31 January 2002
Transcript: Rice Warns of Dangerous Powers Pursuing Dangerous Weapons
(Says Bush speech "put world on notice" U.S. will deal with threat)
(3710)
President Bush's State of the Union message "put the world on notice,"
says National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, "...that our nation
will do everything in its power to deny the world's most dangerous
powers the world's most dangerous weapons."
Rice told a Conservative Political Action conference in Arlington,
Virginia, January 31 the president "was crystal clear about the
growing danger posed by such states as North Korea, Iran and Iraq that
pursue weapons of mass destruction. The president is calling on the
world, on our friends and our allies, to join us in preventing these
regimes from developing and deploying these weapons, either directly
or through stateless terrorist surrogates. This is a serious matter
and it requires a serious response."
North Korea, Rice said, "is now the world's number one merchant for
ballistic missiles, open for business with anyone, no matter how
malign the buyer's intentions."
Iraq, she said, "continues to threaten its neighbors, the
neighborhood, and its own people, and it continues to flaunt
obligations that it undertook in 1991. And that can mean only one
thing: It remains a dangerous regime, and it remains a regime
determined to acquire these terrible weapons.
"And Iran. Iran's direct support of regional and global terrorism and
its aggressive efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction belie
any good intentions it displayed in the days after the world's worst
terrorist attacks in history.
"All of these nations have a choice to make -- to abandon the course
they now pursue. Unfortunately, these terrible regimes have shown no
inclination to do so. But the United States and the world have only
one choice, and that is to act with determination and resolve."
As for al Qaeda and its terrorist network, Rice said President Bush
"has made clear that we and our allies will not rest until the threat
from al Qaeda and the network itself is no more.
"We will pursue its members by every means at our disposal. We will
disrupt its plans, destroy its bases, arrest its members, break up its
cells and choke off its finances."
And, she said, the United States will draw "no distinction between the
terrorists and the regimes that feed, train, supply and harbor them."
Following is the White House transcript:
(begin transcript)
THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary
For Immediate Release
January 31, 2002
REMARKS BY THE NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISOR CONDOLEEZZA RICE TO THE
CONSERVATIVE POLITICAL ACTION CONFERENCE
DR. RICE: Well, thank you very much for that warm reception and for
that terrific introduction, and I really appreciate. It's a great
honor to speak to this group today. I'd very much like to thank David
Keene, the Chairman of CPAC, and the leaders of the 70 co-sponsoring
organizations for having me here to say a few words to you about the
campaign on which we are engaged here in the United States of America,
in Afghanistan, in every country in the world. This is truly a global
campaign.
Organizations such as CPAC fill an invaluable role in our society. You
are an incubator of ideas and a wellspring of energy that sustains the
causes that we care about. And today, as free men and women who come
together to foster change through honest debate, you represent the
best in America, and it reminds us of the values for which we are
fighting. You embody -- as America embodies -- the principles that are
worth fighting to defend: Liberty, democracy, and pluralism.
I know that later this afternoon, you're going to talk to a panel
about seismic shifts caused by September 11th. And those shifts were
very much in evidence when the President addressed the state of our
Union on Tuesday night.
Imagine for a moment that someone had sat you down on September 10th,
placed a tape in your VCR and told you that, here's what the
President's next State of the Union Address is going to sound like.
Each of us placed in those circumstances would have reacted in two
ways, both at the same time. As we heard him, and as we viewed the
window through which we had just climbed, our stomachs would have
churned with the knowledge that our nation and the world had suffered
such a great catastrophe. And behind our veil of ignorance, we would
have been driven and, in fact, reluctant at the same time to ask the
questions, who and what and where and particularly why September 11th.
But second, our hearts would have been filled with enormous pride,
knowing that a great nation once again had set its sights on great
causes, that our defense of liberty is unabashed and unafraid and
morally clear.
On September 10th, we could not have known that America would prove
itself so stalwart in the face of such a great challenge. We could not
have known that there could be so many countless acts of selflessness
and outpouring to ease the suffering of our fellow citizens, and a
renewed appreciation of the duties, the responsibilities and the
privileges of citizenship. And we could barely have imagined the
seismic shifts that were about to occur in international politics.
