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Skriven 2006-10-16 23:31:10 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0610162) for Mon, 2006 Oct 16
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Vice President's Remarks at a Rally for the 101st Airborne Division
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Vice President
October 16, 2006

Vice President's Remarks at a Rally for the 101st Airborne Division
Building 6883 Air Assault School
Fort Campbell, Kentucky



2:51 P.M. CDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you. Thank you very much, General Turner.
Soldiers, families, thank you for the warm welcome. It's always good to be
with members of the armed forces, and a special honor to stand with the
men, women and families of the 101st Airborne Division -- air assault;
(applause) -- the 5th Special Forces Group, and the One-Sixtieth Special
Operations Aviation Regiment. (Applause.)

Don't hold back. (Laughter.)

Let me thank General Turner for the introduction, and for the opportunity
to visit Fort Campbell today. I had the opportunity to meet the General
several years ago when I visited an Army base at Caserma, Italy, and spoke
to the Sky Soldiers of the 173rd Brigade. I was proud to wear the brigade
jacket that day and I also wore it because the General said he'd kick my
tail if I didn't. (Applause.)

It's a pleasure to be joined by Kentucky Congressman Geoff Davis, who
stands one hundred percent behind the men and women of our military and was
a career Army man himself.

And I also realize that a good number of the men and women are on leave
right now, taking a break reconnecting with their families. And I ask all
of you to give them my very best and my thanks for their hard work. And I
want to thank the fine musicians, as well, of the 101st Screaming Eagles
Band. (Applause.)

As members of the 101st, you're serving in an historic division, at a very
important time in the life of our country. You've handled tough assignments
with skill and with honor. You've been faithful to your mission, and to one
another. You've re-enlisted at impressive rates. This country is very proud
of you, and today I bring the personal gratitude and the good wishes of
your Commander-in-Chief, President George W. Bush. (Applause.)

Last month in Iraq, you completed a year-long deployment that reflected
tremendous credit on the Army, and helped to move a liberated country one
step closer to a future of security and peace. As part of Task Force Band
of Brothers and Task Force Baghdad, you have amassed a record of excellence
and solid results. The 101st carried out air assault missions against the
enemies of freedom, provided security for national elections, trained some
32,000 police, helped provide border protection, and turned over more
territory to 35 Iraqi Army battalions, so they can take the lead in
defending their own country.

You did all this, and more. And you did it in some of the toughest
conditions of modern warfare: carrying heavy gear, putting in long hours,
spending hour after hour in the incredible heat of the desert, and
confronting an enemy that has no uniform, no respect for the laws of
warfare, and no code of honor. It's hard and unrelenting work -- and it's
vital to our nation's freedom and security. You've shown exactly what it
means to take on perilous assignments, to adapt to enemy tactics, to press
on and to hang tough. You've returned to Fort Campbell in the knowledge
that your deployment has added further glory to the proud history of the
101st Airborne Division. Screaming Eagles: Welcome home. (Applause.)

Iraq is the central front in the global war on terror that began five years
ago, when this country we love came under attack. Thinking about 9/11 still
moves all of us -- because the attack was directed at all of us. We were
meant to take it personally, and we still do take it personally.

This nation harbors no illusions about the nature of our enemies, or the
beliefs they hold. They seek to impose a dictatorship of fear, under which
every man, woman, and child would live in total obedience to a narrow and
hateful ideology. This ideology rejects tolerance, denies freedom of
conscience, demands that women be pushed to the margins of society. We saw
the expression of those beliefs in the rule of the Taliban. In that
dictatorship, we also saw that beliefs of this kind can be imposed only
through force and intimidation, so those who refuse to bow to the tyrants
will be brutalized or killed.

We understand the objectives of the terrorists. They want to seize control
of a country in the Middle East, so they can acquire a base for launching
attacks, and oil wealth to finance their ambitions. They want to target and
overthrow other governments in the region, and eventually to establish a
totalitarian empire that encompasses a region from Spain, across North
Africa, through the Middle East and South Asia, all the way around to
Indonesia. They have declared, as well, their ultimate aims: to arm
themselves with chemical, biological, or even nuclear weapons; to destroy
Israel; to intimidate all Western countries and to cause great harm to the
United States. We are their prime target. They hate us, they hate our
country, they hate the liberties for which we stand. They want to destroy
our way of life, so that freedom no longer has a home and defender in this
world. That leaves us only one option: to rise to America's defense, to
take the fight directly to the enemy, and to accept no outcome but victory
for the cause of freedom.

