For Immediate Release
March 8, 2004

Global Message

From President Bush's Radio Address, 3/6/04

This week, terrorists launched a series of attacks in Iraq, targeting religious sites in Baghdad and Karbala.

Some of the killers behind these attacks are supporters of Saddam's former regime. Others are foreign terrorists. All of them are determined to halt and reverse all progress toward freedom in Iraq.

One of the terrorist leaders -- a killer named Zarqawi -- recently wrote to a senior al-Qaida terrorist of his plan to tear Iraq apart with ethnic violence.

The killer's strategy will fail. Immediately after the attacks, the world saw members of Iraq's Governing Council and other Iraqis quickly condemn the bombings.

The Iraqi people refuse to live in fear -- and so do the members of our coalition. Fighting alongside the people of Iraq, we will defeat the terrorists who seek to plunge Iraq into chaos and violence.

We will stand with the people of Iraq for as long as necessary to build a stable, peaceful, and successful democracy.

The Iraqi people are making excellent progress. Members of the Governing Council are having a free, open, and spirited debate as they complete a new framework for governing their nation.

This new framework will result in protecting the rights of all Iraqis, and will move the country toward a democratic future.

Difficult work in creating a new Iraqi government remains. Yet Iraqis are equal to the tasks before them. The Iraqi people have shown the world that they are fully capable of living in freedom.