One of the most important and one of the most immediate shifts has
been a renewed appreciation of American national power. Specifically,
the importance of a powerful military used responsibly in the service
of our values.
If you go back just a little while, there was a lot of speculation
that the future of the American armed forces actually lay largely in
so-called operations other than war, in policing civil and ethnic
conflicts and in humanitarian missions. Well, I don't hear anybody
saying that any more. (Applause.)
The fact is that there are real threats out there. Freedom still faces
ruthless enemies. And America and its allies have to deter and, if
necessary, defeat them.
Our military has done extraordinary things in the past four months. It
has shown its power and its precision. It has fought an enemy unlike
any we have faced in our history, and we've helped liberate a nation.
It has really been extraordinary to witness from the inside, as those
of you who have been watching from without have seen, what this
military can do.
When we woke up on September 12th and began planning our response, I
can tell you that the American military didn't exactly have an
operational plan on the shelf, a template that said "Afghanistan
Campaign." We especially didn't have a template on the shelf that
said, your ground forces are going to be on horseback -- (laughter) --
your 19th century ground forces with your 21st century air power.
And the President was making clear to those who were planning the
campaign every day that he wanted the use of American military force
to be meaningful and effective. He was not going to use pinpricks to
deal with the circumstances in which we found ourselves. (Applause.)
He understood immediately that only the decisive use of American
military power maintains our credibility. But he also told people that
we weren't going to respond rashly or do something just for the sake
of doing something.
In a very short time frame, we did have a campaign plan for
Afghanistan. It was a plan that was daring in conception and difficult
in execution. It was truly outside the box, and eventually it was
successful. It was successful because the way was paved by strong
diplomacy. It was successful because we had a President who was
determined and focused and patient. It was successful because we had a
commander-in-chief who let his military do the job. (Applause.)
And it was successful because our military forces are the strongest
and best equipped and most professional in the history of the world.
(Applause.)
Tuesday night, the world saw the President resolve to ensure that our
forces remain without peer. He will ask in his budget for an
additional $48 billion for our armed forces, the single largest
increase since Ronald Reagan was President. And, as President Bush
said Tuesday night, while the price of freedom and security is high,
it is never too high. Whatever it costs to defend our nation, we will
pay it. (Applause.)
As a result of our resolve, the Taliban regime has been routed and all
that remains of it is remnant. Afghanistan is no longer a
terrorist-sponsored state but, rather, a state that is trying to make
its way to a better future for its people.
But al Qaeda is far from finished. It operates in dozens of countries
around the world and it threatens many more. And the President has
made clear that we and our allies will not rest until the threat from
al Qaeda and the network itself is no more. (Applause.)
We will pursue its members by every means at our disposal. We will
disrupt its plans, destroy its bases, arrest its members, break up its
cells and choke off its finances. And our enemy is not just al Qaeda,
but every terrorist group of global reach. This is not just our
struggle; it is the struggle of the civilized world.
The United States has made clear to leaders on every continent that
there is no such thing as a good terrorist and a bad terrorist. You
cannot condemn al Qaeda and hug Hamas. (Applause.)
The United States draws no distinction between the terrorists and the
regimes that feed, train, supply and harbor them. Simply put,
harboring terrorists isn't a very good business to be in right now.
(Applause.)
Now, many nations are trying hard to do the right thing, to improve
their border security, to enforce their laws, to improve their ability
to track terrorists in their movements and finances. And the United
States is actively helping countries to improve their immune systems
against terrorism.
On the other hand, there are some who, shall we say, are not moving
with alacrity to shut down terror within their borders. They have been
put on notice.
The President also put the world on notice on Tuesday night, that our
nation will do everything in its power to deny the world's most
dangerous powers the world's most dangerous weapons. It is a stubborn
and extremely troubling fact that the list of states that sponsor
terror and the lists that are seeking to acquire weapons of mass
destruction happens to overlap substantially. And we know that if an
al Qaeda type organization were to come into possession of a weapon of
mass destruction, they would have no hesitation to use it.
