Il discorso del Presidente Bush all'Assemblea Generale dell'ONU del 12 Settembre 2002
Remarks by the President of the United States
United Nations
General Assembly
UN Headquarters, New York
12 September 2002
Mr. Secretary General,
Mr. President,
Distinguished delegates, and ladies and gentlemen: We meet one year and one day after a terrorist attack brought grief to my country, and brought grief to many citizens of our world. Yesterday, we remembered the innocent lives taken that terrible morning. Today, we turn to the urgent duty of protecting other lives, without illusion and without fear.
We've
accomplished much in the last year -- in Afghanistan and beyond. We have much
yet to do -- in Afghanistan and beyond. Many nations represented here have
joined in the fight against global terror, and the people of the United States
are grateful.
The
United Nations was born in the hope that survived a world war -- the hope of 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 be
destroyed by the will and wickedness of any man. We created the United Nations
Security Council, so that, unlike the League of Nations, our deliberations would
be more than talk, our resolutions would be more than wishes. After generations
of deceitful dictators and broken treaties and squandered lives, we dedicated
ourselves to standards of human dignity shared by all, and to a system of
security defended by all.
Today, these standards, and this security, are challenged. Our commitment to human dignity is challenged by persistent poverty and raging disease. The suffering is great, and our responsibilities are clear. The United States is joining 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 it is desperately needed.
As
a symbol of our commitment to human dignity, the United States will return to
UNESCO. This organization has been reformed and America will participate fully
in its mission to advance human rights and tolerance and learning.
Our
common security is challenged by regional conflicts -- ethnic and religious
strife that is ancient, but not inevitable. In the Middle East, there can be no
peace for either side without freedom for both sides. America stands committed
to an independent and democratic Palestine, living side by side with Israel in
peace and security. Like all other people, Palestinians deserve a government
that serves their interests and listens to their voices. My nation will continue
to encourage all parties to step up to their responsibilities as we seek a just
and comprehensive settlement to the conflict.
Above
all, our principles and our security are challenged today by outlaw groups and
regimes that accept no law of morality and have no limit to their violent
ambitions. In the attacks on America a year ago, we saw the destructive
intentions of our enemies. This threat hides within many nations, including my
own. In cells and camps, terrorists are plotting further destruction, and
building new bases for their war against civilization. And our greatest fear is
that terrorists will find a shortcut to their mad ambitions when an outlaw
regime supplies them with the technologies to kill on a massive scale.
In
one place -- in one regime -- we find all these dangers, in their most lethal
and aggressive forms, exactly the kind of aggressive threat the United Nations
was born to confront.
Twelve years ago, Iraq invaded Kuwait without provocation. And the regime's
forces were poised to continue their march to seize other countries and their
resources. Had Saddam Hussein been appeased instead of stopped, he would have
endangered 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 series of commitments. The terms were clear, to him and to all. And he agreed to prove he is complying with every one of those obligations.
He
has proven instead only his contempt for the United Nations, and for all his
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 cease at
once the repression of its own people, including the systematic repression of
minorities -- which the Council said, threatened international peace and
security in the region. This demand goes ignored.
Last
year, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights found that Iraq continues to commit
extremely grave violations of human rights, and that the regime's repression is
all pervasive. Tens of thousands of political opponents and ordinary 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 concealed from the world by the
apparatus of a totalitarian state.
In
1991, the U.N. Security Council, through Resolutions 686 and 687, demanded that
Iraq return all prisoners from Kuwait and other lands. Iraq's regime agreed. It
broke its promise. Last year the Secretary General's high-level coordinator for
this issue reported that Kuwait, Saudi, Indian, Syrian, Lebanese, Iranian,
Egyptian, Bahraini, and Omani nationals remain unaccounted for -- more than 600
people. One American pilot is among them.
