Afghanistan News January 22, 2004

January 22, 2004

Several top Afghan militants detained
(AP) - KABUL, Afghanistan - Peacekeepers and Afghan police arrested several top agents of Gulbuddin Hekmatyar, an Afghan warlord allied to the Taliban and considered a terrorist by the United States, the peacekeeping chief said Wednesday.

More than three "main actors" in Hekmatyar's organization were detained in the Afghan capital, Kabul, Lt. Gen. Goetz Gliemeroth, the commander of the NATO-led peacekeeping force in Kabul, said.

At least one of the men is suspected in a mine blast that killed two Canadian soldiers in October, he said. All are now in U.S. custody. A man identified as Abu Bakr was arrested in Kabul five days after the mine blast, and Gliemeroth said there was "very strong evidence" that he had been involved in the attack.

Gliemeroth didn't identify the other men or provide further details, including when the other arrests were made. He said the investigation was still continuing. Hekmatyar is a former Afghan prime minister, and his fighters have joined those of the Taliban and al-Qaida in attacks against U.S. and Afghan forces.

Gliemeroth said Kabul police sent the men for detention to the main U.S. military base at Bagram, north of the capital. U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty said he couldn't comment on any detainees at Bagram, where the American military has a jail for terrorist suspects.

The two Canadians died Oct. 2 when an anti-tank mine hidden on a sandy track in hills south of Kabul exploded under their vehicle during a routine patrol. Three other soldiers were injured.

Gliemeroth, a German, commands the 6,100-strong International Security Assistance Force that patrols the Afghan capital and recently added a base in the northern city of Kunduz. Kabul has been largely spared the attacks on U.S. and Afghan troops, government targets and aid workers that have plagued the south and east, killing about 60 people in this month alone, most of them civilians.

But Gliemeroth said the capital remained at risk from attacks. Last June, four German peacekeepers were killed in a suicide attack on their bus. In November, a bomb shattered windows at one of Kabul's few up-market hotels. And last month, a bomb destroyed a wall outside a U.N. guest house in the capital.

Those attacks have been carried out "very professionally," he said, saying the attackers could still be in Kabul or return. In Kunduz, German forces have taken over a so-called Provincial Reconstruction Team, a joint security-reconstruction operation established by the United States. ISAF will probably take over another five such teams by the end of the year, mainly in the more stable north and west parts of the country, Gliemeroth said.

The widening of the peacekeeping mission is supposed to free up U.S. forces, which are establishing new security teams across the troubled south and east in time for summer elections.

4 men arrested over planned attacks in southern Afghanistan
AFP 01/21/2004
KANDAHAR - Four men, including two wearing women's clothes, have been arrested in the main southern city Kandahar on suspicion of planning bomb attacks, the city's military chief said Wednesday. Two men carrying grenades and wearing all-enveloping head-to-toe burquas used by most Afghan women, were arrested Wednesday in Kandahar's crowded Herat Barwaza district, Ahmad Shah said.

"They were planning a terrorist attack," Shah said. Two other men were arrested separately in the same district earlier this week "for placing bombs," he added. The Herat Barwaza shopping district is close to the site of a bicycle bomb explosion in early December which injured some 15 people. Meanwhile, five people have been killed in a landmine explosion in south-central Afghanistan, a district governor said Wednesday.

"A civilian vehicle which was on its way from Deh Rahwood district ran over a mine which killed five and injured one," Char Chino district chief Abdul Rahman said. The mine was apparently newly-planted along the road in Uruzgan province's Char Chino district, the same district where a US military operation led to the deaths of at least five people on the weekend. Despite US rebuttals, Rahman has insisted that 11 civilians, including women and children, were killed by US fire in the attack. The US maintains it killed five armed men.

Rahman said the latest incident, which occurred on Tuesday, killed three civilians and two Afghan soldiers, all from the same district in neighbouring troubled Zabul province.

Germany Seen Sending Tanks to Afghanistan
(DW) - Germany's defense minister plans to send light tanks to support Bundeswehr soldiers policing the dangerous northern Afghanistan city of Kunduz, according to a newspaper.