In his State of the Union, the President was crystal clear about the
growing danger posed by such states as North Korea, Iran and Iraq that
pursue weapons of mass destruction. The President is calling on the
world, on our friends and our allies, to join us in preventing these
regimes from developing and deploying these weapons, either directly
or through stateless terrorist surrogates. This is a serious matter
and it requires a serious response.
North Korea is now the world's number one merchant for ballistic
missiles, open for business with anyone, no matter how malign the
buyer's intentions.
The United States has offered a roadmap for reciprocal steps that
would enable North Korea to take a better course. We've had no serious
response from Pyongyang.
Iraq continues to threaten its neighbors, the neighborhood, and its
own people, and it continues to flaunt obligations that it undertook
in 1991. And that can mean only one thing: It remains a dangerous
regime, and it remains a regime determined to acquire these terrible
weapons.
And Iran. Iran's direct support of regional and global terrorism and
its aggressive efforts to acquire weapons of mass destruction belie
any good intentions it displayed in the days after the world's worst
terrorist attacks in history.
All of these nations have a choice to make -- to abandon the course
they now pursue. Unfortunately, these terrible regimes have shown no
inclination to do so. But the United States and the world have only
one choice, and that is to act with determination and resolve.
As the President said, we must not and we will not wait on events
while dangers gather, and we will use every tool at our disposal to
meet this grave global threat. We will work to strengthen
nonproliferation regimes and export controls. We will use our new and
budding relationship with Russia to redouble our efforts to prevent
the leakage of dangerous materials and technologies. And we will move
ahead with a missile defense system that can do the job, unconstrained
by the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. (Applause.)
This President is determined and committed to protecting America, our
forces, our allies and our friends from terror that comes packaged
atop a missile. And the United States is unequivocal in its resolve to
do what we must to insure ourselves. As the President said, the price
of indifference would be catastrophic.
But even as we address today's multiple challenges, even as we
recognize that the war on terrorism is one that will have to be fought
for a long time to come, we can look ahead to tremendous opportunities
that are before us. We want to leave this world not just safer, but
better. We are committed to a world of greater trade, of greater
democracy and greater human rights for all the world's people wherever
they live. September 11th makes this commitment more important, not
less. Because, ladies and gentlemen, you know that America stands for
something real. It stands for rights that are inalienable and truths
that are self-evident. It stands for compassion and hope.
September 11th reintroduced America to a part of itself that some had
forgotten or that some thought we no longer had. And we will carry
this better part of ourselves out into the wider world.
We are a generous people. President Bush and the United States of
America are committed to channeling our noble energies into an effort
to encourage development and education and opportunity throughout the
world, including the Muslim world. On every continent, in every land,
this President, the education President at home, wants to press the
goal of education for all abroad. Because there is one remarkable
thing about education. It allows you to remake yourself into something
new. It opens up to you the full range of possibilities of what you
can be.
You know, I am, of course, a professor at Stanford University. And I
can tell you that one of the most heartening things about being a
professor in a great university is the students that you meet. You
look out at your student body and you recognize that at this elite
university, there may be one student who's a fourth generation
Stanford legatee, but sitting right next to that student is a kid
whose parents might be migrant farm workers, or a kid from rural
America who is the first to go to school in his or her family. And you
think, that's what this country is about, it's a belief that it really
doesn't matter where you came from; it matters where you're going.
Terrorism, the kind of hatred and the kind of hopelessness that gets
foisted on people around the world, cannot stand in a world in which
people have that kind of hope. And that's why education in practical
skills, rather than education in hatred is so important to peace and
stability in the long run.
We are moving quickly, with places like Pakistan, to help them improve
their educational systems. We have a teacher training initiative with
Central America to improve the state of teaching in those countries.
And we are putting millions of dollars into textbooks and into teacher
training for new schools in Afghanistan where, for the first time in
years, young girls will have that opportunity as well. (Applause.)
America is a remarkable country. One that finds its unity of purpose
not in common blood but in common values. It is a country that rewards
creativity and entrepreneurship and tries to bring opportunity through
education for all. But in our hour of need, we found a country that
has been renewed in those values and a country that looked to honor
and family and to faith to get us through. There is a lot to do ahead
of us. But renewed in who we are, renewed in our common purpose and
our values, we will succeed. Thank you very much. (Applause.)
