Text 1059, 294 rader
Skriven 2005-06-01 23:33:14 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0506012) for Wed, 2005 Jun 1
===================================================
===========================================================================
Vice President's Remarks at United States Air Force Academy Commencement
===========================================================================

For Immediate Release
June 1, 2005

Vice President's Remarks at United States Air Force Academy Commencement
Falcon Stadium
United States Air Force Academy, Colorado



10:18 A.M. MDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you. (Applause.) Thank you very much. Thank you
very much, Secretary Dominguez, General Rosa, General Jumper, Lieutenant
Governors Leman and Norton, Academy staff and faculty, distinguished
guests, officers, cadets, and members of the graduating class of 2005. It's
a high privilege to be with you this morning, and I thank you for the warm
welcome on a very special day.

It's a privilege as well to visit the Air Force Academy once again. This
fine institution, in service to the United States for a half-century, has
prepared an exceptional corps of Air Force officers. Members of the cadet
wing are drawn from every region of the country and from two dozen foreign
lands. Taken together, they represent the future of air and space power in
freedom's cause. When you see these young men and women, and understand the
rigor and the discipline of a service academy, you can't help but feel
confidence in the rising generation of military leaders. The defense of
this nation is in very good hands. (Applause.)

This is a day of dedication for the members of the George S. Patton Class
of 2005. For these four years, all of you have marched into Falcon Stadium
as members of the cadet wing. You will leave the stadium today as the
newest officers in the United States military. Our whole country is proud
of you, and I bring greetings and congratulations from your
Commander-in-Chief, President George W. Bush. (Applause.)

In these four years, as you have studied and drilled and prepared to become
leaders, you have seen changes in yourself. You have been tested in mind,
body, and character. You have felt the pride that comes from striving,
succeeding, and becoming the person the Air Force knew you could be. And
you have proven yourselves worthy of the honor you receive today.

You have taken academic courses from biology to physics, from law to
computer science, from philosophy to astronautical engineering. Your
military training has included endless hours of study on military strategy,
doctrine, and heritage. I've been told that additional lessons have been
learned outside the core curriculum. For example, members of this class
displayed a superb application of stealth, using nothing more than a bottle
of Hershey's syrup in the dining hall. (Laughter.) And although most of you
understand the complexities of jet aircraft and navigational systems, at
least one of you also has demonstrated considerable skill in operating a
Bobcat tractor. (Laughter.)

You conclude your time at the Air Force Academy rightfully proud of your
achievements, and well prepared for the duties ahead of you. You are on a
journey of success that does not end with graduation, and did not begin on
the day you arrived for BCT in-processing. Even before you came to Colorado
Springs, you stood apart as young men and women of exceptional gifts and
potential. And you had the support and encouragement of the people who care
the most about you -- the ones who shaped your character, and set you on a
path to respect the rank you hold today. This ceremony is a wonderful
moment for them, as well. So I believe it's fitting that we give a round of
applause to the parents of the class of 2005. (Applause.)

This morning you take your place as commissioned officers in the most
powerful air and space force in the history of mankind. That responsibility
comes to you in a period of unprecedented challenge for our country, and
extraordinary change for the armed forces. Four years ago, when you arrived
at the Air Force Academy, some believed our nation had entered a long
period of relative quiet, with few real threats to our security, little
reason to expect serious danger from abroad, and no chance of direct
attack. You were here on the day that comforting illusions gave way to
immediate and critical national priorities.

All of you remember that Tuesday morning in 2001 when alarms were sounded,
military bases were put on high alert, and the gates of this academy were
locked. Here in Colorado Springs, and at our nation's other service
academies, men and women understood immediately that a new mission had come
to America, and that some of the most vital work would be carried out by
your generation. The attacks on our country underscored the seriousness of
the profession you had entered and the oath you had taken only a few months
earlier. And many of you shared the same wish -- that you could graduate on
September 12th, and take your place in the first war of the 21st century.

A great deal has happened since that day, but we have much yet to do as a
nation -- and you will be among those who lead us to victory against
freedom's enemies. (Applause.) Your class, which has been defined by
change, will see and be a part of many more changes in the course of your
careers. And the security of our country will always depend not just on
strength and firepower, but on our adaptability to change, the flexibility
of our forces, and our willingness to confront dangers before they fully
materialize.

Every day for nearly four years, each one of you has prepared to become an
Air Force officer in a time of war. And ladies and gentlemen, this is a war
we are winning. (Applause.)

