For Immediate Release
Office of the Vice President
March 21, 2006
Vice President's Remarks at a Rally for the Troops at Scott Air Force Base
Scott Air Force Base
Scott Air Force Base, Illinois
11:36 A.M. CST
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. (Applause.) Thank you.
(Applause.) Well, thank you very much. And, Colonel, I want to thank
you for the kind words and for the invitation to be here today. I've
been looking forward to this visit because Scott Air Force Base is truly
one of the finest in the United States. And I want to thank General
Schwartz, General McNabb, Admiral Reilly, and General Fletcher for their
leadership here.
I am here, very simply, to say thanks to every person, military or
civilian, who serves here at Scott, and to recognize the extraordinary
contributions of the 375th Airlift Wing. (Applause.) I want to thank
all the members of the tenant units, the reservists of the 932nd Airlift
Wing. Don't hold back. It's all right. (Applause.) The 126th Air
Refueling Wing of the Air National Guard -- (Applause.) And the units
headquartered here: TRANSCOM -- (Applause.) Headquarters Air Mobility
Command -- (Applause.) The Air Force Communications Agency --
(Applause.) And the Defense Information Systems Agency -- (Applause.)
I first got to be familiar with the work of Scott Air Force Base in
the early '90s, when I served as Secretary of Defense -- in the old days
when I had real power and influence. (Laughter.) But throughout my
time in public service, one of the greatest honors I've had has been the
opportunity to work with the men and women of the United States military
-- from the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to all the officers and enlisted
personnel that I've met at home and abroad. In all of you I see the
very best of America. I admire your commitment to discipline, to duty,
and to service above self. It's a privilege to be in your company, and
I bring the respect and good wishes of our Commander-in-Chief, President
George W. Bush. (Applause.)
I'm also pleased to see the family members who've joined us today.
America depends heavily on the people of Scott Air Force Base, and they
all depend on the love and support of their families. The military life
carries both rewards and sacrifices, and these are shared by the spouses
and the children. I want you to know that America is grateful to all of
our military families. (Applause.)
These are eventful times for the United States, and for the people who
wear our nation's uniform. And this Air Force base in the heart of
America is at the very center of many critical assignments. I've just
had a set of briefings this morning on the work you've been doing, and
I'm very impressed with what I saw. The personnel of Scott Air Force
Base are a superb representation of the total force, which is so vital
to the functioning of the United States military. All the logistics of
the U.S. Armed Forces -- in the air, over land, and across oceans and
continents -- are directed here with incredible precision, efficiency,
and speed. The high volume of work, the intense time constraints
involved, and the sheer complexity of the task demand the utmost of
everybody. And that's what you're giving, hour by hour and day by day.
Simply stated: Were it not for all of you, this nation could not have
started, supported, or sustained our major operations in the global war
on terror. That war goes on, and thanks in part to all of you, it's a
war that we are going to win. (Applause.)
You've also undertaken challenges close to home, as we saw in the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina -- when you handled the evacuation of
thousands of survivors and delivered millions of meals and tons of
cargo. You were swift and skillful in a time of need for fellow
citizens, and I know the people of the Gulf Coast will never forget what
you did for them.
This nation looks to our military to serve our highest ideals abroad,
and to defend America against those who want to harm us. And our
military is repaying that confidence every single day. When America was
attacked on a terrible September morning four-and-a-half years ago,
President Bush said that the struggle ahead would be lengthy and
difficult, and would require our fullest effort and unfailing resolve.
And in this fight some of the hardest duties have come to our people in
uniform.
Just before Christmas I had the chance to visit Afghanistan and Iraq,
and to meet with some of our folks deployed to those countries. I
thanked them for their service, and for all they've done to bring
freedom, stability, and peace to a troubled part of the world.
Afghanistan a little over four years ago was in the grip of a violent,
merciless regime that harbored terrorists who plotted murder for export.
There is still tough fighting going on in that country, some of it in
very rough terrain, high in the mountains and along the border areas.
But our people are getting the job done, together with coalition
partners and an increasingly strong and professional Afghan military.
And Afghanistan is a rising nation -- with a democratically-elected
government, a market economy, and millions of children going to school
for the very first time. It's impossible to overstate all that our
coalition has achieved in Afghanistan -- and when our forces return home
from that part of the world, they can be proud of their service for the
rest of their lives.
I brought that same message to our people serving in Iraq. It's been
three years since America and our allies went in to remove Saddam
Hussein from power, to liberate the Iraqi people, and to help them
replace tyranny with democracy. This was a dictator who had brutalized
the Iraqi people, invaded neighboring countries, harbored terrorists,
provided money to the families of suicide bombers, and declared America
to be his enemy. To take just one example, 15 years before the
liberation of Iraq began, Saddam Hussein ordered the gassing of
thousands of Iraqi Kurds in Halabja in March, 1988. Saddam Hussein is
still the same madman, but without power and without a throne. He will
never again have the power to threaten others, and the world is better
for it. (Applause.)