The daily Bild reported that Peter Struck wants to send eight "Wiesels," light tanks outfitted with a 20mm cannon. There are currently 170 German soldiers in the northern city providing security in the dangerous drug trade hub. The number of soldiers will climb to 370 by June.

Governor Replaced in Southern Afghan Province
RFE/RL 01/21/2004 Amin TArzi
The governor of the troubled Zabul Province in southern Afghanistan has been recalled to Kabul by the ATA and replaced with a new appointee, Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press (AIP) reported on 19 January. Governor Hafizullah Hashemi reportedly left the provincial capital of Qalat on 19 January with a number of his colleagues bound for Kabul. Khial Mohammad Hosayni has been appointed acting governor in Zabul, but he is still in Kabul, according to the news agency.

AIP reported that Zabul's deputy governor, Mawlawi Mohammad Omar, has been pointing to Hashemi's administration as the source of many problems in the province. However, after the killing of Major General Shah Alam by forces believed to be loyal to Hashemi on 5 January, attitudes toward the governor "took a sharp turn," according to AIP.

Zabul Province has been the scene of a number of attacks blamed on neo-Taliban insurgents in recent months, and some of the province's districts have been controlled for short periods by the opposition. The continued fighting has prompted the mobilization of a number of disparate forces in the area.

American writer presents play to Afghan actors, hopes for show in Kabul
(AP) - KABUL, Afghanistan -- An American writer has presented a play exploring Afghanistan's brutal political culture to some of its top actors, hoping to inspire a production on Kabul's war-battered stages and raise funds for Afghan orphans.

Emmy-winning playwright William Mastrosimone donated a script of "The Afghan Women" Monday at the Soviet-era headquarters of Afghanistan's state television company. Actors of all ages crowded in into a room to hear Mastrosimone urge them to stage the work _ and raise the prospect of a tour to the United States if it also gets an airing on Broadway.

"The message of the play is very strongly pro-democratic," Mastrosimone told the circle of expectant faces, saying he wanted to create "a bridge of art" between Afghans and Americans.

Mastrosimone, who spent a few weeks in Afghanistan in 1981 with Mujahadeen rebels fighting the Soviet occupation, has set his play in the time after U.S. military might ousted the Taliban two years ago.

Its hero is an Afghan woman who flees the earlier fighting, but returns from the United States after the fall of the hardline Islamic regime to found an orphanage. She ends up killing a warlord who tries to use the kids as a human shield as he retreats from a failed coup attempt in Kabul _ and inspiring the warlord's vengeful son to turn away from violence.

Mastrosimone, a 56-year-old from Trenton, N.J., said the play was only available in the United States to theater groups who pledged to run it as a fund-raiser for a California-based charity supporting orphanages in three Afghan cities.

The play premiered last year at the Mill Hill Playhouse in Trenton, the first of a dozen performances in small amateur theaters that raised $10,000, a sum he said would rocket if his search for a Broadway showing succeeds.

Showing it in Afghanistan, where armed faction leaders still dominate, would have a different value. "I think it's dangerous," he said. "It's about the murder of a warlord." First, though, it has to find a functioning theater.

Kabul's main playhouse, The Kabul Theater, was destroyed along with most of capital during the 1992-96 civil war, when the Mujahadeen warlords turned on each other after the Soviet withdrawal.

Recently, offices and rehearsal rooms have been repaired and re-equipped one at a time with donations from countries including Norway. But Afghan actors _ and hardy audiences _ say they have only been able to use the main stage in the summer because the bomb damage has left it with neither a roof nor seating.

Mastrosimone said a brief encounter with its director, Gull Makai Shah, left him convinced the play would go ahead once it is has been translated: "She's seen theater in New York and London. It'll have a high standard."

The stage would in any case be best lit with flaming torches, he said, making the best of the city's regular blackouts. Kabul's dramatic community also appeared keen, jostling for places in a photo-shoot with their surprise visitor and beaming at his suggestion that the six to be selected might end up touring the United States.

