For Immediate Release
March 17, 2004

Global Message

From remarks by President Bush and Netherlands Prime Minister Balkenende, 3/16/04

Terrorists will kill innocent people in order to try to get the world to cower. They'll kill innocent people to try to shake our will. They will never shake the will of the United States. We will work with our friends to bring justice to the terrorists.

Terrorists have not only killed in Spain, they've killed in the United States, in Turkey, in Saudi Arabia, and wherever they can. It is essential that the free world remain strong, resolute, and determined.

The Iraqi citizens don't want people to withdraw from their country, because they want to be free.

Al Qaeda is interested in Iraq because they realize this is a front in the war on terror. They fear the spread of freedom and democracy in places like the greater Middle East.

Terrorists can't stand the thought of free societies springing up in the Middle East, because they understand a free society is against their interests. It is essential that we remain side-by-side with the Iraqi people as they begin the process of self-government.

We are making good progress in Iraq. The basic law that was written by the Iraqi Governing Council was a substantial piece of work that talked about freedoms, which are the very same freedoms that we honor in America or in The Netherlands.

It is essential that we help Iraq and Afghanistan develop into free societies, which, in itself, will start changing the regions in which they exist.