President explains view at Air Force Academy graduation

President Bush delivered an address at the U.S. Air Force Academy June 2 that gives details of his vision for a free and democratic Iraq, the future of the greater Middle East, and these issues as part of the global war on terror.

Following is a fact sheet based on his speech:

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The White House
Principal Themes of President Bush's speech to the United States Air Force Academy

June 2, 2004

Last week, the president reported to the American people on the five specific steps we are taking to achieve self-government in Iraq. Today, the president discussed his strategy for victory in the larger War on Terror -- describing a clash of political visions between terrorists who want to impose a future of darkness across the Middle East, and America's vision of liberty and respect for human dignity.

Just as events in Europe determined the outcome of the Cold War, events in the Middle East will set the course of the War on Terror:

-- If the Middle East is abandoned to dictators and terrorists, it will be a constant source of violence and alarm -- exporting killers of increasingly destructive power to attack America and other free nations.

-- If the Middle East grows in democracy, prosperity, and hope, the terrorist movement will lose its sponsors, lose its recruits, and lose the festering grievances that keep terrorists in business.

The stakes of this struggle are high -- the future security and peace of our country -- and success in this struggle is our only option. To make America safer, the president is pursuing a strategy that calls for:

1. Using every available tool to disrupt, dismantle, and destroy terrorists and their organizations;

2. Denying terrorists places of sanctuary and support and preventing the emergence of terrorist-controlled states;

3. Using all elements of national power to deny terrorists the chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons they seek; and

4. Working for freedom and reform in the broader Middle East, stopping the flow of recruits into the terrorist movement by offering a real and hopeful alternative.

All four elements of this strategy are being applied and tested in Iraq. America removed a state sponsor of terror with a history of using weapons of mass destruction. We now face al-Qaida associates like Zarqawi who seek to hijack Iraq's future. Our enemies want us to retreat, leaving Iraq to tyranny and claiming a victory over America -- enabling them to gather new strength and take their violence directly to America and our allies.

But our coalition is determined -- and the Iraqi people have made it clear: Iraq will remain in the camp of freedom. As recent developments have shown, the Iraqi people are moving forward to achieve democracy.

-- Iraq now has a designated prime minister, along with a president and two deputy presidents, who will lead a government of 33 ministers that will take office immediately in preparation for transfer of full sovereignty on June 30. America and Great Britain are now working with the U.N. Security Council and Iraq's new leaders on a resolution that will endorse the sovereign government of Iraq and urge other nations to actively support it.

-- The United States and our allies, working with the United Nations, will help Iraq's new government prepare for national elections by January of 2005.

-- Many brave Iraqis have stepped forward to fight for their own freedom, and they are working closely with U.S. and coalition forces to disband illegal militia, defeat terrorists, and secure the safe arrival of Iraqi democracy.

The enemy knows the stakes as well as we do, and they will try to use violence to reverse gains made in Iraq. But our coalition is prepared, our will is strong, and neither Iraq's new leadership nor the United States will be intimidated by thugs and assassins. We believe that "the future belongs to the free," and we will keep our word, and hold firm to our values -- showing the world the power of liberty once again.

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(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)