State of the Union AddressesBush, George W. (George Walker)
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State of the Union Addresses
Bush, George W. (George Walker)
Presidents -- United States -- Messages; United States -- Politics and government -- Sources
To promote peace in the broader Middle East, we must confront regimes
that continue to harbor terrorists and pursue weapons of mass murder.
Syria still allows its territory, and parts of Lebanon, to be used by
terrorists who seek to destroy every chance of peace in the region. You
have passed, and we are applying, the Syrian Accountability Act -- and
we expect the Syrian government to end all support for terror and open
the door to freedom. Today, Iran remains the world's primary state
sponsor of terror -- pursuing nuclear weapons while depriving its
people of the freedom they seek and deserve. We are working with
European allies to make clear to the Iranian regime that it must give
up its uranium enrichment program and any plutonium reprocessing, and
end its support for terror. And to the Iranian people, I say tonight:
As you stand for your own liberty, America stands with you.
Our generational commitment to the advance of freedom, especially in
the Middle East, is now being tested and honored in Iraq. That country
is a vital front in the war on terror, which is why the terrorists have
chosen to make a stand there. Our men and women in uniform are fighting
terrorists in Iraq, so we do not have to face them here at home. And
the victory of freedom in Iraq will strengthen a new ally in the war on
terror, inspire democratic reformers from Damascus to Tehran, bring
more hope and progress to a troubled region, and thereby lift a
terrible threat from the lives of our children and grandchildren.
We will succeed because the Iraqi people value their own liberty -- as
they showed the world last Sunday. Across Iraq, often at great risk,
millions of citizens went to the polls and elected 275 men and women to
represent them in a new Transitional National Assembly. A young woman
in Baghdad told of waking to the sound of mortar fire on election day,
and wondering if it might be too dangerous to vote. She said, "Hearing
those explosions, it occurred to me -- the insurgents are weak, they
are afraid of democracy, they are losing. So I got my husband, and I
got my parents, and we all came out and voted together."
Americans recognize that spirit of liberty, because we share it. In any
nation, casting your vote is an act of civic responsibility; for
millions of Iraqis, it was also an act of personal courage, and they
have earned the respect of us all.
One of Iraq's leading democracy and human rights advocates is Safia
Taleb al-Suhail. She says of her country, "We were occupied for 35
years by Saddam Hussein. That was the real occupation. Thank you to the
American people who paid the cost, but most of all, to the soldiers."
Eleven years ago, Safia's father was assassinated by Saddam's
intelligence service. Three days ago in Baghdad, Safia was finally able
to vote for the leaders of her country -- and we are honored that she
is with us tonight.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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