In
1991, the U.N. Security Council, through Resolution 687, demanded that Iraq
renounce all involvement with terrorism, and permit no terrorist organizations
to operate in Iraq. Iraq's regime agreed. It broke this promise. In violation of
Security Council Resolution 1373, Iraq continues to shelter and support
terrorist organizations that direct violence against Iran, Israel, and Western
governments. Iraqi dissidents abroad are targeted for murder. In 1993, Iraq
attempted to assassinate the Emir of Kuwait and a former American President.
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 weapons of mass
destruction and long-range missiles, and to prove to the world it has done so by
complying with rigorous inspections. Iraq has broken every aspect of this
fundamental pledge.
From
1991 to 1995, the Iraqi regime said it had no biological weapons. After a senior
official in its weapons program defected and exposed this lie, the regime
admitted to producing tens of thousands of liters of anthrax and other deadly
biological agents for use with Scud warheads, aerial bombs, and aircraft spray
tanks. U.N. inspectors believe Iraq has produced two to four times the amount of
biological agents it declared, and has failed to account for more than three
metric tons of material that could be used to produce biological weapons. Right
now, Iraq is expanding and improving facilities that were used for the
production of biological weapons.
United
Nations' inspections also revealed that Iraq likely maintains stockpiles of VX,
mustard and other chemical agents, and that the regime is rebuilding and
expanding facilities capable of producing chemical weapons.
And
in 1995, after four years of deception, Iraq finally admitted it had a crash
nuclear weapons program prior to the Gulf War. We know now, were it not for that
war, the regime in Iraq would likely have possessed a nuclear weapon no later
than 1993.
Today,
Iraq continues to withhold important information about its nuclear program --
weapons design, procurement logs, experiment data, an accounting of nuclear
materials and documentation of foreign assistance. Iraq employs capable nuclear
scientists and technicians. It retains physical infrastructure needed to build a
nuclear weapon. Iraq has made several attempts to buy high-strength aluminum
tubes used to enrich uranium for a nuclear weapon. Should Iraq acquire fissile
material, it would be able to build a nuclear weapon within a year. And Iraq's
state-controlled media has reported numerous meetings between Saddam Hussein and
his nuclear scientists, leaving little doubt about his continued appetite for
these weapons.
Iraq
also possesses a force of Scud-type missiles with ranges beyond the 150
kilometers permitted by the U.N. Work at testing and production facilities shows
that Iraq is building more long-range missiles that it can inflict mass death
throughout the region.
In
1990, after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, the world imposed economic sanctions on
Iraq. Those sanctions were maintained after the war to compel the regime's
compliance with Security Council resolutions. In time, Iraq was allowed to 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 uses his oil
wealth to build lavish palaces for himself, and to buy arms for his country. By
refusing to comply with his own agreements, he bears full guilt for the hunger
and misery of innocent Iraqi citizens.
In
1991, Iraq promised U.N. inspectors immediate and unrestricted access to verify
Iraq's commitment to rid itself of weapons of mass destruction and long-range
missiles. Iraq broke this promise, spending seven years deceiving, evading, and
harassing U.N. inspectors before ceasing cooperation entirely. Just months after
the 1991 cease-fire, the Security Council twice renewed its demand that the
Iraqi regime cooperate fully with inspectors, condemning Iraq's serious
violations of its obligations. The Security Council again renewed that demand in
1994, and twice more in 1996, deploring Iraq's clear violations of its
obligations. The Security Council renewed its demand three more times in 1997,
citing flagrant violations; and three more times in 1998, calling Iraq's
behavior 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. inspectors set
foot in Iraq, four years for the Iraqi regime to plan, and to build, and to test
behind the cloak of secrecy.
We
know that Saddam Hussein pursued weapons of mass murder even when inspectors
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's
regime is a grave and gathering danger. To suggest otherwise is to hope against
the evidence. To assume this regime's good faith is to bet the lives of millions
and the peace of the world in a reckless gamble. And this is a risk we must not
take.
Delegates
to the General Assembly, we have been more than patient. We've tried sanctions.
