For Immediate Release
August 26, 2003

Global Message

From President Bush's Radio Address, 8/23/2003

Last week, terrorists struck the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad, and on the same day, a terrorist in Jerusalem murdered 20 innocent people riding a bus, including five Americans.

These two bombings reveal, once again, the nature of the terrorists, and why they must be defeated. In their malicious view of the world, no one is innocent. Relief workers and infants alike are targeted for murder. Terrorism may use religion as a disguise, but terrorism violates every religion and every standard of decency and morality.

The terrorists have declared war on every free nation and all our citizens. Terrorists commit atrocities because they want the civilized world to flinch and retreat so they can impose their totalitarian vision. There will be no flinching in this war on terror, and there will be no retreat.

Iraq is an essential front in this war. Now we're fighting terrorists and remnants of that regime who have everything to lose from the advance of freedom in the heart of the Middle East.

In most of Iraq, there is steady movement toward reconstruction and a stable, self-governing society. This progress makes the remaining terrorists even more desperate and willing to lash out against symbols of order and hope, like coalition forces and U.N. personnel.

Murderers will not decide the future of the Middle East. A Palestinian state will never be built on a foundation of violence. The hopes of that state and the security of Israel both depend on an unrelenting campaign against terror waged by all parties in the region.

All nations of the world face a challenge and a choice. Yet across the world, terrorists are finding that our will cannot be shaken. We will continue this war on terror until all the killers are brought to justice. And we will prevail.

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