Mission Accomplished: Updated for Reality

Excerpts -- edited for reality -- from a May 1, 2004, radio address Bush gave marking the first anniversary of Mission Accomplished.

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. A year ago, I declared an end to major combat operations in Iraq, after coalition forces conducted one of the swiftest, most successful and humane campaigns in military history.

I thanked our troops for their courage and for their professionalism. They had confronted a gathering danger to our nation and the world. They had vanquished a brutal dictator who had twice invaded neighboring countries, who had used weapons of mass destruction against his own people, and who had supported and financed terrorism….

One year later, despite many challenges, life for the Iraqi people is a world away from the cruelty and corruption of Saddam's regime. At the most basic level of justice, people are no longer disappearing into political prisons, torture chambers, and mass graves….

And their daily life is improving. Electricity is now more widely available than before the war. Iraq has a stable currency and banks are thriving.

Schools and clinics have been renovated and reopened, and power plants, hospitals, water and sanitation facilities, and bridges are being rehabilitated.

Iraq's oil infrastructure is being rebuilt, with the Iraqi oil industry already producing about 2.5 million barrels per day.

On the ground in Iraq, we have serious and continuing challenges. Illegal militias and remnants of the regime, joined by foreign terrorists, are trying to take by force the power they could never gain by the ballot. These groups have found little support among the Iraqi people.

Our coalition is implementing a clear strategy in Iraq…. In the cause of a free and stable Iraq, our servicemen and women are working hard and sacrificing greatly. And families of the brave troops who have fallen must know that their loss is not in vain….

[D]emocracy will succeed in Iraq, because our coalition is strong, because our resolve is firm, and because the people of Iraq desire and deserve to live in freedom.