"I would like to see the difference between the way they work and we work," said Anisa Wahab, a diminutive 37-year-old angling for one of the four female roles. "And I want to see America."

A Bright Hope in a Sad Land
TIME magazine 01/21/2004 By Richard Corliss
The first post-Taliban film from Afghanistan stirs the heart with its story of a girl in a man's world. She has the eyes of an orphan too proud to plead, too desperate to reproach. She is poor, female and 12, and in mid-'90s Afghanistan, with the Taliban thug clerics in power, that means no schooling, employment or respect. Then her mother has an idea. Cut the girl's hair, dress her in robes and give her a boy's name — Osama — so she can find work as a "boy" and support the tattered family.

The plot of Siddiq Barmak's Osama sounds like a twist on an old story. It's an unsentimental Yentl or — considering the eerie resemblance of Osama's Marina Golbahari to Hilary Swank — an Afghan Boys Don't Cry. In 2001 Iran produced a similar fable, Baran, set among illegal Afghan refugees in Tehran. But life has ways of imitating art. Osama, the first feature made in Afghanistan since the Taliban seized power, is based on a true story. And truth shines through every frame, thanks to Barmak's storytelling skill and his young star's unaffected radiance.

The mother's reckless ruse has ominous consequences. Everyone notices that this Osama is different — "like a nymph," one man says. After landing a menial job, the girl is taken to the men-only prayer ritual, where each lad is instructed in the proper washing of the male genitals. Her deceit is discovered when she has her first menstrual period, and she is married off to an old mullah.

Heartfelt and handsomely made, Osama is the story not just of one unfortunate girl but of a nation besieged by autocratic theocracy. The film roams Kabul's streets for vignettes of the regime's depredations. When a Taliban inspector arrives at a hospital where a female doctor is treating an old man, the doctor must conceal herself by quickly donning a burqa and claiming she is the wife of her patient's son.

A film like this from a country like Afghanistan might seem a curiosity. It is more like a miracle. When the Taliban took over in 1996, it torched theaters, burned thousands of reels of film. Barmak, then head of the state-run Afghan Film Organization, fled Kabul and made documentaries for Northern Alliance leader Ahmed Shah Massoud (later assassinated by al-Qaeda). After the regime's overthrow, he returned to make educational films for the illiterate majority and toured the country with eight cinema caravans, which also screened old Chaplin and Keaton comedies. "Our technical guys cried," he says. "It was the first time they had seen people laugh in years."

Barmak found his Osama leading lady on a Kabul street: a girl approached him, begging for money. "Her eyes," he says, "were like an explosion of light." Golbahari didn't need to reach deep for the emotions she was to show onscreen. "He asked what made me sad," she says. "I thought about my sisters, who died during the war, and I just started crying."

Afghanistan, whose headlines for years read like a wail of pain, has had many reasons to cry. Now its citizens can laugh and cry at the movies. The rest of us can cheer.

Probe into attack on troops inconclusive
Canadian Press 01/21/2004
KABUL - An investigation into the October mine blast that killed two Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan has not been able to establish conclusively that terrorists were behind the strike, the commander of the NATO-led force in Kabul said Wednesday.

"The formal overall inquiry will not have found, unfortunately, a final end," said Lt.-Gen. Goetz Gliemeroth of Germany. However, Gliemeroth, head of the International Security Assistance Force, said despite the inconclusive finding he is personally convinced the two soldiers died as the result of an act of terror.
And Gliemeroth told a news conference at ISAF headquarters that he believes a man now being held by U.S. authorities in Afghanistan was responsible for the attack.

Abu Bakr was arrested Oct. 7 by Kabul police, with the help of Canadian, British and German forces. Bakr was the Kabul-area commander of Hezb-e-Islami Gulbuddin, or HIG, described by the Canadian contingent's top soldier as the third-largest terrorist organization in Afghanistan after al-Qaida and the Taliban.
"There is very strong evidence that that very man had been involved (in the blast)," said Gliemeroth. Sgt. Robert Short and Cpl. Robbie Beerenfenger died Oct. 2 when at least one anti-tank mine hidden on a sandy track in hills south of Kabul exploded under their vehicle during a routine patrol. Three other soldiers were injured.
Several top HIG agents have been arrested in Kabul and "more than a total of three main actors" in the organization run by warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar have been detained, Gliemeroth said.

