President Bush:
This is George W. Bush, the president of the United States. At
this moment, the regime of Saddam Hussein is being removed from
power and a long era of fear and cruelty is ending. American and
coalition forces are now operating inside Baghdad and we will not
stop until Saddam's corrupt gang is gone. The government of Iraq and
the future of your country will soon belong to you.
The goals of our coalition are clear and limited. We end a brutal
regime, whose aggression and weapons of mass destruction make it a
unique threat to the world. Coalition forces will help maintain law
and order so that Iraqis can live in security. We will respect your
great religious traditions, whose principles of equality and
compassion are essential to Iraqi's future. We will help you build a
peaceful and representative government that protects the rights of
all citizens. And then our military forces will leave. Iraq will go
forward as a unified, independent and sovereign nation that has
regained a respected place in the world.
The United States and its coalition partners respect the people
of Iraq. We are taking unprecedented measures to spare the lives of
innocent Iraqi citizens and are beginning to deliver food, water and
medicine to those in need. Our only enemy is Saddam's brutal regime
and that regime is your enemy as well.
In the new era that is coming to Iraq, your country will no
longer be held captive to the will of a cruel dictator. You will be
free to build a better life, instead of building more palaces for
Saddam and his sons, free to pursue economic prosperity without the
hardship of economic sanctions, free to travel and speak your mind,
free to join in the political affairs of Iraq. And all the people
who make up your country Kurds, Shiites, Turkomans, Sunnis and
others will be free of the terrible persecution that so many have
endured.
The nightmare that Saddam Hussein has brought to your nation will
soon be over. You are a good and gifted people the heirs of a
great civilization that contributes to all humanity. You deserve
better than tyranny and corruption and torture chambers. You deserve
to live as free people. And I assure every citizen of Iraq: your
nation will soon be free.
Thank you.
British Prime Minister Tony Blair:
I am glad to be able to speak to you today and to tell you that
Saddam Hussein's regime is collapsing; that the years of brutality,
oppression and fear are coming to an end; that a new and better
future beckons for the people of Iraq.
We did not want this war. But in refusing to give up his weapons
of mass destruction, Saddam gave us no choice but to act. Now the
war has begun, it will be seen through to the end. We will continue
to do all we can to avoid civilian casualties. Our enemy is Saddam
and his regime, not the Iraqi people. Our forces are friends and
liberators of the Iraqi people, not your conquerors. They will not
stay a day longer than is necessary.
I know that some of you feared a repeat of 1991, when you thought
Saddam's rule was being ended, but he stayed, and you suffered. That
will not happen this time. This regime will be gone. And then we
will work with you to build the peaceful, prosperous Iraq that you
want, and you deserve. This Iraq will not be run by Britain, or by
the U.S., or by the U.N. It will be run by you, the people of Iraq.
Our aim is to help alleviate immediate humanitarian suffering and
to move as soon as possible to an interim authority run by Iraqis.
This will pave the way for a truly representative Iraqi government,
which represents human rights and the rule of law and spends Iraq's
wealth not on palaces and weapons of mass destruction, but on you
and the services you need. Saddam Hussein and his regime plundered
your nation's wealth. While many of you live in poverty, they have
lived lives of luxury. He became one of the richest men in the
world; his money stolen from you, the Iraqi people.
The money from Iraqi oil will be yours; to be used to build
prosperity for you and your families.
I know too from my meetings with Iraqi exiles who live in Britain
that you are an inventive, creative people. You should be free to
travel, free to have access to independent media, free to express
your views, free to develop your culture.
My experience of people the world over is that we all want to be
able to live our lives in peace and security; we all want to give
our families the chance of a decent life. For years, that chance has
been denied to you. Millions of your countrymen and women have been
forced to leave. Many thousands have been murdered, tortured,
brutalized by the regime.
We want to give you the chance to rebuild your country; to
rebuild your lives; to give your families a chance of a better
future. It is in the spirit of friendship and goodwill that we now
offer our help.
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