THE PRESIDENT: Thank
you. Please be seated. Good evening. I'm pleased to visit Fort Bragg, "Home of
the Airborne and Special Operations Forces." It's an honor to speak before you
tonight. My greatest responsibility as President is to protect the American
people. And that's your calling, as well. I thank you for your service, your
courage and your sacrifice. I thank your families, who support you in your vital
work.
The soldiers and families of Fort Bragg have contributed mightily
to our efforts to secure our country and promote peace. America is grateful, and
so is your Commander-in-Chief. The troops here and across the world are fighting
a global war on terror. The war reached our shores on September the 11th, 2001.
The terrorists who attacked us -- and the terrorists we face -- murder in the
name of a totalitarian ideology that hates freedom, rejects tolerance, and
despises all dissent. Their aim is to remake the Middle East in their own grim
image of tyranny and oppression -- by toppling governments, by driving us out of
the region, and by exporting terror.
To achieve these aims, they have
continued to kill -- in Madrid, Istanbul, Jakarta, Casablanca, Riyadh, Bali, and
elsewhere. The terrorists believe that free societies are essentially corrupt
and decadent, and with a few hard blows they can force us to retreat. They are
mistaken.
After September the 11th, I made a commitment to the American
people: This nation will not wait to be attacked again. We will defend our
freedom. We will take the fight to the enemy. Iraq is the latest battlefield in
this war. Many terrorists who kill innocent men, women, and children on the
streets of Baghdad are followers of the same murderous ideology that took the
lives of our citizens in New York, in Washington, and Pennsylvania. There is
only one course of action against them: to defeat them abroad before they attack
us at home.
The commander in charge of coalition operations in Iraq --
who is also senior commander at this base -- General John Vines, put it well the
other day. He said: "We either deal with terrorism and this extremism abroad, or
we deal with it when it comes to us." Our mission in Iraq is clear. We're
hunting down the terrorists. We're helping Iraqis build a free nation that is an
ally in the war on terror. We're advancing freedom in the broader Middle East.
We are removing a source of violence and instability, and laying the foundation
of peace for our children and our grandchildren.
The work in Iraq is
difficult and it is dangerous. Like most Americans, I see the images of violence
and bloodshed. Every picture is horrifying, and the suffering is real. Amid all
this violence, I know Americans ask the question: Is the sacrifice worth it? It
is worth it, and it is vital to the future security of our country. And tonight
I will explain the reasons why.
Some of the violence you see in Iraq is
being carried out by ruthless killers who are converging on Iraq to fight the
advance of peace and freedom. Our military reports that we have killed or
captured hundreds of foreign fighters in Iraq who have come from Saudi Arabia
and Syria, Iran, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, Libya and others. They are making common
cause with criminal elements, Iraqi insurgents, and remnants of Saddam Hussein's
regime who want to restore the old order. They fight because they know that the
survival of their hateful ideology is at stake. They know that as freedom takes
root in Iraq, it will inspire millions across the Middle East to claim their
liberty, as well. And when the Middle East grows in democracy and prosperity and
hope, the terrorists will lose their sponsors, lose their recruits, and lose
their hopes for turning that region into a base for attacks on America and our
allies around the world.
Some wonder whether Iraq is a central front in
the war on terror. Among the terrorists, there is no debate. Hear the words of
Osama Bin Laden: "This Third World War is raging" in Iraq. "The whole world is
watching this war." He says it will end in "victory and glory, or misery and
humiliation." The terrorists know that the outcome will leave them emboldened,
or defeated. So they are waging a campaign of murder and destruction. And there
is no limit to the innocent lives they are willing to take.
We see the
nature of the enemy in terrorists who exploded car bombs along a busy shopping
street in Baghdad, including one outside a mosque.
We see the nature of
the enemy in terrorists who sent a suicide bomber to a teaching hospital in
Mosul.
We see the nature of the enemy in terrorists who behead civilian
hostages and broadcast their atrocities for the world to see.
These are
savage acts of violence, but they have not brought the terrorists any closer to
achieving their strategic objectives. The terrorists -- both foreign and Iraqi
-- failed to stop the transfer of sovereignty.
They failed to break our
Coalition and force a mass withdrawal by our allies.
They failed to
incite an Iraqi civil war.
They failed to prevent free elections.
