Condoleezza Rice, December 13, 2005

Two days from now, the Iraqi people will go to the polls for the third time since January. And they will elect a parliament to govern their nation for the next four years. All across Iraq today, representatives from some 300 political parties are staging rallies, they're holding televised debates, they're hanging campaign posters, and they're taking their case to the Iraqi people. They are asking for the consent of the governed.

As this historic moment approaches, we in America are engaging in our own historic debate. Many Americans have asked questions about our nation’s role in Iraq. And in recent weeks, President Bush has responded by clearly describing our National Strategy for Victory in Iraq.

The American people want to know who we and the Iraqis are fighting and that we can win. And President Bush has answered, explaining the nature of the enemy that we face and why failure is not an option. The enemy in Iraq is a combination of rejectionists and Saddamists and terrorists. The rejectionists miss the unjust status they have lost. But we believe that some of them can be convinced to join a democratic Iraq that is strong enough to protect minority rights. The Saddamists are loyal to the old regime and think that they can regain power by inciting undemocratic sentiment. But as the Iraqi people become more able to defend their democracy, we believe that they will increasingly be marginalized.

The final enemy we face, the terrorists, are a small but deadly group, motivated by the global ideology of hatred that fuels al-Qaida, and they will stop at nothing to make Iraq the heart of a totalitarian empire that encompasses the entire Islamic world. If we quit now, we will give the terrorists exactly what they want. We will desert Iraq’s democrats at their time of greatest need. We will embolden every enemy of liberty across the Middle East. We will destroy any chance that the people of this region have of building a future of hope and decency. And most of all, we will make America more vulnerable.

In abandoning future generations in the Middle East to despair and terror, we also condemn future generations in the United States to insecurity and fear. And President Bush has made clear that on his watch, America will not retreat from a fight that we can and must win.

The American people also want to know what victory means in Iraq. And President Bush has answered, defining victory as the establishment of a free and democratic Iraq that can guarantee the freedom, meet the needs and defend the rights of all its citizens. As the President has said, victory in this struggle will not be a singular event, like the surrender of our enemies on the deck of an American battleship. Rather, victory, like democracy itself, will be a steady but definable process that will not be won overnight.

Lastly, and most importantly, the American people want to know how we and our Iraqi partners will achieve the victory we seek. And again, President Bush has answered, describing a national strategy that is broad and integrated, with three complementary tracks: security, economic and political.

On the security track, we are working together with the Iraqis to clear areas from enemy control, to hold the territory controlled by Iraq’s democratic government and to build the capacity of Iraq’s security forces to defend the rule of law.

On the economic track, we are helping the people of Iraq to restore their battered infrastructure, to reform their statist economy and to build the institutions that sustain economic liberty.

Finally, on the political track, we are helping the Iraqi people to isolate incorrigible enemies from democratic supporters, to engage all citizens who would choose the path of politics over the course of violence and to build inclusive democratic institutions that protect the interests of all Iraqis.

Ladies and Gentlemen: The President is answering America’s questions about our mission in Iraq. And today, I have come to the Heritage Foundation to address an additional question: What is the international community doing to advance the cause of victory in Iraq?

To answer simply: As the Iraqi people have inspired the world by freely embracing democracy, an international consensus has emerged that securing democracy in Iraq is strategically essential. This new consensus is generating international support that, quite frankly, was not fully present in the earliest days of Iraq’s liberation. And this support exists along each of the three tracks that I've outlined.

On the security front, our coalition today remains strong and active. Some 30 nations are contributing over 22,000 soldiers, who are risking their lives alongside brave Iraqi and brave American troops. Like generations of Americans before them, our men and women in uniform are distinguishing themselves today through selfless service. They are heroically defending the freedom of others against a determined enemy. And we in America mourn the loss and honor the sacrifice of our many sons and daughters who have fallen in Iraq and around the world to protect our way of life.

Our coalition in Iraq includes several partners, both old and new, who are also making historic contributions. No ally has assumed greater responsibility than Great Britain. Japan is maintaining its first significant overseas military deployment in 60 years. South Korea has more soldiers in Iraq today than any other ally except Great Britain. And even a small nation like El Salvador is making a large impact, sustaining the biggest and most distant deployment in its nation’s history.

