Remarks in Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents, Oct 18, 2004

Audience members. Boo-o-o!

The President. Yes. He's given a lot of explanations for that vote since. One of the most interesting ones of all, he said, "Well, the whole thing is a complicated matter." There's nothing complicated about supporting our troops in combat.

In our debate, Senator Kerry proposed that we should pass a "global test" before we defend ourselves.

Audience members. Boo-o-o!

The President. The problem with that "global test" is that the Senator can't ever pass it. I say that because in 1990, the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution supporting action to remove Saddam Hussein from Kuwait. The international community was united. Countries throughout the world joined the coalition. Yet, even after the United Nations' approval, in the United States Senate, Senator Kerry voted against authorization for the use of force. He couldn't pass his own test.

In this campaign, you might remember he said that removing Saddam Hussein was a mistake. He actually said he would have done it differently. He would have had the U.N. pass another resolution. [Laughter] If Senator Kerry had his way, not only would Saddam Hussein still be in a palace in Baghdad, he'd be occupying Kuwait. This world of ours is safer with Saddam Hussein sitting in a prison cell.

We'll continue to build strong alliances. I talked with Tony Blair today, on Air Force One. He's a great ally. And we'll build on those alliances, and we'll strengthen our coalitions. But I will never turn over America's national security decisions to leaders of other countries.

I believe in the transformational power of liberty. Perhaps I can explain it to you this way. Prime Minister Koizumi is a good friend of (nine and Laura's. But it wasn't all that long ago that we were at war with the Japanese. My dad fought in World War II. I know dads and granddads of the people out here fought in World War II as well, against a sworn enemy. And it was a tough war. It was a brutal war, like all war.

And alter World War II, Harry S. Truman, President of the United States, believed in the power of liberty to transform an enemy into an ally. That's what he believed. So after the war was over, we worked with the Japanese to build a democracy. There's a lot of people in this country who were skeptical about that action, skeptical about whether an enemy could ever become an ally, skeptical about whether Japan would become a democracy, skeptical about efforts to help them after they had hurt many of our citizens. But people believed. And as a result of that belief, today, I sit down with Prime Minister Koizumi, talking about how to keep the peace that we all want.

Someday, a duly elected leader of Iraq will sit down with an American President, talking about how to keep the peace in the Middle East, and our children and our grandchildren will be better off for it.

I believe that millions in the Middle East plead in silence for freedom. I believe that women in the Middle East want to grow up in a free society, and they want to raise their children in a free society. I believe that if given a chance, the people of the Middle East will embrace the most honorable form of government ever devised by man: democracy.