Congress will vote on thismatter. I have asked Congress to authorize the use of America'smilitary, if it proves necessary, to enforce U.N. Security Councildemands. Approving this resolution does not mean that militaryaction is imminent or unavoidable. The resolution will tell theUnited Nations, and all nations, that America speaks with one voiceand is determined to make the demands of the civilized world meansomething. Congress will also be sending a message to the dictatorin Iraq: that his only choice is full compliance — and the timeremaining for that choice is limited.

Members of Congress are nearing an historic vote, and I amconfident they will fully consider the facts and their duties.

The attacks of September 11th showed our country that vastoceans no longer protect us from danger. Before that tragic date,we had only hints of al Qaeda's plans and designs. Today in Iraq,we see a threat whose outlines are far more clearly defined — andwhose consequences could be far more deadly. Saddam Hussein'sactions have put us on notice — and there is no refuge from ourresponsibilities.

We did not ask for this present challenge, but we accept it.Like other generations of Americans, we will meet theresponsibility of defending human liberty against violence andaggression. By our resolve, we will give strength to others. By ourcourage, we will give hope to others. By our actions, we willsecure the peace, and lead the world to a better day.

Thank you, and good night.