For Immediate Release
October 27, 2003

Global Message

From remarks by Secretary of State Powell, Madrid, 10/24/03

The Iraqi people will long remember the assistance the world community is providing at this critical moment of challenge and hope.

Iraqis are taking charge of their own affairs now, moving steadily toward the day when they can exercise fully their sovereignty over their nation.

Today in Iraq, we see what President Bush has called a clear divide between those who seek order, and those who spread chaos; between those who work for peaceful change, and those who adopt the methods of gangsters. America and her coalition partners are determined to root out Saddam's lethal remnants and to eliminate the terrorist elements that have come into Iraq to sow chaos and fear.

The Iraqi people are staking their futures on constitutional government, open markets and reintegration into the world community, and they need our help.

These donations from the world community will help speed reconstruction and hasten the day when Iraqis can assume full responsibility for their nation.

This money can provide schools for their children, hospitals for the sick, telephones that work and roads and bridges to travel and do business on, help them build their security forces and repair the oil and power infrastructure that is so vital for them to be able to eventually pay their own way. This money gives Iraq the infrastructure of opportunity.

This investment will help the Iraqi people make a clean break from the misrule of the past. It will help them create an honest, open and responsible government -- free of corruption and rooted in the rule of law.

Now is the time to help Iraq build a country that is a prosperous and peaceful member of the region and a peaceful member of the international community.