They failed to stop the formation of a democratic Iraqi government that
represents all of Iraq's diverse population.
And they failed to stop
Iraqis from signing up in large number with the police forces and the army to
defend their new democracy.
The lesson of this experience is clear: The
terrorists can kill the innocent, but they cannot stop the advance of freedom.
The only way our enemies can succeed is if we forget the lessons of September
the 11th, if we abandon the Iraqi people to men like Zarqawi, and if we yield
the future of the Middle East to men like Bin Laden. For the sake of our
nation's security, this will not happen on my watch.
A little over a
year ago, I spoke to the nation and described our coalition's goals in Iraq. I
said that America's mission in Iraq is to defeat an enemy and give strength to a
friend -- a free, representative government that is an ally in the war on
terror, and a beacon of hope in a part of the world that is desperate for
reform.
I outlined the steps we would take to achieve this goal: We
would hand authority over to a sovereign Iraqi government. We would help Iraqis
hold free elections by January 2005. We would continue helping Iraqis rebuild
their nation's infrastructure and economy. We would encourage more international
support for Iraq's democratic transition, and we would enable Iraqis to take
increasing responsibility for their own security and stability.
In the
past year, we have made significant progress. One year ago today, we restored
sovereignty to the Iraqi people. In January 2005, more than 8 million Iraqi men
and women voted in elections that were free and fair, and took time on -- and
took place on time. We continued our efforts to help them rebuild their country.
Rebuilding a country after three decades of tyranny is hard, and rebuilding
while at war is even harder.
Our progress has been uneven, but progress
is being made. We're improving roads and schools and health clinics. We're
working to improve basic services like sanitation, electricity, and water. And
together with our allies, we'll help the new Iraqi government deliver a better
life for its citizens. In the past year, the international community has stepped
forward with vital assistance. Some 30 nations have troops in Iraq, and many
others are contributing non-military assistance. The United Nations is in Iraq
to help Iraqis write a constitution and conduct their next elections. Thus far,
some 40 countries and three international organizations have pledged about $34
billion in assistance for Iraqi reconstruction. More than 80 countries and
international organizations recently came together in Brussels to coordinate
their efforts to help Iraqis provide for their security and rebuild their
country. And next month, donor countries will meet in Jordan to support Iraqi
reconstruction.
Whatever our differences in the past, the world
understands that success in Iraq is critical to the security of our nations. As
German Chancellor Gerhard Schr der said at the White House yesterday, "There can
be no question a stable and democratic Iraq is in the vested interest of not
just Germany, but also Europe." Finally, we have continued our efforts to equip
and train Iraqi security forces. We made gains in both the number and quality of
those forces. Today Iraq has more than 160,000 security forces trained and
equipped for a variety of missions. Iraqi forces have fought bravely, helping to
capture terrorists and insurgents in Najaf and Samarra, Fallujah and Mosul. And
in the past month, Iraqi forces have led a major anti-terrorist campaign in
Baghdad called Operation Lightning, which has led to the capture of hundreds of
suspected insurgents.
Like free people everywhere, Iraqis want to be
defended by their own countrymen, and we are helping Iraqis assume those duties.
The progress in the past year has been significant, and we have a clear path
forward. To complete the mission, we will continue to hunt down the terrorists
and insurgents. To complete the mission, we will prevent al Qaeda and other
foreign terrorists from turning Iraq into what Afghanistan was under the
Taliban, a safe haven from which they could launch attacks on America and our
friends. And the best way to complete the mission is to help Iraqis build a free
nation that can govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself.
So our
strategy going forward has both a military track and a political track. The
principal task of our military is to find and defeat the terrorists, and that is
why we are on the offense. And as we pursue the terrorists, our military is
helping to train Iraqi security forces so that they can defend their people and
fight the enemy on their own. Our strategy can be summed up this way: As the
Iraqis stand up, we will stand down. We've made progress, but we have a lot of
-- a lot more work to do.
Today Iraqi security forces are at different
levels of readiness. Some are capable of taking on the terrorists and insurgents
by themselves. A large number can plan and execute anti-terrorist operations
with coalition support. The rest are forming and not yet ready to participate
fully in security operations. Our task is to make the Iraqi units fully capable
and independent. We're building up Iraqi security forces as quickly as possible,
so they can assume the lead in defeating the terrorists and insurgents. Our
coalition is devoting considerable resources and manpower to this critical task.
