For Immediate Release
March 22, 2004

Global Message

From remarks by President Bush, 3/19/04

A coalition of 91 countries is united against a common danger and we are joined in a common purpose. We have recognized the threat of terrorism and we are the nations that will defeat that threat.

The murders in Madrid are a reminder that the civilized world is at war. Civilians find themselves suddenly on the front lines. No nation or region is exempt from the terrorists' campaign of violence.

Each attack is designed to demoralize our people and divide us from one another. Each attack must be answered with greater determination, deeper resolve, and bolder action.

Terrorists' ultimate ambitions are to control the peoples of the Middle East, and to blackmail the rest of the world with weapons of mass terror.

This coalition of nations is using every tool of finance, intelligence, law enforcement and military power to break terror networks, to deny them refuge, and to find their leaders.

Our coalition is taking urgent action to stop the transfer of deadly weapons and materials. America and many nations have joined in the Proliferation Security Initiative to interdict lethal materials transported by air, sea, or land.

Our coalition is confronting the dangerous combination of outlaw states, terrorist groups, and weapons of mass destruction.

The rise of democratic institutions in Afghanistan and Iraq is a great step toward a goal of lasting importance to the world. We have set out to encourage reform and democracy in the greater Middle East as the alternatives to fanaticism, resentment, and terror.