On Tuesday, May 25, Secretary of State Colin Powell spoke at an Institute of Peace reception at the State Department, co-sponsored by Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Lorne Craner. The event was held in honor of a delegation of Iraqi senior-level national security officials who were completing an intensive Institute training program to prepare them for their work in key ministries of the new Iraqi government.

Remarks by Secretary Colin L. Powell at the U.S. Institute of Peace Reception
Benjamin Franklin Room, U.S. Department of State, Washington, DC
May 25, 2004, 7:15 p.m. EDT

It's my great pleasure to welcome all of you here this evening, as we celebrate with our Iraqi friends, a completion of the cycle of training they have gone through.

And I was talking out in the other room with a number of them as to what they have learned, and they have learned about conflict resolution. They have been through computer simulations. And this afternoon they spent time with members of the press opening what could be a continuing dialogue with the press and learning all about what it is like to live in a nation with a free, aggressive press that represents the interest of the people. And I think that is a fitting way to bring this program to something of a close.

There are so many distinguished people here this evening that I dare not start to introduce each and every one in the room. But there is one individual here who you will all get to know very, very well. All of our Iraqi friends will be working very, very closely with him. And it's my great pleasure to present to you a dear friend of mine, a colleague I have served with before, who the President has selected for one of the most important diplomatic missions that we now have in the world, and that's Ambassador John D. Negroponte.

(Applause.)

We should have sent John through the course with you for the last 12 days. But I can assure you, you are getting somebody who will be more than qualified to meet your needs and to carry forward our mutual goal.

It is really a pleasure to greet such an impressive and important group of senior Iraqi leaders from the Ministries of Justice, Interior, Defense and Foreign Affairs. And, ladies and gentlemen, all welcome, welcome.

My Iraqi friends, I understand that you have had a good period of instruction, and I'd like to express my thanks to the United States Institute for Peace, and especially to Ambassador Dick Solomon, for his able leadership and for all of the other board members who are here representing USIP.

Thank you so very, very much -- once again, collaboration.

(Applause.)

I know you've all learned from this experience. And that's good because you're going to need it. You're going to need every tool, every advantage you can find, because you are returning to a country that is in need, a country that has been wounded by decade after decade of the rule of the Baath Party, a party that brought down destruction on your land and on your people, destruction of the body, destruction of the spirit, destruction of individual initiative, and destruction of community.

But that destruction is no more. That destruction is over. Those who still murder and terrorize on behalf of the old order have no chance of regaining power. You won't let them. We won't let them. The old ways will never return because you new leaders of Iraq standing in this room and your many colleagues at home will not let that happen.

What will return, and very soon, is your full sovereignty, as President Bush, once again, told the whole world last night, that sovereignty was stolen away from the Iraqi people by tyrants and thugs over your history, that sovereignty was wrestled back on your behalf by the coalition that liberated Iraq. And like a precious book recovered for a library, it has been mended and kept safe until now. And it's now about to be returned to you, to the people of Iraq.

As President Bush said, our coalition has a clear goal understood by all: to see the Iraqi people in charge of Iraq for the first time in generations. And the President made it absolutely clear that this transfer is real, and that there is a specific plan to get from where we are now to where the new Iraq wants and needs to go.

As he explained last night, the Brahimi process will soon come to a conclusion, and we, with our coalition partners, will support his effort to help the Iraqi people create an interim Iraqi government. Meanwhile, as you well know, while we are waiting for Mr. Brahimi to complete his work, ministries are up and running. Twelve ministries have now been returned completely to Iraqi hands and are functioning on their own.

A new UN Security Council resolution was proposed by the United States and the United Kingdom yesterday and put before the Security Council. You will see that in that resolution, we are asking the Security Council to endorse the Brahimi plan with all of the details in it that Ambassador Brahimi will be bringing forward, and to recognize this new interim government.

At the same time, the resolution recognizes that there is still a need for a multinational force to remain and protect the Iraqi people while it's own forces are being built up, while Iraqi forces are being built up to provide for the security of the nation.

And in addition to working on the resolution with our colleagues in the Security Council in New York, and in the various Security Council capitals, we will also be working out arrangements with the new interim government leadership when it has been announced with respect to how we will cooperate and coordinate with the use of our military forces, Iraqi military forces, political dialogue between the Iraqi interim government and our military commanders and our ambassador, as well as a military dialogue between the forces.

