For Immediate Release
September 11, 2004

Global Message

From remarks by Secretary of State Powell in an interview with The Associated Press, 9/10/04

The world must continue to fight terrorism. We see it in places like Beslan in Russia, and in Jakarta, where a bomb was used to target the Australian Embassy.

There is no political or religious justification for what happened in Russia, where young students on their first day of school are killed by the hundreds. This is evil and terror of the same type that was perpetrated against the United States three years ago on September 11.

The United States stands with Russia as it deals with the terrorist threat they face and the terrorist strike that was perpetrated against their innocent citizens.

Challenging times lie ahead in order to consolidate our successes and get rid of the insurgents both in Iraq and Afghanistan. But Afghans will soon have the opportunity to choose a new president in a democratic election. We are trying to accomplish the same mission for 25 million people in Iraq.

Those who are trying to stop the Iraqi Government from succeeding are remnants from the past. These are former regime elements that want to take Iraq back into the days of Saddam Hussein. The Iraqi people won't let this happen. The United States and coalition countries are building up Iraqi forces to be able to deal with that challenge, just as we are building up Afghan forces to deal with the insurgency in Afghanistan.