Memorial service for Ayatollah Muhammed Baqir Al-Hakim - Speeches - Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz - Transcript

US Department of Defense Speeches, Sept 27, 2003

Remarks as delivered by Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Arlington, Virginia, Saturday, September 27, 2003.

Dr. Ali Al-Attar: Today we are honored to have with us a senior member of the Bush Administration, Dr. Wolfowitz, who joins us to honor the memory and vision of Ayatollah Al-Hakim for a free, just, and independent Iraq.

Ladies and Gentlemen, it's a privilege and a great personal honor to introduce to you the Deputy Secretary of Defense, Dr. Paul Wolfowitz. [Applause]

Wolfowitz: Thank you, Dr. Al-Attar. After so many distinguished speakers have spoken, and with the hour late, perhaps I should simply sit down. But I wouldn't do that because I feel it's very important to speak here on behalf of President Bush and the government of the United States and the American people. If I may presume--and if you permit me to begin the way I learned to begin speeches when I was the American ambassador to Indonesia--Salaamu aleikum warahmat allah wabarakat hu.

I believe on an occasion like this it's also appropriate to recite a beautiful Muslim prayer that I learned while I was in Indonesia, the Fatiha. If you will forgive my Arabic, let me give it a try. I believe it is a sentiment that can be warmly embraced not only by Muslims but also by people of all faiths.

"Bismillaah ah-Rahmani ar-Raheem / Al hamdu lillaahi rabbil 'alameen / Ar-Rahmani ar-Raheemi / Maaliki yaumid Deen / lyyaaka na'abudu wa iy yaaka nasta 'een / Ihdinas siraatal mustaqeem Siraatal ladheena an 'amta' / alaihim Ghairil maghduubi' alaihim / waladaaleen Aameen."

"In the name of God the most compassionate and the most merciful, praise be to God, the cherisher and sustainer of the world, the most compassionate, the most merciful, master of the day of judgment, thee do we worship and thine aid do we seek. Show us the straight way, the way of those on whom thou has bestowed thy grace, thou whose portion is not wrath and who go not astray."

I feel humbled by the opportunity to join you in honoring the memory of Ayatollah Muhammed Baqir A1-Hakim. I personally feel deprived by his death because I had long looked forward to meeting this man, admired him from a distance over many years by his courageous opposition to the tyranny of Saddam Hussein. And I was pleased in more recent times, but not at all surprised, when he returned to Iraq after so many years in Iran and demonstrated that he was a true Iraqi patriot not beholding to any foreign country.

He was an inspiration, as you've already heard this afternoon, to so many people of different faiths and different confessions. His family had already suffered so much under the regime of Saddam Hussein and done so much for the liberation of Iraq. As you've heard he became head of SCIRI (the Supreme Council of Islamic Revolution in Iraq) after his brother Mahdi Al-Hakim was assassinated in 1988. And for the Americans who are here or maybe watching this on television, just stop and think for a moment what it means in one family that he was the sixth brother who died at the hands of this criminal regime, and one of 63 brothers and nephews. And unfortunately it is not a unique Iraqi story.

His untimely death deprived Iraq of an important leader at a time when men like him are badly need. We thank God that his brother Abdelaziz Al-Hakim, the last surviving brother, is alive and with us, and leading SCIRI in playing an important role on the Iraqi Governing Council. And I salute him, Dr. Chalabi, and Mr. Pachachi, and Mr. al-Jafari and Mr. Barham Sali and all of the members of the Governing Council, who are risking their lives today in the cause of a free Iraq.

And it's appropriate today also for a moment to honor the memory of many other brave men and women who have given their lives over the years and more recently for this noble cause. Akila Al-Hashimi, who died just two days ago, was assassinated by Ba'athist criminals, a member of the Governing Council who--in spite of a long career in the Foreign Ministry of Saddam Hussein--gave her life for the cause of a free Iraq. Mr. Sergio de-Mello of the United Nations who played such an important role in setting up the Governing Council, who gave his life a few weeks ago. For the more than 300 American and British and other Coalition soldiers who've died in the liberation of Iraq, and since the fall of Baghdad through various causes, including hostile action. Most recently in just the last day, Army Specialist Michael Andrade of Bristol, Rhode Island, and Sgt. 1st Class Robert Rooney of Nashua, New Hampshire. And they join the tens of thousands of Iraqis who have paid with their lives for opposing that horrible, sadistic, vicious, and brutal regime.

And yet, as President Bush said in his statement when he heard about the bombing in Najaf, the murder of Ayatollah Al-Hakim, "along with the murder of many innocent men and women gathered for prayer," the President said, "demonstrates the cruelty and desperation of the enemies of the Iraqi people." And if anyone needed proof about the commitment of the Iraqi people--in particular the commitment of the Shi'a of Iraq--to a peaceful and democratic Iraq, they had that proof when tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands, of people came out in peace to greet the funeral procession of Muhammed Baqir Al-Hakim's funeral procession. Like them, we say today, "Peace on Hakim's soul," that we should "think not of those who are killed in the way of God as dead. Nay they are alive with their Lord and they have provision." (from Surah 3, the Koran)