America is grateful to every nation that stands with us in Iraq. Our coalition members have suffered nearly 200 dead and 500 wounded. And we especially note with some pride and some understanding that some of our strongest partners from the very beginning, those whose desire to fight tyranny is most fierce and for those with whom the memory of tyranny is most fresh.

Coalition forces today have responsibility for security in nearly 40 percent of Iraq. In southern Iraq, Britain and Poland are commanding multinational divisions, encompassing 19 nations in total, that are helping to root out terrorists and maintain security. Coalition field hospitals have treated more than three quarters of a million Iraqis. And smaller deployments from nations like Kazakhstan and Bosnia and Herzegovina are removing thousands of landmines and old ordinance.

Our coalition partners are also contributing to the important work of building effective Iraqi security forces. NATO is now participating in the training of Iraq’s new military. And Jordan is hosting a major police academy that is preparing thousands of Iraqis every month to protect and serve their fellow citizens. In addition, Hungary has donated dozens of tanks to Iraq’s military. And Japan has provided more than one thousand vehicles like fire trucks and ambulances to Iraq’s police and security forces.

Now, over time, the size and shape of our coalition will continue to evolve. In the coming months, some nations will reduce their number of troops in combat, but will continue to assume new security missions, including the training and equipping of Iraq’s military. Other countries, however, will extend the mandate for their forces as many have done in just the past few weeks.

Over time, the role of our coalition will also evolve, as Iraqis assume greater responsibility for their own security. With every passing day, Iraqis become better able to defend their nation and themselves and this enables us to shift more of our forces to helping Iraqis build the institutions of their new democracy. In the coming months and years, this will enable America’s men and women in uniform, as well as those of our coalition, to return home to their families with the honor that they deserve.

As the security situation in Iraq improves, so too does the prospect for Iraq’s economic reconstruction. It is difficult, however, to overstate the extent of this challenge. For several decades, Saddam Hussein robbed his nation to enrich himself, destroying Iraq’s infrastructure and abusing its most valuable resource: the talented Iraqi people themselves. In less than three years, however, the increased generosity of the international community has begun to build the foundation of a modern economy in Iraq and to liberate the entrepreneurial spirit of the Iraqi people.

Two years ago in Madrid, almost 40 countries and international institutions pledged $13.5 billion in assistance to Iraq. And as Iraq continues its transformation into a stable democracy, donors are making good on their promises. Today, this money is providing the Iraqi people access to more clean water and better health care, to renovate its schools with better teachers and upgraded houses in some of Iraq’s poorest neighborhoods. And Iraqis are making the most of this increased opportunity: They have started three times as many businesses in two and a half years of freedom as they did in four whole decades of tyranny.

Iraq’s international partners have also helped to liberate the Iraqi people from much of the crushing debt with which Saddam burdened the country. Last year, the Paris Club of international creditors agreed to forgive 80 percent of the $40 billion of Iraqi debt that is held by Club members, one of the most generous forgiveness efforts in the group’s history. This is a positive example that we are encouraging others to follow.

And in early 2004, the World Bank and the United Nations established the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq. Canada is serving as its co-chair and providing $85 million to the Facility, which has already received over $1 billion in contributions from 25 countries. These funds are enabling millions of Iraqis in cities to enjoy clean drinking water, improved sanitation in their poorest neighborhoods, and make a better life. And in the past year alone, this money has financed the rehabilitation and construction of hundreds of school buildings and provided 69 million new textbooks to children of all ages in nearly all of Iraq’s schools.

The gradual improvement of Iraq’s economy and the Iraqi government’s increasingly responsible fiscal leadership are also restoring the confidence of international financial institutions. Recently, the World Bank approved $500 million in development loans for Iraq to modernize its transportation, water, and education systems. And the International Monetary Fund, having determined that Iraq qualifies for $450 million in emergency assistance, is now working with the Iraqi Government to implement a long-term program for economic reform.

Now, despite the growing international support for Iraq’s reconstruction, more needs to be done. Many nations, especially Japan and South Korea, have distinguished themselves with their generosity. But others, like Iraq’s neighbors, should be doing a lot more. And for all who have pledged assistance to the Iraqi people, it is now time to deliver.