He didn't identify the other men or provide further details, including when the other arrests were made. He said the investigation was continuing. Hekmatyar is a former Afghan prime minister and now an ally of the ousted Taliban regime which has recently stepped up attacks inside Afghanistan.

Gliemeroth said Kabul police sent the men for detention to the main U.S. military base at Bagram, north of the capital. U.S. military spokesman Lt.-Col. Bryan Hilferty said he couldn't comment on any detainees at Bagram, where the American military has a jail for terrorist suspects.

Gliemeroth commands the 6,100-member force that patrols the Afghan capital and recently added a base in the northern city of Kunduz. There are 2,000 Canadians stationed in or around Kabul as part of ISAF.

Kabul has been largely spared the attacks that have plagued U.S. and Afghan troops, government targets and aid workers in the south and east, where about 60 people have been killed this month alone. Most of those killed have been civilians.

However, Gliemeroth said the capital remains at risk. Last June, four German peacekeepers were killed in a suicide attack on their bus. In November, a bomb shattered windows at one of Kabul's few up-market hotels. And last month, a bomb destroyed a wall outside a UN guest house in the capital.

Those attacks have been carried out "very professionally," he said, saying the attackers could still be in Kabul. In Kunduz, German forces have taken over a so-called Provincial Reconstruction Team, a joint security-reconstruction operation established by the United States.

Gliemeroth said ISAF will probably have taken over another five PRTs in the Afghan provinces by the end of the year, mainly in the largely stable north and west.
Britain, New Zealand and the United States already run teams in those regions - a move to improve security and encourage Afghan authorities and aid workers to help in reconstruction. Italy, Norway and Sweden are also expected to provide troops who can operate in the provinces under ISAF command.

Canada has been considering whether to provide its own PRT in Afghanistan, however no decisions are expected from Ottawa until late next month at the earliest. Gliemeroth said countries must also deploy extra equipment and a special rapid-reaction force in case they need to extract soldiers and civilians from far-flung areas in an emergency.

That widening of the peacekeeping mission is supposed to free up U.S. forces which are establishing new security teams across the troubled south and east in time for summer elections.

The United Nations, which has long pushed for the peacekeeping operation to be expanded nationwide, has warned that the vote can only go ahead if security improves. Gliemeroth said he expected other countries to announce extra support for the security mission in February

Herat Governor Opposes Female Singing Appearances on Afghan
TV RFE/RL 01/21 Amin Tarzi
Mohammad Ismail Khan has expressed strong opposition to the broadcasting of songs performed by female Afghan singers, the Kabul daily "Erada" reported on 19 January. The governor of the western Afghan province of Herat, Ismail Khan reportedly ordered the banning of such audio and video recordings from his province following the approval of a new Afghan Constitution that refers to the country as the "Islamic Republic of Afghanistan," signaling a strict interpretation of Islam.
State-owned Kabul-based Afghanistan Television recently broke with a decade of restrictive policy by broadcasting performances by female Afghan singers.

The move prompted a dispute between Afghanistan's Information and Culture Ministry and the conservative religious establishment, led by the Afghan Supreme Court, which regarded the act un-Islamic and thus unconstitutional. Information and Culture Minister Sayyed Makhdum Rahin has said Afghanistan Television will continue to broadcast songs by female Afghan singers.

"According to the new constitution of Afghanistan, men and women have equal rights in all areas, including the arts," Rahin said, according to "Erada," which cited the BBC.

IRC Pushes for Property Rights in Afghanistan
01/21/2004
KABUL - Millions of Afghan refugees and internally displaced Afghans have returned home since the fall of the Taliban, hopeful that their country has finally escaped a quarter century of war. The U.N. refugee agency (UNHCR) expects another 900,000 or more to repatriate in 2004 as economic and security conditions continue to improve.

