The U.S. Capitol
9:01 P.M. EST
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.)
END 10:08 P.M. EST
