'A Regime That Has Lost Its Legitimacy Will Also Lose Its Power'

Remarks by the US President at the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

Mr. Secretary General, Mr. President,

Distinguished delegates, and ladies and gentlemen: We meet one year and oneday after a terrorist attack brought grief to my country, and brought grief tomany citizens of our world. Yesterday, we remembered the innocent lives takenthat terrible morning. Today, we turn to the urgent duty of protecting otherlives, without illusion and without fear.

We've accomplished much in the last year -- in Afghanistan and beyond. Wehave much yet to do -- in Afghanistan and beyond. Many nations represented herehave joined in the fight against global terror, and the people of the UnitedStates are grateful.

The United Nations was born in the hope that survived a world war -- the hopeof a world moving toward justice, escaping old patterns of conflict and fear.The founding members resolved that the peace of the world must never again bedestroyed by the will and wickedness of any man. We created the United NationsSecurity Council, so that, unlike the League of Nations, our deliberations wouldbe more than talk, our resolutions would be more than wishes. After generationsof deceitful dictators and broken treaties and squandered lives, we dedicatedourselves to standards of human dignity shared by all, and to a system ofsecurity defended by all.

Today, these standards, and this security, are challenged. Our commitment tohuman dignity is challenged by persistent poverty and raging disease. Thesuffering is great, and our responsibilities are clear. The United States isjoining with the world to supply aid where it reaches people and lifts up lives,to extend trade and the prosperity it brings, and to bring medical care where itis desperately needed.

As a symbol of our commitment to human dignity, the United States will returnto UNESCO. This organization has been reformed and America will participatefully in its mission to advance human rights and tolerance and learning.

Our common security is challenged by regional conflicts -- ethnic andreligious strife that is ancient, but not inevitable. In the Middle East, therecan be no peace for either side without freedom for both sides. America standscommitted to an independent and democratic Palestine, living side by side withIsrael in peace and security. Like all other people, Palestinians deserve agovernment that serves their interests and listens to their voices. My nationwill continue to encourage all parties to step up to their responsibilities aswe seek a just and comprehensive settlement to the conflict.

Above all, our principles and our security are challenged today by outlawgroups and regimes that accept no law of morality and have no limit to theirviolent ambitions. In the attacks on America a year ago, we saw the destructiveintentions of our enemies. This threat hides within many nations, including myown. In cells and camps, terrorists are plotting further destruction, andbuilding new bases for their war against civilization. And our greatest fear isthat terrorists will find a shortcut to their mad ambitions when an outlawregime supplies them with the technologies to kill on a massive scale.

In one place -- in one regime -- we find all these dangers, in their mostlethal and aggressive forms, exactly the kind of aggressive threat the UnitedNations was born to confront.

Twelve years ago, Iraq invaded Kuwait without provocation. And the regime'sforces were poised to continue their march to seize other countries and theirresources. Had Saddam Hussein been appeased instead of stopped, he would haveendangered the peace and stability of the world. Yet this aggression was stopped-- by the might of coalition forces and the will of the United Nations.

To suspend hostilities, to spare himself, Iraq's dictator accepted a seriesof commitments. The terms were clear, to him and to all. And he agreed to provehe is complying with every one of those obligations.

He has proven instead only his contempt for the United Nations, and for allhis pledges. By breaking every pledge -- by his deceptions, and by his cruelties-- Saddam Hussein has made the case against himself.

In 1991, Security Council Resolution 688 demanded that the Iraqi regime ceaseat once the repression of its own people, including the systematic repression ofminorities -- which the Council said, threatened international peace andsecurity in the region. This demand goes ignored.

Last year, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights found that Iraq continues tocommit extremely grave violations of human rights, and that the regime'srepression is all pervasive. Tens of thousands of political opponents andordinary citizens have been subjected to arbitrary arrest and imprisonment,summary execution, and torture by beating and burning, electric shock,starvation, mutilation, and rape. Wives are tortured in front of their husbands,children in the presence of their parents -- and all of these horrors concealedfrom the world by the apparatus of a totalitarian state.

In 1991, the U.N. Security Council, through Resolutions 686 and 687, demandedthat Iraq return all prisoners from Kuwait and other lands. Iraq's regimeagreed. It broke its promise. Last year the Secretary General's high-levelcoordinator for this issue reported that Kuwait, Saudi, Indian, Syrian,Lebanese, Iranian, Egyptian, Bahraini, and Omani nationals remain unaccountedfor -- more than 600 people. One American pilot is among them.