Still, for various reasons, millions of displaced Afghans are unable to go home. And perhaps the most prevalent -- and certainly one of the most complex -- obstacles preventing return is the lack of access to land and housing. The magnitude of the problem led the IRC to hire a property law expert, John Dempsey, to focus on the issue and advocate changes that would have lasting impact on the lives of all Afghans.

During the past year, Dempsey and a team of Afghan national lawyers working for the IRC have engaged in a number of projects, including researching property-related obstacles that are preventing the return of uprooted Afghans. The main concerns identified are the destruction of homes, the presence of landmines, the paucity of arable land, hostile property occupation, interethnic tension, gender discrimination, fraudulent deeds, inequitable social and financial relations and the lack of effective property recording systems or adequate dispute resolution mechanisms.

For many Afghans, the problem is a combination of these factors. "The 15 jeribs of farmland I abandoned in Kunduz when I fled to Pakistan has been in my family for generations," explained an elderly man currently living in Pakistan's Kohat Refugee Camp. "But now, just because we are ethnic Pashtuns, everyone back in my village claims I am part of al Qaeda, so my family can't go back. But my ancestors and I are farmers! We're not terrorists! And because our land is occupied by Tajiks, who have the support of powerful commanders, we are stuck in this camp, working to make bricks 12 hours per day for virtually no pay."

Dempsey and his colleagues heard similar sentiments from dozens of refugees, indicating how various factors -- occupation of land, ethnic and political tensions, lack of the rule of law -- can contribute to making property disputes some of the most intractable in Afghanistan.

Dempsey points out that one major difference between Afghanistan and other post-conflict countries is that in Afghanistan, landlessness is a much larger concern than property restitution.

"The real issue for most returnees is not ownership of property but access to property," says Dempsey. "Most refugees didn't own land in the first place but instead worked as sharecroppers and laborers on others' land. With little hope of getting their jobs back, they?re hoping the government might allocate plots to them."

IRC and UNHCR jointly intervened early in 2003 in a few property cases of displaced persons, but a weak judiciary and police system in the country made resolving these cases fairly difficult. More often than not, corruption and intimidation played a role in the outcome.

Thus, rather than continue ad hoc attempts to address individual property cases, Dempsey and his Afghan colleagues shifted their attention to advocating for legal reforms that promote the protection of property rights.

With a new Constitution being drafted for Afghanistan, Dempsey met with President Hamed Karzai, some of his Ministers and members of the Judicial Reform Commission to advocate for the passage of statutes that might improve the country's property and dispute resolution laws. His recommendations focused on distribution of land to landless returnees and alternative mechanisms for courts to resolve property disputes.

Dempsey was also invited to draft a suggested chapter on land rights, which he presented to a plenary session of the Constitutional Review Commission in September. The draft currently being debated by the Constitutional Loya Jirga, ultimately included several of the recommended concepts, including an article requiring the State to distribute land to deserving citizens.

"The current draft is an improvement on the old Constitution, at least on this issue of land distribution," says Dempsey. "It doesn?t address property rights in significant detail, but we realize much more will be done at the statutory level."

The ongoing insecurity in many parts of the country and the large number of armed militias opposed to the Afghan Transitional Authority pose challenges to implementing new rule of law initiatives. But Dempsey says it would be a mistake to delay property law reform until security and disarmament have been achieved.
"Violence in Afghanistan often results directly from disputes over land or homes, and thus, addressing property disputes will improve security. You cannot have one without the other," says Dempsey. Given the magnitude of the property problems in the country, the IRC plans to continue work on property law initiatives in Afghanistan in 2004 and beyond.

