For Immediate Release
April 8, 2004

Global Message

From remarks by Secretary Rumsfeld, 4/7/04

The vast majority of the 25 million Iraqi people want freedom for their country.

As the date for Iraq's transition to self-governance approaches, those opposed to a free Iraq will grow increasingly desperate.

What we're witnessing today in Iraq is a power-play between those who favor terrorism and a return to oppression, and those determined to have freedom and self-government.

The terrorists and assassins are threatened by the Iraqi people's progress toward self-government, because they know that they will have no future in a free Iraq.

They know that the overwhelming majority of the Iraqi people oppose them and that, given a free choice, the Iraqi people will choose the rule of law, not rule by murderers.

This much is certain: Those who oppose the Iraqi people's transition to freedom and self-rule will not be permitted to derail it.

The United States, its Coalition partners, and free Iraqi forces are taking the battle to the terrorists.

We will not allow fugitives from Iraqi justice to stop progress toward a better life for 25 million Iraqi people. We will not allow al-Sadr to get away with murder. We will not allow Zarqawi and others to block the path to a free Iraq.

This is an important moment in Iraq's history. The future of the Iraqi people is certainly at stake. So the stakes are high. They're high for Iraq, they're high for the region, and they're high for the world.

The United States will stand resolute with the Iraqi people and those brave Iraqis who have stepped forward to defend freedom.

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