For Immediate Release
October 13, 2003

Global Message

From remarks by Vice President Cheney, 10/10/03

Iraq has become the central front in the war on terror. Since we have liberated Iraq, it is crucial that we keep our word to the Iraqi people to help them to build a secure country and a democratic government.

Our mission in Iraq is a great undertaking and part of a larger mission that the United States accepted more than two years ago. September 11, 2001, changed everything for America in that we came to recognize our vulnerability to the threats of the new era.

Since 9/11, we've learned much more about what these enemies intend for us. We know that terrorists are doing everything they can to gain even deadlier means of striking us.

From the training manuals we found in the caves of Afghanistan to the interrogations of terrorists that we've captured, we have learned of their ambitions to develop or acquire chemical, biological or nuclear weapons.

If terrorists ever do acquire these capabilities -- on their own or with help from a terror regime -- they will use it without the slightest constraint of reason or morality.

That possibility could bring devastation to our country on a scale we have never experienced. We have a clear responsibility: We must do everything in our power to keep terrorists from ever acquiring weapons of mass destruction.