Excerpts from Pres. Bush’s State of the Union Speech
1/20.04
… America is on the offensive against the terrorists who started this war. Last March, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a mastermind of September the 11th, awoke to find himself in the custody of U.S. and Pakistani authorities. Last August the 11th brought the capture of the terrorist Hambali, who was a key player in the attack in Indonesia that killed over 200 people. We're tracking al Qaeda around the world, and nearly two-thirds of their known leaders have now been captured or killed. Thousands of very skilled and determined military personnel are on the manhunt, going after the remaining killers who hide in cities and caves, and one by one, we will bring these terrorists to justice. (Applause.)

As part of the offensive against terror, we are also confronting the regimes that harbor and support terrorists, and could supply them with nuclear, chemical or biological weapons. The United States and our allies are determined: We refuse to live in the shadow of this ultimate danger. (Applause.)

The first to see our determination were the Taliban, who made Afghanistan the primary training base of al Qaeda killers. As of this month, that country has a new constitution, guaranteeing free elections and full participation by women. Businesses are opening, health care centers are being established, and the boys and girls of Afghanistan are back in school. With the help from the new Afghan army, our coalition is leading aggressive raids against the surviving members of the Taliban and al Qaeda. The men and women of Afghanistan are building a nation that is free and proud and fighting terror -- and America is honored to be their friend. (Applause.)

Since we last met in this chamber, combat forces of the United States, Great Britain, Australia, Poland and other countries enforced the demands of the United Nations, ended the rule of Saddam Hussein, and the people of Iraq are free. (Applause.)

Having broken the Baathist regime, we face a remnant of violent Saddam supporters. Men who ran away from our troops in battle are now dispersed and attack from the shadows. These killers, joined by foreign terrorists, are a serious, continuing danger. Yet we're making progress against them. The once all-powerful ruler of Iraq was found in a hole, and now sits in a prison cell. (Applause.) Of the top 55 officials of the former regime, we have captured or killed 45. Our forces are on the offensive, leading over 1,600 patrols a day and conducting an average of 180 raids a week. We are dealing with these thugs in Iraq, just as surely as we dealt with Saddam Hussein's evil regime. (Applause.)

The work of building a new Iraq is hard, and it is right. And America has always been willing to do what it takes for what is right. Last January, Iraq's only law was the whim of one brutal man. Today our coalition is working with the Iraqi Governing Council to draft a basic law, with a bill of rights. We're working with Iraqis and the United Nations to prepare for a transition to full Iraqi sovereignty by the end of June. As democracy takes hold in Iraq, the enemies of freedom will do all in their power to spread violence and fear. They are trying to shake the will of our country and our friends, but the United States of America will never be intimidated by thugs and assassins. (Applause.) The killers will fail, and the Iraqi people will live in freedom. (Applause.) Month by month, Iraqis are assuming more responsibility for their own security and their own future. And tonight we are honored to welcome one of Iraq's most respected leaders: the current President of the Iraqi Governing Council, Adnan Pachachi. Sir, America stands with you and the Iraqi people as you build a free and peaceful nation. (Applause.) Because of American leadership and resolve, the world is changing for the better. Last month, the leader of Libya voluntarily pledged to disclose and dismantle all of his regime's weapons of mass destruction programs, including a uranium enrichment project for nuclear weapons. Colonel Qadhafi correctly judged that his country would be better off and far more secure without weapons of mass murder. (Applause.)

Nine months of intense negotiations involving the United States and Great Britain succeeded with Libya, while 12 years of diplomacy with Iraq did not. And one reason is clear: For diplomacy to be effective, words must be credible, and no one can now doubt the word of America. (Applause.)

Different threats require different strategies. Along with nations in the region, we're insisting that North Korea eliminate its nuclear program. America and the international community are demanding that Iran meet its commitments and not develop nuclear weapons. America is committed to keeping the world's most dangerous weapons out of the hands of the most dangerous regimes. (Applause.)