Thousands of coalition troops are involved in the training and equipping of
Iraqi security forces. NATO is establishing a military academy near Baghdad to
train the next generation of Iraqi military leaders, and 17 nations are
contributing troops to the NATO training mission. Iraqi army and police are
being trained by personnel from Italy, Germany, Ukraine, Turkey, Poland,
Romania, Australia, and the United Kingdom. Today, dozens of nations are working
toward a common objective: an Iraq that can defend itself, defeat its enemies,
and secure its freedom.
To further prepare Iraqi forces to fight the
enemy on their own, we are taking three new steps:
First, we are
partnering coalition units with Iraqi units. These coalition-Iraqi teams are
conducting operations together in the field. These combined operations are
giving Iraqis a chance to experience how the most professional armed forces in
the world operate in combat.
Second, we are embedding coalition
"transition teams" inside Iraqi units. These teams are made up of coalition
officers and non-commissioned officers who live, work, and fight together with
their Iraqi comrades. Under U.S. command, they are providing battlefield advice
and assistance to Iraqi forces during combat operations. Between battles, they
are assisting the Iraqis with important skills, such as urban combat, and
intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance techniques.
Third, we're
working with the Iraqi Ministries of Interior and Defense to improve their
capabilities to coordinate anti-terrorist operations. We're helping them develop
command and control structures. We're also providing them with civilian and
military leadership training, so Iraq's new leaders can effectively manage their
forces in the fight against terror.
The new Iraqi security forces are
proving their courage every day. More than 2,000 members of Iraqi security
forces have given their lives in the line of duty. Thousands more have stepped
forward, and are now training to serve their nation. With each engagement, Iraqi
soldiers grow more battle-hardened, and their officers grow more experienced.
We've learned that Iraqis are courageous and that they need additional skills.
And that is why a major part of our mission is to train them so they can do the
fighting, and then our troops can come home.
I recognize that Americans
want our troops to come home as quickly as possible. So do I. Some contend that
we should set a deadline for withdrawing U.S. forces.
Let me explain why
that would be a serious mistake.
Setting an artificial timetable would
send the wrong message to the Iraqis, who need to know that America will not
leave before the job is done.
It would send the wrong message to our
troops, who need to know that we are serious about completing the mission they
are risking their lives to achieve.
And it would send the wrong message
to the enemy, who would know that all they have to do is to wait us out.
We will stay in Iraq as long as we are needed, and not a day longer.
Some Americans ask me, if completing the mission is so important, why
don't you send more troops? If our commanders on the ground say we need more
troops, I will send them. But our commanders tell me they have the number of
troops they need to do their job. Sending more Americans would undermine our
strategy of encouraging Iraqis to take the lead in this fight. And sending more
Americans would suggest that we intend to stay forever, when we are, in fact,
working for the day when Iraq can defend itself and we can leave. As we
determine the right force level, our troops can know that I will continue to be
guided by the advice that matters: the sober judgment of our military leaders.
The other critical element of our strategy is to help ensure that the
hopes Iraqis expressed at the polls in January are translated into a secure
democracy. The Iraqi people are emerging from decades of tyranny and oppression.
Under the regime of Saddam Hussein, the Shia and Kurds were brutally oppressed,
and the vast majority of Sunni Arabs were also denied their basic rights, while
senior regime officials enjoyed the privileges of unchecked power.
The
challenge facing Iraqis today is to put this past behind them, and come together
to build a new Iraq that includes all of its people. They're doing that by
building the institutions of a free society, a society based on freedom of
speech, freedom of assembly, freedom of religion, and equal justice under law.
The Iraqis have held free elections and established a Transitional National
Assembly.
The next step is to write a good constitution that enshrines
these freedoms in permanent law. The Assembly plans to expand its constitutional
drafting committee to include more Sunni Arabs. Many Sunnis who opposed the
January elections are now taking part in the democratic process, and that is
essential to Iraq's future. After a constitution is written, the Iraqi people
will have a chance to vote on it. If approved, Iraqis will go to the polls
again, to elect a new government under their new, permanent constitution.
