‘Our Efforts Are Focused, Unrelenting’

I’ve come here tonight to report to all Americans, and to the Iraqi people, on the strategy our nation is pursuing in Iraq, and the specific steps we’re taking to achieve our goals....

The rise of a free and self-governing Iraq will deny terrorists a base of operation, discredit their narrow ideology and give momentum to reformers across the region. This will be a decisive blow to terrorism at the heart of its power and a victory for the security of America and the civilized world....

The swift removal of Saddam Hussein’s regime last spring had an unintended effect.

Instead of being killed or captured on the battlefield, some of Saddam’s elite guards shed their uniforms and melted into the civilian population. These elements of Saddam’s repressive regime and secret police have reorganized, rearmed and adopted sophisticated terrorist tactics. They’ve linked up with foreign fighters and terrorists. In a few cities, extremists have tried to sow chaos and seize regional power for themselves.

These groups and individuals have conflicting ambitions, but they share a goal: They hope to wear out the patience of Americans, our coalition and Iraqis before the arrival of effective self-government and before Iraqis have the capability to defend their freedom.

Iraq now faces a critical moment. As the Iraqi people move closer to governing themselves, the terrorists are likely to become more active and more brutal. There are difficult days ahead and the way forward may sometimes appear chaotic. Yet our coalition is strong.

Our efforts are focused and unrelenting and no power of the enemy will stop Iraq’s progress.

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Whenever people are given a choice in the matter, they prefer lives of freedom to lives of fear.

Our enemies in Iraq are good at filling hospitals, but they don’t build any. They can incite men to murder and suicide, but they cannot inspire men to live and hope and add to the progress of their country. The terrorists’ only influence is violence, and their only agenda is death. Our agenda, in contrast, is freedom and independence, security and prosperity for the Iraqi people. And by removing a source of terrorist violence and instability in the Middle East, we also make our own country more secure.

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There are five steps in our plan to help Iraq achieve democracy and freedom. We will hand over authority to a sovereign Iraqi government, help establish security, continue rebuilding Iraq’s infrastructure, encourage more international support, and move toward a national election that will bring forward new leaders empowered by the Iraqi people.

The first of these steps will occur next month, when our coalition will transfer full sovereignty to a government of Iraqi citizens who will prepare the way for national elections. On June 30, the Coalition Provisional Authority will cease to exist and will not be replaced. The occupation will end and Iraqis will govern their own affairs....

The United Nations special envoy, Lakhdar Brahimi, is now consulting with a broad spectrum of Iraqis to determine the composition of this interim government. The special envoy intends to put forward the names of interim government officials this week....

This interim government will exercise full sovereignty until national elections are held. America fully supports Mr. Brahimi’s efforts, and I have instructed the Coalition Provisional Authority to assist him in every way possible.

In preparation for sovereignty, many functions of government have already been transferred.

Twelve government ministries are currently under the direct control of Iraqis. The Ministry of Education, for example, is out of the propaganda business and is now concerned with educating Iraqi children. Under the direction of Dr. Aladdin Alwan, the ministry has trained more than 30,000 teachers and supervisors for the schools of a new Iraq.

All along, some have questioned whether the Iraqi people are ready for self-government or want it, and all along the Iraqi people have given their answers. In settings where Iraqis have met to discuss their country’s future, they have endorsed representative government and they are practicing representative government.

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The second step in the plan for Iraqi democracy is to help establish the stability and security that democracy requires.... America will provide forces and support necessary for achieving these goals.

Our commanders had estimated that a troop level below 115,000 would be sufficient at this point in the conflict. Given the recent increase in violence, we’ll maintain our troop level at the current 138,000 as long as necessary. This has required extended duty for the 1st Armored Division and the 2nd Light Cavalry Regiment, 20,000 men and women who were scheduled to leave Iraq in April. Our nation appreciates their hard work and sacrifice, and they can know that they will be heading home soon.

Gen. Abizaid and other commanders in Iraq are constantly assessing the level of troops they need to fulfill the mission. If they need more troops, I will send them.

The mission of our forces in Iraq is demanding and dangerous. Our troops are showing exceptional skill and courage. I thank them for their sacrifices and their duty.

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We’re making security a shared responsibility in Fallouja. Coalition commanders have worked with local leaders to create an all-Iraqi security force, which is now patrolling....

At the same time, Fallouja must cease to be a sanctuary for the enemy, and those responsible for terrorism will be held to account. In the cities of Najaf and Karbala and Kufa, most of the violence has been incited by a young, radical cleric who commands an illegal militia.... Our soldiers have treated religious sites with respect while systematically dismantling the illegal militia.

We’re also seeing Iraqis themselves take more responsibility for restoring order. In recent weeks Iraqi forces have ejected elements of this militia from the governor’s office in Najaf. Yesterday an elite Iraqi unit cleared out a weapons cache from a large mosque in Kufa. Respected Shia leaders have called on the militia to withdraw from these towns. Ordinary Iraqis have marched in protest against the militants.

