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Remarks by the Ambassador of the United States of America to Lithuania

Stephen Mull at Lithuanian Seimas State Sitting to Mark the Accession of Lithuania to NATO

Lithuanian Seimas,Vilnius, Lithuania, April 2, 2004.

Mr. Speaker of Seimas, Your Excellency President of Lithuania, Your Excellencies Honorable Members of Seimas and Government, and all the people of free Lithuania,

Ten years ago, Lithuania’s then-President Algirdas Brazauskas announced what most of the world believed was an impossible dream: Lithuania’s joining the transatlantic community of secure democracies as a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.  Criticism of this revolutionary idea was overwhelming at the time.  There is no need for NATO after the cold war, said some.  It will provoke Lithuania’s neighbors who are not NATO members, said others.  In any case, they said, Lithuania is too small to ever make a contribution to transatlantic security.  And it certainly is not anywhere close to being the kind of democracy that NATO requires.

We gather here ten years later to celebrate the indomitable spirit of a free Lithuania that proved those critics wrong.  The hard work of Lithuania’s leaders and people on the road to NATO over these past ten years proves once again that Lithuania is a land of heroes, where even impossible dreams come true.  Today, the people of the United States join you in celebrating your membership in history’s most successful and long-lived defensive alliance.  From today, you can rest secure in the knowledge that you are not alone in securing the flame of a free Lithuania, which you and your ancestors protected and nurtured so bravely through generations.  As President Bush said on the steps of the Rotuse, “Anyone who would choose Lithuania as an enemy has also made an enemy of the United States of America.”

Winston Churchill once said that democracy is the worst form of government there is on the planet, except for all the others.  All of us from the world’s democracies know that our system of government is usually messy, noisy, and not very pretty to watch.  But we also know that no system does a better job of holding the power of one in check and creating conditions for human freedom to flourish.  Lithuania has earned a place in our Alliance through some remarkable accomplishments in becoming a democracy.  In the traditions of all our democracies, it has not always been calm.  But in record time, you have built the institutions that keep democracy safe, such as regular, fair and free elections; well-functioning and accountable local and national governments; an independent judiciary; strong, independent law enforcement agencies; and a free and vocal press.  You have secured the individual rights of Lithuania’s ethnic minorities, and made good progress in redressing the wrongs of the Holocaust that occurred on Lithuanian soil.  You have created a military that is strong and brave, standing shoulder to shoulder with American and other NATO troops in the Balkans, in Afghanistan and Iraq; and you have committed to spend two percent of your Gross Domestic Product to keep it that way.  You have created conditions of entrepreneurial freedom to allow your economy to soar, creating Europe’s fastest growing economy year after year.  And you have conducted a constructive foreign policy that has encouraged stability and progress with your neighbors close to home and as far away as the south Caucasus.  In the process, you have made your country – and our Alliance – more secure.

The NATO that Lithuania joined on Monday is not the same NATO you sought to join ten years ago.  Today, with the addition of seven new members, the Alliance is stronger than ever before and ready to take on the new challenges and missions that democracies face in the 21st century.  Challenges that Lithuania has already faced in the Balkans, Afghanistan and Iraq.  The challenge of defeating terrorism.  The hope of spreading the light of freedom and democracy to our neighbors in the greater Middle East.  The urgency of stopping the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.  The dream of building a Europe that is whole, secure and free.

We already know Lithuania will be a strong ally on these missions.  From the first call of Chairman Paulauskas to my Embassy expressing solidarity just moments after al-Qaeda terrorists struck the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, to the continuing service of Lithuania’s brave soldiers on the battlefields of Iraq, Lithuania has proven it is one of the best friends of freedom; that it can be counted on to shoulder more than its share of responsibility in defending the values on which our common security depends

Today, in addition to celebrating Lithuania’s extraordinary achievements, we solemnly remember and pay tribute to those whose sacrifices made this day possible.  To the expatriate Lithuanians who kept the idea of a free Lithuania alive, from the coal mines of my home state of Pennsylvania to Siberia’s frozen camps.  To the poetry of Maironis, Kudirka and others who gave voice to the Lithuanian heart.  Especially to all those brave souls who stayed in Lithuania through the generations to sacrifice their lives standing up for Lithuania’s freedom, including on that cold January night 13 years ago.  To all of those for whom you sing:

Lithuania, my homeland, land of heroes!
Let your Sons draw strength from the past.
Let your children follow only the paths of virtue,
working for the good of their native land and for all mankind.

Let the sun banish all darkness from Lithuania,
with light and truth always guiding our steps.
Let the love of Lithuania burn in our hearts
and for the sake of our country let unity blossom.
 
Long live the North Atlantic Alliance.  Long live the friendship between the United States and Lithuania.  And long live a free Lithuania.