As the Iraqi people step forward to participate in the government of
their country, the terrorists will continue to commit acts of random
terror, calculated to shock and intimidate the civilized world. There
is no doubt that the situation in Iraq is still tense. The terrorists
know that as freedom takes hold, the ideologies of hatred and resentment
will lose their appeal, and the advance of democracy will inspire
reformers across the broader Middle East. And as that region
experiences new hope and progress, we will see the power of freedom to
lift up whole nations, and the spread of liberty will produce a much
safer world for our children and our grandchildren. The war on terror
is a battle for the future of civilization. It's a battle worth
fighting. It's a battle we're going to win. (Applause.)
Our strategy in Iraq is clear, our tactics will remain flexible, and
we'll keep at the task until we finish the job. Progress has not come
easily, but it has been steady, and we can be confident going forward.
First, as all of you know very well, the United States military is doing
remarkable, heroic, honorable work each and every day. Second, the
Iraqi people themselves deserve to be free -- and they want to be free.
By voting in elections, by ratifying their constitution, by going to the
polls with an amazing voter turnout rate of more than 70 percent, Iraqis
have shown that they value their own liberty and are determined to
choose their own destiny. And America is proud to stand at their side.
Our coalition has also put great effort into standing up the Iraqi
Security Forces, and we've come a great distance over the past year.
We're helping to build an Iraqi force that is well trained and well
equipped, and this was important to the success of the elections last
December, and played a vital role in maintaining public order after our
enemies tried to ignite a civil war by destroying the Golden Dome of
Samarra, one of Shia Islam's holiest shrines.
Today the number of battalions in the fight is increasing and Iraqi
forces are now conducting more independent operations throughout the
country than do coalition forces. Gradually, Iraqi forces are taking
control of more Iraqi territory. Today, Iraqi units have primary
responsibility for more than 30,000 square miles of the country -- an
increase of roughly 20,000 square miles since the beginning of the year.
And as President Bush has indicated, Iraqi forces are taking that
responsibility for more and more of Iraq's territory. And as they
undertake further missions on their own, confidence is growing within
the country and increasingly more and more intelligence tips are coming
in from the people themselves.
As the Iraqi forces gain strength and experience, and as the political
process advances, we'll be able to decrease troop levels without losing
the capacity to defeat the terrorists. And as always, decisions about
troop levels will be driven by the conditions on the ground and the
judgment of our military commanders on the scene -- not by artificial
timelines set by politicians in Washington, D.C. (Applause.)
Recently there have been some prominent voices advocating a sudden
withdrawal of our forces from Iraq. Some have suggested that the war is
not winnable, a few seem almost eager to conclude that the whole
struggle is already lost. But they are wrong. The only way to lose
this fight is to quit -- and that is not an option. (Applause.)
Every American serving in this war can be absolutely certain that the
people of our country do not support a policy of passivity, resignation,
and defeatism in the face of terror. The United States will never go
back to the false comforts of the world before September 11th, 2001.
Terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength. They are
invited by the perception of weakness. (Applause.)
In the past, terrorists hit America and we did not hit back hard enough.
They came to believe that if they killed enough Americans they could
change our policy. And they are now trying to intimidate us into a
policy of withdrawal and retreat. But this nation has made a decision:
We will engage these enemies -- facing them far from home, so we do not
have to face them on the streets of our own cities. (Applause.)
In the war on terror we face a loose network of committed fanatics,
found in many countries, operating under different commanders. Yet the
branches of this network share the same basic ideology, the same dark
vision for the world -- and they view the entire world as a battlefield.
The terrorists want to end American and Western influence in the Middle
East. Their goal in that region is to gain control of a country, so
they have a base from which they can launch attacks and wage war against
governments that do not meet their demands. The terrorists believe that
by controlling an entire country, they will be able to target and
overthrow other governments in the region, and to establish a radical
Islamic empire that encompasses that part of the world from Spain,
across North Africa, through the Middle East and South Asia, all the way
around to Indonesia.
They have made clear, as well, their ultimate ambitions: to arm
themselves with weapons of mass destruction, to destroy Israel, to
intimidate all Western countries, and to cause mass death here in the
United States. In the face of such a threat, those of us in positions
of responsibility have a duty to wage a broad-scale effort for the sake
of this nation's freedom and security.