This conflict began on the timing and the terms of 19 men aboard civilian
aircraft. We learned that day just how much violence and suffering can be
inflicted on our country in the space of a few hours. September 11th also
gave us a glimpse of the terrorists' broader ambitions. They hate our
country and oppose everything we stand for in this world. They hold an
ideology that demands complete conformity, the crushing of dissent, and the
subjugation of women -- and in service to that ideology they are willing to
inflict merciless harm upon innocent men, women, and children. The
terrorists seek to impose their will across the broader Middle East and
beyond. They have declared their intention to strike America again, and to
kill ever greater numbers of our citizens. And they seek weapons of mass
destruction, in order to blackmail free nations and commit murder on a
massive scale. This continuing threat demands a unified, effective response
-- to make this nation better able to respond to any future attacks, to
reduce our vulnerability, and, above all, to hunt down the terrorists
before they can hit us again. (Applause.)

To protect the American people, we have made an urgent and substantial
reform in the organization of our government. We created the Department of
Homeland Security, strengthened defenses of our borders and coastlines, and
improved our preparedness against the possible use of biological weapons.
Almost three years ago, we stood up the U.S. Northern Command, here in
Colorado Springs, to protect our airspace and provide support to civil
authorities in the event of emergency. The men and women of NORTHCOM are
helping to make absolutely certain that the United States of America never
lets down our guard in the fight against terror.

To protect the American people, we've strengthened our intelligence
capabilities -- because reliable intelligence is our first line of defense
against terror. We will continue improving our capacity to collect and
analyze information from every kind of source. The Air Force will remain at
the center of that enterprise, through networked air and space platforms.
The capabilities we have now are the result of decades of innovative
thinking and wise investment. And in the future, as the margin for error in
national security matters gets smaller, the quality of our intelligence
services will become even better.

To protect the American people, we are confronting new dangers with a new
national security strategy. During the '80s and '90s, as terror networks
began to wage attacks against Americans, there was a tendency to treat
those attacks as isolated incidents. And those acts were answered, if at
all, on an ad hoc basis with subpoenas, criminal indictments, and the
occasional cruise missile. As time passed, the terrorists concluded that
they could hit America with very little consequence to themselves and might
even change American policy through acts of murder, so their attacks became
more ambitious and more deadly. After 9/11 this nation made a decision: We
will not sit back and wait for future attacks. We will prevent those
attacks by taking the fight to the enemy. (Applause.)

With good allies at our side, America has also enforced a doctrine that is
understood by all: Governments that support or harbor terrorists are
complicit in the murder of the innocent, and equally guilty of terrorist
crimes. There may be some in the world who doubt the seriousness of our
commitment -- but those doubters do not include members of the former
regime in Afghanistan, or the former dictator of Iraq. (Applause.)

At this Academy you have studied the methods and the technologies that are
transforming the U.S. military. As leaders in the Air Force you will be
participants in that transformation to make America far better able to meet
the challenges of the 21st century. A military that was designed for the
mid to late 20th century is becoming a force that is lighter, more
flexible, more agile, more lethal in action. Our task is to continue
building on America's advantages -- our technological superiority, our
ability to project force across great distances, our precision strike
capabilities, a space program second to none. And we must continue
investing in the greatest advantage of all: Men and women like you, whose
competence, creativity, and flexibility will always keep our nation steps
ahead of potential adversaries. (Applause.)

Military transformation will be a constant theme of your career, and every
branch of the service will share in the responsibility of getting the job
done right. Yet the project is well begun, as we saw in operations in
Afghanistan and Iraq during major combat, and as we see to this very day.
For its part, the United States Air Force has shown the kind of skill,
precision, readiness, and flexibility that will help protect this nation
from harm -- and, when necessary, to engage the enemy and dominate the
battle space.

The basic reasons for your successes are already clear. The first is the
adaptive mindset of the Air Force. You are steadily building a culture of
transformation that emphasizes problem-solving, innovation, and planning.

Another factor is your ability to integrate operations with our joint and
coalition forces. The other branches of our military depend on the Air
Force for air superiority, theater lift, close air support, intelligence
support, combat search and rescue, and GPS positioning. In the last several
years our national security needs have required the Air Force to work with
sister services in closer joint operations than ever before. You have risen
to that challenge. And because you have transformed into an expeditionary
air and space force, you are even more flexible and our reliance on your
abilities has only grown.