Finally, on the political front, the international community is increasingly overcoming old divisions and supporting Iraq’s transition to democracy. We have now passed fourmajor Security Council resolutions on Iraq, most of them unanimously, pledging the UN’s support for everything from an international mandate for our coalition forces, to an international rejection of terrorism in Iraq, to the goal of advancing Iraq’s democratic process.

Yet, as welcome as this broad support is, I'm sad to say that the international community has barely done anything to help Iraq prosecute Saddam Hussein. All who expressed their devotion to human rights and the rule of law have a special obligation to help the Iraqis bring to justice one of the world’s most murderous tyrants. The international community’s effective boycott of Saddam’s trial is only harming the Iraqi people, who are now working to secure the hope of justice and freedom that Saddam long denied them.

The Iraqi people clearly voiced their desire for freedom through democratic elections this January. And the sight of eight million free Iraqis, proudly displaying their ink-stained fingers, inspired new levels of international support for the goal of democracy in Iraq. In June, the United States and the European Union co-hosted an international conference in Brussels, at which more than 80 countries agreed to a new international partnership to support Iraq’s freely elected government.

The courage and conviction of the Iraqi people has also inspired new assistance from the United Nations, especially in preparation for Thursday’s elections. The UN supported Iraq in its successful constitutional referendum in October and before that in its elections in January, helping the Iraqis do everything from train election workers, to administering polling sites, to print and distribute five million copies of their constitution to their fellow citizens.

Finally, a new and hopeful change has been the growing support that Iraq now receives from its neighbors. Of course, countries like Jordan and Kuwait and Qatar were early supporters of Iraq’s liberation. And Jordan’s King Abdullah has consistently championed the emergence of a free Iraq and welcomed its integration into the region.

But lately, others have joined this course as well. Last year, Egypt hosted an international conference in Sharm el-Sheikh to support the Iraqi people. And Iraq’s neighbors have welcomed it back into the Arab League. Many Arab governments now recognize the legitimacy of Iraq’s democratically elected leaders and this newfound support culminated in the recent Arab League conference in Cairo in which states like Jordan and Saudi Arabia encouraged Iraq’s Sunnis to reject violence and to join the democratic process and to participate in Thursday’s elections. The process of supporting national accord in Iraq should continue early next year when there will be another international conference hosted by the Arab League.

Now, some of Iraq’s neighbors are showing themselves to be no friends of the Iraqi people. Syria has still not taken sufficient action to stop the terrorists who cross into Iraq from its territory. And Iran continues to meddle in Iraqi affairs and to support violence in Iraqi society.

Nevertheless, the enemies of Iraq are increasingly fewer and isolating themselves from the international community, because today, the world is more united than ever in support of a new Iraq. In just two days, when Iraqis make history by electing the most democratic leaders in the entire Middle East, they will do so with the moral and financial and diplomatic backing of an overwhelming majority of the world.

This is remarkable when you consider how sharply divided the world was only three years ago. President Bush’s vision of an Iraqi democracy, standing as a tribute to its citizens and serving as an inspiration to its neighbors, was neither grasped nor supported by many in the international community. Many believed that despotism was the permanent political condition of the Middle East. And they were prepared to countenance the false stability of undemocratic governments.

But there were others who knew better. Nations as different as Ukraine and Australia, Great Britain and South Korea, Poland and Japan, Lithuania and El Salvador, nations that were united by the shared conviction that liberty is not a scarce possession to be selfishly horded. Rather, it is a universal right that all free peoples must defend.

Today, countries that previously doubted the promise of democracy in Iraq are rallying to Iraq’s side. The Iraqi people are seizing an unprecedented opportunity to live at last in peace and in freedom. And their democratic example is inspiring impatient patriots in places like Lebanon and Egypt and the Palestinian territories -- courageous men and women who are now finding ever more supporters in the international community to champion their aspirations and defend their dignity.

The lesson, my friends, is clear: When America leads with principle in the world, freedom’s cause grows stronger. We saw this when Ronald Reagan spurned friendly dictators and supported freedom’s cause in Latin America. We saw this as well when Reagan called out the true character of the Soviet Union and liberated a democratic longing that ended the Cold War. And we are seeing this today, as the world awakens to the promise of a free Iraq.

Condoleezza Rice is the U.S. Secretary of State. This article is the text of an address she gave at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, D.C.