When I came to this rostrum on September the 20th, 2001, I brought the police shield of a fallen officer, my reminder of lives that ended, and a task that does not end. I gave to you and to all Americans my complete commitment to securing our country and defeating our enemies. And this pledge, given by one, has been kept by many. You in the Congress have provided the resources for our defense, and cast the difficult votes of war and peace. Our closest allies have been unwavering. America's intelligence personnel and diplomats have been skilled and tireless. And the men and women of the American military -- they have taken the hardest duty. We've seen their skill and their courage in armored charges and midnight raids, and lonely hours on faithful watch. We have seen the joy when they return, and felt the sorrow when one is lost. I've had the honor of meeting our servicemen and women at many posts, from the deck of a carrier in the Pacific to a mess hall in Baghdad.
Many of our troops are listening tonight. And I want you and your families to know: America is proud of you. And my administration, and this Congress, will give you the resources you need to fight and win the war on terror. (Applause.) I know that some people question if America is really in a war at all. They view terrorism more as a crime, a problem to be solved mainly with law enforcement and indictments. After the World Trade Center was first attacked in 1993, some of the guilty were indicted and tried and convicted, and sent to prison. But the matter was not settled. The terrorists were still training and plotting in other nations, and drawing up more ambitious plans. After the chaos and carnage of September the 11th, it is not enough to serve our enemies with legal papers. The terrorists and their supporters declared war on the United States, and war is what they got. (Applause.)

Some in this chamber, and in our country, did not support the liberation of Iraq. Objections to war often come from principled motives. But let us be candid about the consequences of leaving Saddam Hussein in power. We're seeking all the facts. Already, the Kay Report identified dozens of weapons of mass destruction-related program activities and significant amounts of equipment that Iraq concealed from the United Nations. Had we failed to act, the dictatator's weapons of mass destruction programs would continue to this day. Had we failed to act, Security Council resolutions on Iraq would have been revealed as empty threats, weakening the United Nations and encouraging defiance by dictators around the world. Iraq's torture chambers would still be filled with victims, terrified and innocent. The killing fields of Iraq -- where hundreds of thousands of men and women and children vanished into the sands -- would still be known only to the killers. For all who love freedom and peace, the world without Saddam Hussein's regime is a better and safer place. (Applause.)

Some critics have said our duties in Iraq must be internationalized. This particular criticism is hard to explain to our partners in Britain, Australia, Japan, South Korea, the Philippines, Thailand, Italy, Spain, Poland, Denmark, Hungary, Bulgaria, Ukraine, Romania, the Netherlands -- (applause) -- Norway, El Salvador, and the 17 other countries that have committed troops to Iraq. (Applause.) As we debate at home, we must never ignore the vital contributions of our international partners, or dismiss their sacrifices.

From the beginning, America has sought international support for our operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and we have gained much support. There is a difference, however, between leading a coalition of many nations, and submitting to the objections of a few. America will never seek a permission slip to defend the security of our country. (Applause.)
We also hear doubts that democracy is a realistic goal for the greater Middle East, where freedom is rare. Yet it is mistaken, and condescending, to assume that whole cultures and great religions are incompatible with liberty and self-government. I believe that God has planted in every human heart the desire to live in freedom. And even when that desire is crushed by tyranny for decades, it will rise again. (Applause.)

As long as the Middle East remains a place of tyranny and despair and anger, it will continue to produce men and movements that threaten the safety of America and our friends. So America is pursuing a forward strategy of freedom in the greater Middle East. We will challenge the enemies of reform, confront the allies of terror, and expect a higher standard from our friend. To cut through the barriers of hateful propaganda, the Voice of America and other broadcast services are expanding their programming in Arabic and Persian -- and soon, a new television service will begin providing reliable news and information across the region. I will send you a proposal to double the budget of the National Endowment for Democracy, and to focus its new work on the development of free elections, and free markets, free press, and free labor unions in the Middle East. And above all, we will finish the historic work of democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq, so those nations can light the way for others, and help transform a troubled part of the world. (Applause.)

America is a nation with a mission, and that mission comes from our most basic beliefs. We have no desire to dominate, no ambitions of empire. Our aim is a democratic peace -- a peace founded upon the dignity and rights of every man and woman. America acts in this cause with friends and allies at our side, yet we understand our special calling: This great republic will lead the cause of freedom. (Applause.) …