We've tried the carrot of oil for food, and the stick of coalition military
strikes. But Saddam Hussein has defied all these efforts and continues to
develop weapons of mass destruction. The first time we may be completely certain
he has a -- nuclear weapons is when, God forbids, he uses one. We owe it to all
our citizens to do everything in our power to prevent that day from coming.
The
conduct of the Iraqi regime is a threat to the authority of the United Nations,
and a threat to peace. Iraq has answered a decade of U.N. demands with a decade
of defiance. All the world now faces a test, and the United Nations a difficult
and defining moment. Are Security Council resolutions to be honored and enforced,
or cast aside without consequence? Will the United Nations serve the purpose of
its founding, or will it be irrelevant?
The
United States helped found the United Nations. We want the United Nations to be
effective, and respectful, and successful. We want the resolutions of the world's
most important multilateral body to be enforced. And right now those resolutions
are being unilaterally subverted by the Iraqi regime. Our partnership of nations
can meet the test before us, by making clear what we now expect of the Iraqi
regime.
If
the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately and unconditionally forswear,
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 for terrorism
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 civilian
population, including Shi'a, Sunnis, Kurds, Turkomans, and others, again as
required by Security Council resolutions.
If
the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will release or account for all Gulf War
personnel whose fate is still unknown. It will return the remains of any who are
deceased, return stolen property, accept liability for losses resulting from the
invasion of Kuwait, and fully cooperate with international efforts to resolve
these issues, as required by Security Council resolutions.
If
the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will release or account for all Gulf War
personnel whose fate is still unknown. It will return the remains of any who are
deceased, return stolen property, accept liability for losses resulting from the
invasion of Kuwait, and fully cooperate with the international efforts to
resolve these issues, as required by Security Council resolutions.
If
the Iraqi regime wishes peace, it will immediately end all illicit trade outside
the oil-for-food program. It will accept U.N. administration of funds from that
program, to ensure that the money is used fairly and promptly for the benefit of
the Iraqi people.
If
all these steps are taken, it will signal a new openness and accountability in
Iraq. And it could open the prospect of the United Nations helping to build a
government that represents all Iraqis -- a government based on respect for human
rights, economic liberty, and internationally supervised elections.
The
United States has no quarrel with the Iraqi people; they've suffered too long 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 all nations
requires it. Free societies do not intimidate through cruelty and conquest, and
open societies do not threaten the world with mass murder. The United States
supports political and economic liberty in a unified Iraq.
We
can harbor no illusions -- and that's important today to remember. Saddam
Hussein attacked Iran in 1980 and Kuwait in 1990. He's fired ballistic missiles
at Iran and Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, and Israel. His regime once ordered the
killing of every person between the ages of 15 and 70 in certain Kurdish
villages 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 common challenge. 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 Council for the
necessary resolutions. But the purposes of the United States should not be
doubted. The Security Council resolutions will be enforced -- the just demands
of peace and security will be met -- or action will be unavoidable. And a 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 will have new
power to bully and dominate and conquer its neighbors, condemning the Middle
East to more years of bloodshed and fear. The regime will remain unstable -- the
region will remain unstable, with little hope of freedom, and isolated from the
progress of our times. With every step the Iraqi regime takes toward gaining and
deploying the most terrible weapons, our own options to confront that regime
will narrow. And if an emboldened regime were to supply these weapons to
terrorist allies, then the attacks of September the 11th would be a prelude to
far greater horrors.
If
we meet our responsibilities, if we overcome this danger, we can arrive at a
very different future. The people of Iraq can shake off their captivity. They
can one day join a democratic Afghanistan and a democratic Palestine, inspiring
reforms throughout the Muslim world. These nations can show by their example
that honest government, and respect for women, and the great Islamic tradition
of learning can triumph in the Middle East and beyond. And we will show that the
promise of the United Nations can be fulfilled in our time.
Neither of these outcomes is certain. Both have been set before us. We must choose between a world of fear and a world of progress. We cannot stand by and do nothing while dangers gather. We must stand up for our security, and for the permanent rights and the hopes of mankind. By heritage and by choice, the United States 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.