Transcript of President Bush's Remarkst to UN General
Assembly


WASHINGTON, Nov. 10 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Following is a
transcript of President Bush's remarks today to the
United National General Assembly:

U.N. Headquarters

New York, New York

9:38 A.M. EST

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you.  Mr. Secretary General, Mr.
President, distinguished delegates, and ladies and
gentlemen.  We meet in a hall devoted to peace, in a
city scarred by violence, in a nation awakened to
danger, in a world uniting for a long struggle.  Every
civilized nation here today is resolved to keep the
most basic commitment of civilization: We will defend
ourselves and our future against terror and lawless
violence.

The United Nations was founded in this cause.  In a
second world war, we learned there is no isolation
from evil.  We affirmed that some crimes are so
terrible they offend humanity, itself.  And we
resolved that the aggressions and ambitions of the
wicked must be opposed early, decisively, and
collectively, before they threaten us all.  That evil
has returned, and that cause is renewed.

A few miles from here, many thousands still lie in a
tomb of rubble.  Tomorrow, the Secretary General, the
President of the General Assembly, and I will visit
that site, where the names of every nation and region
that lost citizens will be read aloud.  If we were to
read the names of every person who died, it would take
more than three hours.

Those names include a citizen of Gambia, whose wife
spent their fourth wedding anniversary, September the
12th, searching in vain for her husband.  Those names
include a man who supported his wife in Mexico,
sending home money every week.  Those names include a
young Pakistani who prayed toward Mecca five times a
day, and died that day trying to save others.

The suffering of September the 11th was inflicted on
people of many faiths and many nations.  All of the
victims, including Muslims, were killed with equal
indifference and equal satisfaction by the terrorist
leaders.  The terrorists are violating the tenets of
every religion, including the one they invoke.

Last week, the Sheikh of Al-Azhar University, the
world's oldest Islamic institution of higher learning,
declared that terrorism is a disease, and that Islam
prohibits killing innocent civilians.  The terrorists
call their cause holy, yet, they fund it with drug
dealing; they encourage murder and suicide in the name
of a great faith that forbids both.  They dare to ask
God's blessing as they set out to kill innocent men,
women and children.  But the God of Isaac and Ishmael
would never answer such a prayer.  And a murderer is
not a martyr; he is just a murderer.

Time is passing.  Yet, for the United States of
America, there will be no forgetting September the
11th.  We will remember every rescuer who died in
honor.  We will remember every family that lives in
grief.  We will remember the fire and ash, the last
phone calls, the funerals of the children.

And the people of my country will remember those who
have plotted against us.  We are learning their names.
 We are coming to know their faces.  There is no
corner of the Earth distant or dark enough to protect
them.  However long it takes, their hour of justice
will come.

Every nation has a stake in this cause.  As we meet,
the terrorists are planning more murder -- perhaps in
my country, or perhaps in yours.  They kill because
they aspire to dominate.  They seek to overthrow
governments and destabilize entire regions.

Last week, anticipating this meeting of the General
Assembly, they denounced the United Nations.  They
called our Secretary General a criminal and condemned
all Arab nations here as traitors to Islam.

Few countries meet their exacting standards of
brutality and oppression.  Every other country is a
potential target.  And all the world faces the most
horrifying prospect of all: These same terrorists are
searching for weapons of mass destruction, the tools
to turn their hatred into holocaust.  They can be
expected to use chemical, biological and nuclear
weapons the moment they are capable of doing so.  No
hint of conscience would prevent it.

This threat cannot be ignored.  This threat cannot be
appeased. Civilization, itself, the civilization we
share, is threatened. History will record our
response, and judge or justify every nation in this
hall.

The civilized world is now responding.  We act to
defend ourselves and deliver our children from a
future of fear.  We choose the dignity of life over a
culture of death.  We choose lawful change and civil
disagreement over coercion, subversion, and chaos.
These commitments -- hope and order, law and life --
unite people across cultures and continents.  Upon
these commitments depend all peace and progress.  For
these commitments, we are determined to fight.

