For Immediate Release
February 6, 2004

Global Message

From remarks by President Bush, Charleston, South Carolina, 2/5/04

September 11th was a lesson we must never forget. We cannot wait to confront the threats of terror networks and terror states until those threats arrive in our own cities.

America confronted a gathering threat in Iraq. The dictatorship of Saddam Hussein was one of the most brutal, corrupt and dangerous regimes in the world.

For years, Saddam Hussein:

• Funded terrorists and gave reward money for suicide bombings;
• Threatened and invaded his neighbors;
• Murdered innocent Iraqis by the hundreds of thousands; and
• Made a mockery of United Nations demands that he account for his weapons.

Saddam Hussein won't be doing any of these things this year. Instead, he is sitting in a prison cell and will soon be sitting in a courtroom to answer for his crimes.

In Iraq, our Survey Group is still collecting facts about weapons of mass destruction. We will compare what the intelligence indicated before the war with what we have learned since.

We have not yet found the stockpiles of weapons that the world thought were there. Yet we know Saddam had the capability, infrastructure, and delivery systems to produce weapons of mass destruction.

America did the right thing in Iraq. We had a choice: Either take the word of a madman, or take action to defend the American people.