The application of technology has also been crucial. Our military today
operates at a higher level of accuracy over greater distances than earlier
generations could have imagined possible. We all remember the images from
Afghanistan of Air Force airmen on horseback. They were there with laser
designators and laptop computers, taking readings on enemy coordinates,
transmitting them to a cockpit more than 32,000 feet overhead, and calling
in precision air strikes within minutes.

In Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, most of our B-2
missions were flown not from bases abroad, but from right here in the
United States. The jets would take off from a base in Missouri, fly across
seven or more time zones, refuel several times en route, deliver 15 or more
tons of bombs on enemy targets, and return home. And when the bombs were
dropped, they struck within ten meters of the target -- having been
programmed for latitude, longitude, elevation, and even wind speed. We've
also seen the kind of innovative thinking that combines new technology with
older assets. The B-52 -- the mainstay of the Cold War bomber force, which
used to hit a small number of targets with accuracy to within half a mile
-- can now hit 20 separate targets on a single mission.

Today, as our coalition fights Taliban remnants in Afghanistan and
insurgents in Iraq, Air Force jets are flying 24 hours a day, on combat air
patrol and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance missions. Also
overhead, a constellation of Air Force-operated satellites provides
navigation and positioning information to every command vehicle on the
ground. We continue to depend on Air Force radar, photo, and infrared
imaging, and on unmanned aircraft such as the Predator, which gathers data,
sends it back to commanders in real time, then, if needed, fires on a
target with pinpoint accuracy.

All the advantages of joint operations and leading-edge technology add up
to a military force that is constantly improving, adapting to
circumstances, and finding new ways to defeat shadowy, entrenched enemies.
Yet the greatest advantage we have as a nation is the cause we stand for --
and the character of the individuals who serve that cause. As President
Ronald Reagan said, "No weapon in the arsenals of the world is so
formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women."
(Applause.)

In these years of challenge, our people in uniform have done their duty
with all the skill and the honor we expect of them. We have also had to say
farewell to some of the bravest Americans, including graduates of this
Academy. We cannot replace the loss, or take away the sadness of the
families left behind. But we will always remember their service and be
grateful, and we will honor their memory by completing our mission.
(Applause.)

For all the effort that lies ahead, we can be proud of everything that's
been achieved. America chose to lead, and had the courage to act -- and so
the murderous regimes of the Taliban and Saddam Hussein are history, more
than 50 million people have been liberated from tyranny, and democracy is
coming to the broader Middle East. We are committed to the advance of
freedom in that region not just because it serves our ideals, but also
because it serves our interests. Free societies are hopeful societies; free
societies do not feed resentments and lash out at peaceful neighbors, or
produce violence for export. Our country is safer today because Afghanistan
and Iraq have governments that fight terrorists instead of harboring them.
Future generations of Americans will be spared from violence and fear as
democracy and hope and governments that oppose terror multiply across the
Middle East.

Because we have acted in freedom's defense, and because we are pursuing a
forward strategy of freedom, we can see a vision of a world beyond the war
on terror. And as you rise through the ranks of the Air Force, we will be
counting on you to show America's strength, our commitment to peace, and
the great idealism and justice of this country. Many challenges are already
upon us, and others will emerge during your careers. In the years to come
we will protect this nation, our deployed forces, and our friends and
allies with ballistic missile defenses. We will work day by day -- and side
by side with other governments -- to oppose the proliferation of weapons of
mass destruction. We will uphold and strengthen our traditional alliances,
and seek good relations with all countries that share our commitment to
freedom, prosperity and security. We will maintain our military strength,
repositioning our forces so that we can always move swiftly to keep the
peace.

I want each one of you to know that this nation will never take you, or
your service, for granted. (Applause.) We will provide everything you need
to carry out the missions that are given to you. And we will always have
faith in you, just as you have faith in this great country of ours. Four
years ago, you were selected to come to this Academy, and now you have
earned the right to be called Air Force officers. For the rest of your
life, the commission you receive today will set you apart. Because of that
commission, others will assume that you are a person of integrity, that you
value service before self, and that you strive for excellence in all that
you do. These are the core values of the United States Air Force, and I am
certain you will live up to them at every stage of your career.

As Vice President of the United States -- and more importantly, as a
citizen of this land -- I respect each one of you for giving the best years
of your lives to the service of the country. (Applause.) America has
prepared you for the work ahead. America is very proud of you. And you will
play an historic role in the great victories to come. To every man and
woman in the class of 2005, I wish you good luck, and Godspeed. (Applause.)

END 10:38 A.M. MDT

===========================================================================
Return to this article at:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/06/20050601-2.html

 * Origin: (1:3634/12)