In 1991, the U.N. Security Council, through Resolution 687, demanded thatIraq renounce all involvement with terrorism, and permit no terroristorganizations to operate in Iraq. Iraq's regime agreed. It broke this promise.In violation of Security Council Resolution 1373, Iraq continues to shelter andsupport terrorist organizations that direct violence against Iran, Israel, andWestern governments. Iraqi dissidents abroad are targeted for murder. In 1993,Iraq attempted to assassinate the Emir of Kuwait and a former AmericanPresident. Iraq's government openly praised the attacks of September the 11th.And al Qaeda terrorists escaped from Afghanistan and are known to be in Iraq.

In 1991, the Iraqi regime agreed to destroy and stop developing all weaponsof mass destruction and long-range missiles, and to prove to the world it hasdone so by complying with rigorous inspections. Iraq has broken every aspect ofthis fundamental pledge.

From 1991 to 1995, the Iraqi regime said it had no biological weapons. Aftera senior official in its weapons program defected and exposed this lie, theregime admitted to producing tens of thousands of liters of anthrax and otherdeadly biological agents for use with Scud warheads, aerial bombs, and aircraftspray tanks. U.N. inspectors believe Iraq has produced two to four times theamount of biological agents it declared, and has failed to account for more thanthree metric tons of material that could be used to produce biological weapons.Right now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for theproduction of biological weapons.

United Nations' inspections also revealed that Iraq likely maintainsstockpiles of VX, mustard and other chemical agents, and that the regime isrebuilding and expanding facilities capable of producing chemical weapons.

And in 1995, after four years of deception, Iraq finally admitted it had acrash nuclear weapons program prior to the Gulf War. We know now, were it notfor that war, the regime in Iraq would likely have possessed a nuclear weapon nolater than 1993.

Today, Iraq continues to withhold important information about its nuclearprogram -- weapons design, procurement logs, experiment data, an accounting ofnuclear materials and documentation of foreign assistance. Iraq employs capablenuclear scientists and technicians. It retains physical infrastructure needed tobuild a nuclear weapon. Iraq has made several attempts to buy high-strengthaluminum tubes used to enrich uranium for a nuclear weapon. Should Iraq acquirefissile material, it would be able to build a nuclear weapon within a year. AndIraq's state-controlled media has reported numerous meetings between SaddamHussein and his nuclear scientists, leaving little doubt about his continuedappetite for these weapons.

Iraq also possesses a force of Scud-type missiles with ranges beyond the 150kilometers permitted by the U.N. Work at testing and production facilities showsthat Iraq is building more long-range missiles that it can inflict mass deaththroughout the region.

In 1990, after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the world imposed economicsanctions on Iraq. Those sanctions were maintained after the war to compel theregime's compliance with Security Council resolutions. In time, Iraq was allowedto use oil revenues to buy food. Saddam Hussein has subverted this program,working around the sanctions to buy missile technology and military materials.He blames the suffering of Iraq's people on the United Nations, even as he useshis oil wealth to build lavish palaces for himself, and to buy arms for hiscountry. By refusing to comply with his own agreements, he bears full guilt forthe hunger and misery of innocent Iraqi citizens.

In 1991, Iraq promised U.N. inspectors immediate and unrestricted access toverify Iraq's commitment to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction andlong-range missiles. Iraq broke this promise, spending seven years deceiving,evading, and harassing U.N. inspectors before ceasing cooperation entirely. Justmonths after the 1991 cease-fire, the Security Council twice renewed its demandthat the Iraqi regime cooperate fully with inspectors, condemning Iraq's seriousviolations of its obligations. The Security Council again renewed that demand in1994, and twice more in 1996, deploring Iraq's clear violations of itsobligations. The Security Council renewed its demand three more times in 1997,citing flagrant violations; and three more times in 1998, calling Iraq'sbehavior totally unacceptable. And in 1999, the demand was renewed yet again.

As we meet today, it's been almost four years since the last U.N. inspectorsset foot in Iraq, four years for the Iraqi regime to plan, and to build, and totest behind the cloak of secrecy.

We know that Saddam Hussein pursued weapons of mass murder even wheninspectors were in his country. Are we to assume that he stopped when they left?The history, the logic, and the facts lead to one conclusion: Saddam Hussein'sregime is a grave and gathering danger. To suggest otherwise is to hope againstthe evidence. To assume this regime's good faith is to bet the lives of millionsand the peace of the world in a reckless gamble. And this is a risk we must nottake.

Delegates to the General Assembly, we have been more than patient. We'vetried sanctions. We've tried the carrot of oil for food, and the stick ofcoalition military strikes. But Saddam Hussein has defied all these efforts andcontinues to develop weapons of mass destruction. The first time we may becompletely certain he has a -- nuclear weapons is when, God forbids, he usesone. We owe it to all our citizens to do everything in our power to prevent thatday from coming.