We have a great deal of experience in these kinds of arrangements in the course of our providing such arrangements and providing such forces around the world over the last 50 or 60 years. And I'm quite confident we'll be able to work out arrangements that will be satisfactory to all. At the same time, to make sure that Iraq quickly has the ability to take care of its own security, we will be accelerating the process of getting Iraqis ready to defend and police their own country.

We are also doing everything we can, as the President said last night, to accelerate the rebuilding of Iraq's industrial and human infrastructure from its electrical power and oil production systems, on one side, to its schools, universities, and health care facilities, on the other.

With an interim government in place and reconstruction proceeding, Iraqis can then look forward electing a national assembly at the end of the year, or no later than the end of January of next year; the formation of a transitional government, the drafting and ratification of a new constitution; and then to a fully democratic national election at the end of 2005.

That is the way ahead. It's a clear path. The United States and its coalition partners will walk that path with the Iraqi people, as will we hope, new partners from the international community. All are welcome.

The international community wanted to see a new UN resolution. They wanted to see sovereignty returned. That's going to happen. And, hopefully, this will encourage more nations to get involved in whatever way they choose to get involved: additional forces to assist us with the coalition effort, with the multinational force, reconstruction money, advisors, police trainers.

There are so many ways to help the Iraqi people, and I hope that all of the nations of the international community will examine what they are doing and see what more they can do.

But Iraqis must and will take charge of this process, and Iraqis are getting ready to do so. This program certainly demonstrates that. Despite the troubles and tragedies we have suffered together, the Iraqi people have proven themselves brave; that bravery shows in the progress made over the past year, in all walks of life, in nearly every town and village in Iraq.

We don't often hear the good news about newly elected village and municipal governments, about new schools and clinics, about a quickly reviving private economy, and about a free press and a judicial system that works for the people, about programs such as this where you see senior leaders coming to the United States to spend a few weeks to learn more about what their responsibilities will be when they return home -- to flesh out those ministries that we are creating; to be prepared to assume the full sovereignty of the nation and to do it well, and to do it with competence and with authority and with dispatch, because ultimately the success of returning full sovereignty to the Iraqi people will be measured by how you do your jobs and how the Iraqi people see you doing your jobs for them.

Iraqis have been brave during this time of challenge. It shows in the willingness of men and women to make sacrifices and even to give their lives on behalf of a new, free Iraq. And it's not just leaders like Akila al-Hashimi and Izzedin Salim, who have given their lives. It's also the unsung heroes who have stood up for their rights and their freedom, like the people of Karbala, who refuse to be intimidated by the thugs of Muqtada al-Sadr's so-called Mahdi militia.

Bravery is necessary, but it's not sufficient. Perhaps, Iraq's greatest need right now is for leadership of the highest caliber at every level, in government and in civil society. You, in this room, are a key part of that government leadership and you inspire us with confidence, as we see how you have come here with smiles on your faces, with heart full of joy at the opportunity that you have been given to share of your nation, once again, and to serve it on the basis of democracy and freedom and sovereignty returned.

You know your mission. You know what you're going to have to do. You know the challenges. You know the dangers that are ahead of you, but you have prepared yourself. You are disciplined. You inspire trust and you will be teaching a new generation of Iraqis to be leaders when you return home.

But, my friends, you are more than just leaders. You're pioneers of the new Iraq, at a time of new beginnings, a time of great opportunity. You are the core professionals, the human infrastructure of what can be, and we know will be, a democracy in the making.

My friends, be assured that you will have a partner in the United States. As the President said last night, America will stand with every Iraqi who is standing for freedom. And you have partners in the many nations who helped to break the yoke of despotism that had been on your back for so many years. We will be with you all the way.

But the ultimate responsibility for the future of Iraq rests in your hands and the hands of your colleagues back home. You will lead the way. You will lead the way to freedom, to prosperity. You will lead the way to a truly just society. That way will not be an easy one. There are dangers and there will be disappointments along the way, but there is no going back, for the Iraqi people have an appointment with a better future and with their birthright of freedom.

As the vanguard of that future, we say God speed to all of you, and we wish you success, each and every one of you. Go forth and serve your country and serve your people, and know that with the United States of America you have a devoted friend that will be with you every step of the way.

Thank you so much.

(Applause.)

2004/591

[End]

Released on May 25, 2004, Courtesy State Department