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 Home > News & Policies > September 2003

For Immediate Release
September 30, 2003

Global Message

From remarks by President Bush in his Radio Address to the Nation, 9/27/03

Our goal for Iraq is a free Iraq, in which the country's people are responsible for their own affairs. We want Iraq's governmental institutions to be strong, and to stand the test of time.

All nations should stand with the people of Afghanistan and Iraq as they build a future based on freedom and democracy.

Our coalition is helping the Iraqi people build a secure, hopeful, and self-governing nation which will stand as an example of freedom to the Middle East.

The world is safer today because our broad coalition destroyed the training camps of terrorists in Afghanistan and removed the brutal regime that sponsored terror.

The world is safer today because we continue to hunt down al Qaeda and its terrorist allies and because we have captured or killed nearly two-thirds of its known leaders and key facilitators.

The world is safer today because our coalition ended an Iraqi regime that cultivated ties to terror while it built weapons of mass destruction.

For the safety of the Iraqi people and of all free nations, our forces are conducting a systematic campaign to defeat the holdouts of the old Iraqi regime and other terrorists who have joined them.

In the struggle between terrorist killers and peaceful nations, there is no neutral ground. All nations must join in confronting this threat where it arises -- before terrorists can inflict even greater harm and suffering.

The stakes in Iraq are high, for the Middle East and beyond. If freedom and progress falter in the Middle East, that region will continue to export violence that takes lives in America and around the world.