As challenges rise in Fallouja, Najaf and elsewhere, the tactics of our military will be flexible. Commanders on the ground will pay close attention to local conditions. And we will do all that is necessary by measured force or overwhelming force to achieve a stable Iraq.

Iraq’s military police and border forces have begun to take on broader responsibilities. Eventually they must be the primary defenders of Iraqi security as American and coalition forces are withdrawn. And we’re helping them to prepare for this role.

In some cases the early performance of Iraqi forces fell short. Some refused orders to engage the enemy. We’ve learned from these failures and we’ve taken steps to correct them.

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After June 30, American and other forces will still have important duties. American military forces in Iraq will operate under American command as a part of a multinational force authorized by the United Nations. Iraq’s new sovereign government will still face enormous security challenges, and our forces will be there to help.

The third step in the plan for Iraqi democracy is to continue rebuilding that nation’s infrastructure so that a free Iraq can quickly gain economic independence and a better quality of life. Our coalition has already helped Iraqis to rebuild schools and refurbish hospitals and health clinics, repair bridges, upgrade the electrical grid and modernize the communication system.

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A new Iraq will also need a humane, well-supervised prison system. Under the dictator, prisons like Abu Ghraib were symbols of death and torture. That same prison became a symbol of disgraceful conduct by a few American troops who dishonored our country and disregarded our values. America will fund the construction of a modern, maximum-security prison. When that prison is completed, detainees at Abu Ghraib will be relocated. Then, with the approval of the Iraqi government, we will demolish the Abu Ghraib prison as a fitting symbol of Iraq’s new beginning.

The fourth step in our plan is to enlist additional international support for Iraq’s transition....

Today, the United States and Great Britain presented a new resolution in the [United Nations] Security Council to help move Iraq toward self-government.... Despite past disagreements, most nations have indicated strong support for the success of a free Iraq, and I’m confident they will share in the responsibility of assuring that success.

Next month at the NATO summit in Istanbul ... we will discuss NATO’s role in helping Iraq build and secure its democracy.

The fifth and most important step is free national elections, to be held no later than next January. A United Nations team headed by Carina Perelli is now in Iraq, helping form an independent election commission that will oversee an orderly, accurate national election.

In that election, the Iraqi people will choose a Transitional National Assembly, the first freely elected, truly representative national governing body in Iraq’s history. This assembly will serve as Iraq’s legislature and it will choose a transitional government with executive powers. The Transitional National Assembly will also draft a new constitution, which will be presented to the Iraqi people in a referendum scheduled for the fall of 2005. Under this new constitution, Iraq will elect a permanent government by the end of next year....

A representative government that protects basic rights, elected by Iraqis, is the best defense against the return of tyranny....

The terrorists and Saddam loyalists would rather see many Iraqis die than have any live in freedom. But terrorists will not determine the future of Iraq.... Like every nation that has made the journey to democracy, Iraqis will raise up a government that reflects their own cultures and values.

I sent American troops to Iraq to defend our security, not to stay as an occupying power. I sent American troops to Iraq to make its people free, not to make them American. Iraqis will write their own history and find their own way. As they do, Iraqis can be certain, a free Iraq will always have a friend in the United States of America.

In the last 32 months, history has placed great demands on our country, and events have come quickly....

We did not seek this war on terror, but this is the world as we find it. We must keep our focus. We must do our duty. History is moving and it will tend toward hope or tend toward tragedy.

Our terrorist enemies have a vision that guides and explains all their varied acts of murder. They seek to impose Taliban-like rule country by country across the greater Middle East. They seek the total control of every person and mind and soul, a harsh society in which women are voiceless and brutalized. They seek bases of operation to train more killers and export more violence. They commit dramatic acts of murder to shock, frighten and demoralize civilized nations, hoping we will retreat from the world and give them free rein. They seek weapons of mass destruction to impose their will through blackmail and catastrophic attacks. None of this is the expression of a religion. It is a totalitarian political ideology, pursued with consuming zeal and without conscience.

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Our actions, too, are guided by a vision....

We believe that when all Middle Eastern peoples are finally allowed to live and think and work and worship as free men and women, they will reclaim the greatness of their own heritage. And when that day comes, the bitterness and burning hatreds that feed terrorism will fade and die away. America and all the world will be safer when hope has returned to the Middle East.

These two visions -- one of tyranny and murder, the other of liberty and life -- clashed in Afghanistan. And thanks to brave U.S. and coalition forces and to Afghan patriots, the nightmare of the Taliban is over and that nation is coming to life again.

These two visions have now met in Iraq and are contending for the future of that country. The failure of freedom would only mark the beginning of peril and violence. But, my fellow Americans, we will not fail.

We will persevere and defeat this enemy and hold this hard-won ground for the realm of liberty.

May God bless our country. Thank you.

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These excerpts from President Bush’s Monday night speech were obtained from the Federal News Service.