The conduct of the Iraqi regime is a threat to the authority of the UnitedNations, and a threat to peace. Iraq has answered a decade of U.N. demands witha decade of defiance. All the world now faces a test, and the United Nations adifficult and defining moment. Are Security Council resolutions to be honoredand enforced, or cast aside without consequence? Will the United Nations servethe purpose of its founding, or will it be irrelevant?

The United States helped found the United Nations. We want the United Nationsto be effective, and respectful, and successful. We want the resolutions of theworld's most important multilateral body to be enforced. And right now thoseresolutions are being unilaterally subverted by the Iraqi regime. Ourpartnership of nations can meet the test before us, by making clear what we nowexpect of the Iraqi regime.

If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately and unconditionallyforswear, disclose, and remove or destroy all weapons of mass destruction,long-range missiles, and all related material.

If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately end all support forterrorism and act to suppress it, as all states are required to do by U.N.Security Council resolutions.

If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will cease persecution of its civilianpopulation, including Shi'a, Sunnis, Kurds, Turkomans, and others, again asrequired by Security Council resolutions.

If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will release or account for all Gulf Warpersonnel whose fate is still unknown. It will return the remains of any who aredeceased, return stolen property, accept liability for losses resulting from theinvasion of Kuwait, and fully cooperate with international efforts to resolvethese issues, as required by Security Council resolutions.

If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will release or account for all Gulf Warpersonnel whose fate is still unknown. It will return the remains of any who aredeceased, return stolen property, accept liability for losses resulting from theinvasion of Kuwait, and fully cooperate with the international efforts toresolve these issues, as required by Security Council resolutions.

If the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately end all illicit tradeoutside the oil-for-food program. It will accept U.N. administration of fundsfrom that program, to ensure that the money is used fairly and promptly for thebenefit of the Iraqi people.

If all these steps are taken, it will signal a new openness andaccountability in Iraq. And it could open the prospect of the United Nationshelping to build a government that represents all Iraqis -- a government basedon respect for human rights, economic liberty, and internationally supervisedelections.

The United States has no quarrel with the Iraqi people; they've suffered toolong in silent captivity. Liberty for the Iraqi people is a great moral cause,and a great strategic goal. The people of Iraq deserve it; the security of allnations requires it. Free societies do not intimidate through cruelty andconquest, and open societies do not threaten the world with mass murder. TheUnited States supports political and economic liberty in a unified Iraq.

We can harbor no illusions -- and that's important today to remember. SaddamHussein attacked Iran in 1980 and Kuwait in 1990. He's fired ballistic missilesat Iran and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Israel. His regime once ordered thekilling of every person between the ages of 15 and 70 in certain Kurdishvillages in northern Iraq. He has gassed many Iranians, and 40 Iraqi villages.

My nation will work with the U.N. Security Council to meet our commonchallenge. If Iraq's regime defies us again, the world must move deliberately,decisively to hold Iraq to account. We will work with the U.N. Security Councilfor the necessary resolutions. But the purposes of the United States should notbe doubted. The Security Council resolutions will be enforced -- the justdemands of peace and security will be met -- or action will be unavoidable. Anda regime that has lost its legitimacy will also lose its power.

Events can turn in one of two ways: If we fail to act in the face of danger,the people of Iraq will continue to live in brutal submission. The regime willhave new power to bully and dominate and conquer its neighbors, condemning theMiddle East to more years of bloodshed and fear. The regime will remain unstable-- the region will remain unstable, with little hope of freedom, and isolatedfrom the progress of our times. With every step the Iraqi regime takes towardgaining and deploying the most terrible weapons, our own options to confrontthat regime will narrow. And if an emboldened regime were to supply theseweapons to terrorist allies, then the attacks of September the 11th would be aprelude to far greater horrors.

If we meet our responsibilities, if we overcome this danger, we can arrive ata very different future. The people of Iraq can shake off their captivity. Theycan one day join a democratic Afghanistan and a democratic Palestine, inspiringreforms throughout the Muslim world. These nations can show by their examplethat honest government, and respect for women, and the great Islamic traditionof learning can triumph in the Middle East and beyond. And we will show that thepromise of the United Nations can be fulfilled in our time.

Neither of these outcomes is certain. Both have been set before us. We mustchoose between a world of fear and a world of progress. We cannot stand by anddo nothing while dangers gather. We must stand up for our security, and for thepermanent rights and the hopes of mankind. By heritage and by choice, the UnitedStates of America will make that stand. And, delegates to the United Nations,you have the power to make that stand, as well.

Thank you very much.