The United Nations has risen to this responsibility.
On the 12th of September, these buildings opened for
emergency meetings of the General Assembly and the
Security Council.  Before the sun had set, these
attacks on the world stood condemned by the world.
And I want to thank you for this strong and principled
stand.

I also thank the Arab Islamic countries that have
condemned terrorist murder.  Many of you have seen the
destruction of terror in your own lands.  The
terrorists are increasingly isolated by their own
hatred and extremism.  They cannot hide behind Islam.
The authors of mass murder and their allies have no
place in any culture, and no home in any faith.

The conspiracies of terror are being answered by an
expanding global coalition.  Not every nation will be
a part of every action against the enemy.  But every
nation in our coalition has duties. These duties can
be demanding, as we in America are learning.  We have
already made adjustments in our laws and in our daily
lives. We're taking new measures to investigate terror
and to protect against threats.

The leaders of all nations must now carefully consider
their responsibilities and their future.  Terrorist
groups like al Qaeda depend upon the aid or
indifference of governments.  They need the support of
a financial infrastructure, and safe havens to train
and plan and hide.

Some nations want to play their part in the fight
against terror, but tell us they lack the means to
enforce their laws and control their borders.  We
stand ready to help.  Some governments still turn a
blind eye to the terrorists, hoping the threat will
pass them by.  They are mistaken.  And some
governments, while pledging to uphold the principles
of the U.N., have cast their lot with the terrorists.
They support them and harbor them, and they will find
that their welcome guests are parasites that will
weaken them, and eventually consume them.

For every regime that sponsors terror, there is a
price to be paid.  And it will be paid.  The allies of
terror are equally guilty of murder and equally
accountable to justice.

The Taliban are now learning this lesson -- that
regime and the terrorists who support it are now
virtually indistinguishable. Together they promote
terror abroad and impose a reign of terror on the
Afghan people.  Women are executed in Kabal's soccer
stadium. They can be beaten for wearing socks that are
too thin.  Men are jailed for missing prayer meetings.


The United States, supported by many nations, is
bringing justice to the terrorists in Afghanistan.
We're making progress against military targets, and
that is our objective.  Unlike the enemy, we seek to
minimize, not maximize, the loss of innocent life.

I'm proud of the honorable conduct of the American
military. And my country grieves for all the suffering
the Taliban have brought upon Afghanistan, including
the terrible burden of war.  The Afghan people do not
deserve their present rulers.  Years of Taliban
misrule have brought nothing but misery and
starvation.  Even before this current crisis, 4
million Afghans depended on food from the United
States and other nations, and millions of Afghans were
refugees from Taliban oppression.

I make this promise to all the victims of that regime:
The Taliban's days of harboring terrorists and dealing
in heroin and brutalizing women are drawing to a
close.  And when that regime is gone, the people of
Afghanistan will say with the rest of the world: good
riddance.

I can promise, too, that America will join the world
in helping the people of Afghanistan rebuild their
country.  Many nations, including mine, are sending
food and medicine to help Afghans through the winter.
America has air-dropped over 1.3 million packages of
rations into Afghanistan.  Just this week, we
air-lifted 20,000 blankets and over 200 tons of
provisions into the region.  We continue to provide
humanitarian aid, even while the Taliban tried to
steal the food we send.

More help eventually will be needed.  The United
States will work closely with the United Nations and
development banks to reconstruct Afghanistan after
hostilities there have ceased and the Taliban are no
longer in control.  And the United States will work
with the U.N. to support a post-Taliban government
that represents all of the Afghan people.

In this war of terror, each of us must answer for what
we have done or what we have left undone.  After
tragedy, there is a time for sympathy and condolence.
And my country has been very grateful for both.  The
memorials and vigils around the world will not be
forgotten.  But the time for sympathy has now passed;
the time for action has now arrived.

The most basic obligations in this new conflict have
already been defined by the United Nations.  On
September the 28th, the Security Council adopted
Resolution 1373.  Its requirements are clear: Every
United Nations member has a responsibility to crack
down on terrorist financing.  We must pass all
necessary laws in our own countries to allow the
confiscation of terrorist assets.  We must apply those
laws to every financial institution in every nation.