That effort includes a home front, which is every bit as important
as the battlefields abroad. In his speech to Congress after 9/11,
President Bush said the United States would, "direct every resource at
our command -- every means of diplomacy, every tool of intelligence,
every instrument of law enforcement, every financial influence, and
every necessary weapon of war -- to the disruption and the defeat of the
global terror network." The Congress backed him up in full, authorizing
the President to defeat an enemy that had already slipped into our
country and waged a horrific attack against innocent, unsuspecting men,
women, and children, killing 3,000 of our fellow citizens on that
September morning.
The President also signed the Patriot Act, which is helping us to
disrupt terrorist activity, break up terror cells within the United
States, and protect the lives of Americans. Another vital step the
President took in the days following 9/11 was to authorize the National
Security Agency to intercept a certain category of terrorist-linked
international communications. There are no communications more
important to the safety of the United States than those related to al
Qaeda that have one end in the United States.
If you'll recall, the report of the 9/11 Commission focused criticism on
our inability to uncover links between terrorists at home and terrorists
abroad. Two of the terrorists prior to 9/11 were in San Diego, placing
calls outside the United States to al Qaeda-related individuals
overseas. The authorization the President made after September 11th
helped address that problem in a manner that is fully consistent with
the constitutional responsibilities and legal authority of the President
and with the civil liberties of the American people. The activities
conducted under this authorization have helped to detect and prevent
possible terrorist attacks against the American people. They are within
the President's authority under the Constitution and laws of the land.
And they are vital to the security of our country.
We are talking here about a wartime measure, limited in scope to
surveillance associated with terrorists, and conducted in a way that
safeguards the civil liberties of all of us. It's important to note
that leaders of Congress have been briefed more than a dozen times on
the President's authorization, and on activities conducted under it. I
have personally presided over most of those briefings. In addition, the
entire program is reconsidered and reauthorized by the President every
45 days -- completely reviewed every time before he continues it. He
has reauthorized it more than 30 times since September 11th -- and he
has indicated his intent to do so as long as our nation faces a
continuing threat from al Qaeda and related organizations.
Bottom line: We will not sit back and wait to be struck again.
(Applause.)
It seems more than obvious to say that our nation is still at risk of
attack. Yet as we get farther away from September 11th, 2001, some in
Washington are yielding to the temptation to downplay the threat, and to
back away from the business at hand. That mindset is dangerous. We're
all grateful that this nation has gone more than four years without
another 9/11. Obviously, no one can guarantee that we won't be hit
again. But getting through four years of wartime without an attack on
the homeland took more than just luck. We've been protected by sensible
policy decisions by the President, by decisive action at home and
abroad, and by round-the-clock efforts on the part of all of you in the
armed services, law enforcement, intelligence, and homeland security.
The enemy that struck on 9/11 is weakened and fractured, yet still
lethal and still determined to hit us again. We have faced, and are
facing today, enemies who hate us, who hate our country, and who hate
the liberties for which we stand. They dwell in the shadows, wear no
uniform, have no regard for the laws of warfare, and feel unconstrained
by any standards of morality. It's a serious fight -- and we have a lot
more to do before it's finished. Either we are serious about fighting
this war or we are not. And the enemies of America need to know: We are
serious, and we will not let down our guard. (Applause.)
Ladies and gentlemen, as members of the United States Armed Forces, each
one of you is helping to write a proud chapter in the history of
freedom. At times you may wonder if your fellow citizens truly realize
the extent of your achievements. I want you to know that Americans do
realize it -- and we do not take our military for granted. We look with
admiration on all of you: superbly trained men and women who put the
mission first, work as a team, put in long hours, and carry out highly
technical assignments with excellence. We appreciate our fellow
citizens who go out on lengthy deployments and endure the hardship of
separation from home and family. We care about those who have returned
with injuries, and who face a hard road ahead. And our nation grieves
for the brave men and women whose lives have ended in freedom's cause.
No one can take away the sorrow that comes to the families of the
fallen. We can only say, with complete certainty, that these Americans
served in a noble and a necessary cause, and their sacrifice has made
our nation and the world more secure. We will honor their memory
forever. (Applause.)
None of us can know every turn that lies ahead for America in the fight
against terror. Yet the direction of events is plain to see, and this
period of struggle and testing is also a time of promise. The United
States of America is a good country, a decent country, and we are making
the world a better place by defending the innocent, confronting the
violent, and bringing freedom to the oppressed. We understand the
continuing dangers to civilization, and we have the resources, the
strength, and the moral courage to overcome those dangers and to lay the
foundations for a better world.
Each of you is part of that great effort. You have dedicated yourself
to serving our country and its ideals, and you are meeting that
commitment during a very challenging hour in American history. You've
been focused and tireless. And you've built a record of tremendous
results all across the board. This is a fantastic team at Scott Air
Force Base: You stick together, you bring out the best in each other,
you get the job done for America. And the entire country is very proud
of you.
Thank you very much. (Applause.)
END 11:56 A.M. CST
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