By taking these critical steps and meeting their deadlines, Iraqis will
bind their multiethnic society together in a democracy that respects the will of
the majority and protects minority rights. As Iraqis grow confident that the
democratic progress they are making is real and permanent, more will join the
political process. And as Iraqis see that their military can protect them, more
will step forward with vital intelligence to help defeat the enemies of a free
Iraq.
The combination of political and military reform will lay a solid
foundation for a free and stable Iraq. As Iraqis make progress toward a free
society, the effects are being felt beyond Iraq's borders. Before our coalition
liberated Iraq, Libya was secretly pursuing nuclear weapons. Today the leader of
Libya has given up his chemical and nuclear weapons programs.
Across the
broader Middle East, people are claiming their freedom. In the last few months,
we've witnessed elections in the Palestinian Territories and Lebanon. These
elections are inspiring democratic reformers in places like Egypt and Saudi
Arabia. Our strategy to defend ourselves and spread freedom is working. The rise
of freedom in this vital region will eliminate the conditions that feed
radicalism and ideologies of murder, and make our nation safer.
We have
more work to do, and there will be tough moments that test America's resolve.
We're fighting against men with blind hatred -- and armed with lethal weapons --
who are capable of any atrocity. They wear no uniform; they respect no laws of
warfare or morality. They take innocent lives to create chaos for the cameras.
They are trying to shake our will in Iraq, just as they tried to shake
our will on September the 11th, 2001. They will fail.
The terrorists do
not understand America. The American people do not falter under threat, and we
will not allow our future to be determined by car bombers and assassins. America
and our friends are in a conflict that demands much of us.
It demands
the courage of our fighting men and women, it demands the steadfastness of our
allies, and it demands the perseverance of our citizens.
We accept these
burdens, because we know what is at stake. We fight today because Iraq now
carries the hope of freedom in a vital region of the world, and the rise of
democracy will be the ultimate triumph over radicalism and terror. And we fight
today because terrorists want to attack our country and kill our citizens, and
Iraq is where they are making their stand. So we'll fight them there, we'll
fight them across the world, and we will stay in the fight until the fight is
won. (Applause.)
America has done difficult work before. From our
desperate fight for independence to the darkest days of a Civil War, to the
hard-fought battles against tyranny in the 20th century, there were many chances
to lose our heart, our nerve, or our way.
But Americans have always held
firm, because we have always believed in certain truths. We know that if evil is
not confronted, it gains in strength and audacity, and returns to strike us
again. We know that when the work is hard, the proper response is not retreat,
it is courage. And we know that this great ideal of human freedom entrusted to
us in a special way, and that the ideal of liberty is worth defending.
In this time of testing, our troops can know: The American people are
behind you. Next week, our nation has an opportunity to make sure that support
is felt by every soldier, sailor, airman, Coast Guardsman, and Marine at every
outpost across the world.
This Fourth of July, I ask you to find a way
to thank the men and women defending our freedom -- by flying the flag, sending
a letter to our troops in the field, or helping the military family down the
street. The Department of Defense has set up a website --
AmericaSupportsYou.mil. You can go there to learn about private efforts in your
own community. At this time when we celebrate our freedom, let us stand with the
men and women who defend us all.
To the soldiers in this hall, and our
servicemen and women across the globe: I thank you for your courage under fire
and your service to our nation.
I thank our military families -- the
burden of war falls especially hard on you. In this war, we have lost good men
and women who left our shores to defend freedom and did not live to make the
journey home. I've met with families grieving the loss of loved ones who were
taken from us too soon. I've been inspired by their strength in the face of such
great loss.
We pray for the families. And the best way to honor the
lives that have been given in this struggle is to complete the mission.
I thank those of you who have re-enlisted in an hour when your country
needs you. And to those watching tonight who are considering a military career,
there is no higher calling than service in our Armed Forces. We live in freedom
because every generation has produced patriots willing to serve a cause greater
than themselves. Those who serve today are taking their rightful place among the
greatest generations that have worn our nation's uniform.
When the
history of this period is written, the liberation of Afghanistan and the
liberation of Iraq will be remembered as great turning points in the story of
freedom.
After September the 11th, 2001, I told the American people that
the road ahead would be difficult, and that we would prevail. Well, it has been
difficult -- and we are prevailing. Our enemies are brutal, but they are no
match for the United States of America, and they are no match for the men and
women of the United States military.