We have a responsibility to share intelligence and
coordinate the efforts of law enforcement.  If you
know something, tell us.  If we know something, we'll
tell you.  And when we find the terrorists, we must
work together to bring them to justice.  We have a
responsibility to deny any sanctuary, safe haven or
transit to terrorists.  Every known terrorist camp
must be shut down, its operators apprehended, and
evidence of their arrest presented to the United
Nations.  We have a responsibility to deny weapons to
terrorists and to actively prevent private citizens
from providing them.

These obligations are urgent and they are binding on
every nation with a place in this chamber.  Many
governments are taking these obligations seriously,
and my country appreciates it.  Yet, even beyond
Resolution 1373, more is required, and more is
expected of our coalition against terror.

We're asking for a comprehensive commitment to this
fight.  We must unite in opposing all terrorists, not
just some of them.  In this world there are good
causes and bad causes, and we may disagree on where
the line is drawn.  Yet, there is no such thing as a
good terrorist.  No national aspiration, no remembered
wrong can ever justify the deliberate murder of the
innocent.  Any government that rejects this principle,
trying to pick and choose its terrorist friends, will
know the consequences.

We must speak the truth about terror.  Let us never
tolerate outrageous conspiracy theories concerning the
attacks of September the 11th; malicious lies that
attempt to shift the blame away from the terrorists,
themselves, away from the guilty.  To inflame ethnic
hatred is to advance the cause of terror.

The war against terror must not serve as an excuse to
persecute ethnic and religious minorities in any
country.  Innocent people must be allowed to live
their own lives, by their own customs, under their own
religion.  And every nation must have avenues for the
peaceful expression of opinion and dissent.  When
these avenues are closed, the temptation to speak
through violence grows.

We must press on with our agenda for peace and
prosperity in every land.  My country is pledged to
encouraging development and expanding trade.  My
country is pledged to investing in education and
combatting AIDS and other infectious diseases around
the world. Following September 11th, these pledges are
even more important.  In our struggle against hateful
groups that exploit poverty and despair, we must offer
an alternative of opportunity and hope.

The American government also stands by its commitment
to a just peace in the Middle East.  We are working
toward a day when two states, Israel and Palestine,
live peacefully together within secure and recognize
borders as called for by the Security Council
resolutions.  We will do all in our power to bring
both parties back into negotiations.  But peace will
only come when all have sworn off, forever,
incitement, violence and terror.

And, finally, this struggle is a defining moment for
the United Nations, itself.  And the world needs its
principled leadership.  It undermines the credibility
of this great institution, for example, when the
Commission on Human Rights offers seats to the world's
most persistent violators of human rights.  The United
Nations depends, above all, on its moral authority --
and that authority must be preserved.

The steps I described will not be easy.  For all
nations, they will require effort.  For some nations,
they will require great courage.  Yet, the cost of
inaction is far greater.  The only alternative to
victory is a nightmare world where every city is a
potential killing field.

As I've told the American people, freedom and fear are
at war. We face enemies that hate not our policies,
but our existence; the tolerance of openness and
creative culture that defines us.  But the outcome of
this conflict is certain: There is a current in
history and it runs toward freedom.  Our enemies
resent it and dismiss it, but the dreams of mankind
are defined by liberty -- the natural right to create
and build and worship and live in dignity.  When men
and women are released from oppression and isolation,
they find fulfillment and hope, and they leave poverty
by the millions.

These aspirations are lifting up the peoples of
Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, and they can
lift up all of the Islamic world.

We stand for the permanent hopes of humanity, and
those hopes will not be denied.  We're confident, too,
that history has an author who fills time and eternity
with his purpose.  We know that evil is real, but good
will prevail against it.  This is the teaching of many
faiths, and in that assurance we gain strength for a
long journey.

It is our task -- the task of this generation -- to
provide the response to aggression and terror.  We
have no other choice, because there is no other peace.


We did not ask for this mission, yet there is honor in
history's call.  We have a chance to write the story
of our times, a story of courage defeating cruelty and
light overcoming darkness.  This calling is worthy of
any life, and worthy of every nation.  So let us go
forward, confident, determined, and unafraid.

Thank you very much.  (Applause.)

END 10:00 A.M. EST

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