27 October 2002

President Bush: If the UN won't Act, the U.S., in the Name of Peace, Will Lead a Coalition to Disarm Saddam Hussein, October 27, 2002

Dodge Theater
Phoenix, Arizona
4:54 P.M. MST

(excerpt)

THE PRESIDENT: [...] And we learned a rough lesson on September the 11th, 2001: that when there's hatred and people trying to hurt us, the battlefield can end up right here at home. And we've always got to remember that. I'm certainly going to remember that, that the stakes are different and that they're higher. In order to protect the American people, we must see clearly the threats we face. We can't have any fuzziness anymore, because the oceans aren't there.

And there's a true threat that we face in the form of Saddam Hussein. It's a real threat; it's not an imagined threat. It's a threat -- it's a threat because he's shown the world what he's like.

He said he doesn't have any weapons of mass destruction, said he wouldn't have weapons of mass destruction, and he does. He's not only got a weapons of mass destruction, he's used weapons of mass destruction. He's used them against his neighbors, he's used them against his own citizens. This is a man who can't stand America and what we believe in. Nor can he stand some of our friends and allies. He's a danger, he's a threat.

And so I went to the United Nations and I said, you've told this guy for 11 years in 16 different resolutions to disarm and he hasn't done it. And for the sake of world peace, why don't you show us whether or not you're going to be a body which can act in the name of peace, or whether you're going to be something like the League of Nations. You have a choice to make, I said to them. (Applause.) Show us whether or not -- show us whether or not you can be effective. We want you to be effective in the name of peace. We want you to have people listen to your word. If you say disarm, we want people to disarm. If you come together as an organization that puts out a decree, that the free world speaks, we want you to be effective. I think he's going to make the world a more peaceful place as we head into the 21st century, particularly as we face these new threats. It's their choice to make.

And at the same time, we said the same thing to Saddam Hussein: you said you would disarm, now disarm; the choice is yours.

But my fellow Americans, for the sake of peace and security, for the sake of making sure the Middle East is peaceful, for the making sure that the true threats don't come to our shore in the form of a terrorist organization which may have obtained weapons of mass destruction from this man -- I believe we owe it to our children and our children's children to lead a coalition. If the U.N. won't act, if Saddam Hussein will not act, if he continues to defy the world, the United States, in the name of peace, will lead a coalition to disarm Saddam Hussein. (Applause.)

No, the threat is real. The threat is real. It's important to be clear-eyed. It's also important to do everything we can here at home to protect you, and a lot of good people are working hard to do so. Any time we find a hint, any kind of evidence of a plot, we're doing everything we can to disrupt or deter or deny. We've got a lot of good people at the federal level and the state level and the local level working a lot of long hours.

You see, we are on alert, we're aware. We weren't aware prior to September the 11th about this enemy that -- how evil they are. But now we know they're out there. And we're doing good things here at home, but we can do better. And that's why I've asked the Congress to join me in creating this Department of Homeland Security, so that the agencies involved with protecting you have got the capacity to have as a number one priority and a number one focus and a culture which says protecting America is the most important thing we'll do. (Applause.)

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