I'm told that I can take a couple questions from the members of the
organization -- this is not a press conference.
Q: You mentioned Russia briefly in your presentation. I had an
opportunity to spend time in Russia, Moscow State University, and had
an opportunity to meet with a lot of the Russian people. And I just
wanted to find out the type of relationship that we have now with
Russia following 9/11, how you see that going in the near future. And
if you could also talk about Russia's actions in Chechnya? Do you
think that needs to be reexamined in light of the attack on our -- in
New York City? Because they perceive that as an attack on their own
soil and they wanted to go out and root out terrorism in Chechnya.
DR. RICE: Thank you very much. Yes, of course.
First of all, all the way back at Ljubljana, which is when President
Putin and President Bush met for the first time, President Bush said
that he wanted to seek a new relationship with Russia that was more in
line with the post Cold War era, and in line with a Russia that is in
transition to better times for its people.
One reason that we were so concerned that the Anti-Ballistic Missile
Treaty and nuclear arms control not be somehow at the center of the
relationship, that was at the center of the relationship with the
Soviet Union. This is a different relationship with Russia. It is one
that is evolving and I think evolving in very positive ways.
There could be nothing better than a Russia that is at peace with its
neighbors, that is moving toward democratic development, that is
developing markets that can take full advantage of an extremely
creative population. We want to see those things happen and we have
been aggressive in pressing our economic relations with Russia and
with others to try to help Russia fulfill that tremendous potential.
We will have our differences. Russia is a big power, the United States
is a big power, and it's not as if everything will be wiped away right
immediately.
For instance, on Chechnya, we clearly have differences with the
Russian government about Chechnya. We've said to them that we fully
agree that the Chechen leadership should not involve itself with
terrorist elements in that region, and there are terrorist elements in
that region. But that not every Chechen is a terrorist and that the
Chechens' legitimate aspirations for political solution should be
pursued by the Russians. And we have been very actively pressing the
Russian government to move on the political front with Chechnya.
But we have gotten very good cooperation from Russia in terms of
support for the war on terrorism. They understand that this is a
global campaign, and they've been extremely helpful. I think it can
only help our relationship to show us that we have this common
security problem and to continue to work.
Russia has a long way to go. We've been concerned about issues of
press freedom in Russia. We've made that known to the government, and
we'll continue to make that known. But on the whole, on the whole, the
transition that is taking place in Russia and U.S.-Russian relations
appear to be moving largely in the right direction.
Q: -- I would just like to hear your prognosis of how we are going to
get that trade promotion authority this session so that we can move
forward, and your prospects for a free trade area of the Americas.
DR. RICE: Absolutely. Thank you very much for the question.
Let me say there may be no more important thing that we can do for
countries that are struggling to find prosperity for their people than
to open trade relations to them. The President said the other night --
and he's determined -- the House has acted, the Senate needs to act.
We need trade promotion authority.
This is not just an economic issue, although it will be good for
Americans and will bring jobs for Americans, and that cannot -- I
can't say that strongly enough. The highest, best jobs come with
opening trade. It is also a tool for democracy.
One of the first meetings that the President attended abroad was the
Summit of the Americas, in which it was remarkable to hear every
country there, many of them -- many of these leaders who had been
either jailed or in the opposition, in the '80s when you had military
governments in a lot of these places, say we have crushing problems in
our countries. People like Lagos of Chile or Fox of Mexico saying we
have crushing problems in our country. But the answer to that is more
trade, more democracy and a good relationship with the United States.
We have to deliver on the promise of trade so that these countries can
bring themselves and their people out of poverty. It is a better way
to bring them out of poverty, frankly, than all the development
assistance we could possibly give. We do development assistance. It's
extremely important. Institution building is important. But trade is
ultimately.
And so the ATPA, the Free Trade Agreement for the Americas, we're
pressing very hard. I think the prospects are good on the
international front. But the President needs that one tool of trade
promotion authority in order to be taken seriously in these
discussions.
Thank you very much. (Applause.)
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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