The war on terror is difficult because the enemy sees the entire world as a
battlefield. That's why al Qaeda has operatives in Iraq right now. Bin
Laden himself calls this conflict the "third world war", and he knows the
stakes as well as we do. If the terrorists were to succeed, they would
return Iraq to the rule of tyrants, make it a source of instability in the
Middle East, and use it as a staging area for more attacks. The terrorists
also know that as freedom takes hold, the ideologies of hatred and
resentment will lose their appeal, and the advance of liberty, equality,
and self government in the broader Middle East will lead to a much safer
world for our children and our grandchildren.

The terrorists know they cannot beat us in a stand-up fight. They never
have. The only way they can win is if we lose our nerve and abandon our
mission. So they continue committing acts of random horror, believing they
can intimidate the civilized world and break the will of the American
people. They base this view, in part, on the history of the 1980s and '90s,
when they concluded that if they killed enough Americans, they could change
American policy. In Beirut in 1983, terrorists killed 241 of our service
members. Thereafter, US forces withdrew from Beirut. In Mogadishu in 1993,
terrorists killed 19 Americans. Thereafter, U.S. forces withdrew from
Somalia.

The attacks continued: the first bombing at the World Trade Center in 1993;
the murders at the Saudi Arabia National Guard training facility in 1995;
the attack on Khobar Towers in 1996; the simultaneous bombing of our
embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998; and the attack on the USS Cole in
2000. With each attack, the terrorists grew more confident in believing
they could strike America without paying a price. So they kept at it, and
eventually struck the homeland here on September 11th and killed 3,000 of
our fellow citizens. Bin Laden continues to predict that the people of the
United States simply do not have the stomach to stay in the fight against
terror.

But this nation has learned the lessons of history. We know that terrorist
attacks are not caused by the use of strength; they are invited by the
perception of weakness. We know that if we leave Iraq before the mission is
completed, the enemy will simply come after us. Having seen our interests
attacked repeatedly over the years, and knowing the ambitions of the
terrorists, this nation has made a decision: We will engage these enemies.
We'll face them far from home, so we do not have to face them on the
streets of our own cities.

Our strategic goal in Iraq is a nation that can govern itself, sustain
itself, defend itself, and be an ally in the war on terror. Having been on
the ground, all of you know that we've made progress -- not easily, but
steadily. And we can be confident going forward. By voting in free
elections, by ratifying a constitution, by going to the polls with a voter
turnout rate higher than that in our country, the Iraqi people have shown
they value their liberty and are determined to choose their own destiny.

America is a good and a generous country. We're showing the Iraqi people
the true character of the United States. Members of our military have
worked diligently to make sure that more Iraqi families have police
protection, and electricity, and water, and sanitation for their homes. By
your openness and your decency, by your honor and your kindness to others
in thousands of interactions, you've built bonds of friendship that are
very important to our two countries. It's a sign that much is right with
the world as a democratically-elected people works to serve the government,
end the violence, and resolve differences through peaceful means, while
Saddam Hussein, the tyrant who filled mass graves and terrorized Iraq for
decades, sits in a courtroom facing the truth and awaiting justice.

In all the difficult work that lies ahead, the Iraqi people can know that
the United States is a nation that keeps its word. We'll continue the work
of reconstruction. We'll continue striking the enemy -- conducting raids,
countering attacks, seizing weapons, and capturing killers. We'll continue
training Iraqi forces so they can defend their own country and make it a
source of stability in a troubled region. We'll change our tactics as
necessary to achieve the mission, as we have from the beginning. And all
Americans can be certain: any decisions about troop levels will be driven
by the conditions on the ground and the judgment of our commanders -- not
by artificial time lines set by politicians in Washington, D.C.

It's been noted very often that the war on terror must be fought on many
fronts. We have taken urgent action to protect the homeland, to harden the
target, to be prepared for any attack that might come. But wars are not won
on the defensive. We've had to take firm and sustained action on the
intelligence and the military side -- and we've had to rely on the bravery,
the toughness, and the skill of some very dedicated Americans.

The people of the United States know about the heroism you display every
day in this war. We stand in total admiration when we learn of soldiers who
run through heavy fire to assist wounded comrades, or dive into canals to
pull men out of overturned vehicles, or face intense engagement against
enemy positions, or conduct dangerous nighttime patrols. Our freedom
depends on men and women who live by the ethic of service above self, and
who place duty and the national interest above any considerations of
personal comfort or safety. Those who put their lives on the line for
America are the very best among us -- and so we care deeply for every man
and woman who comes home with injury. And we grieve with the family that
has to say goodbye to a soldier they loved.

I know that each month at Fort Campbell you gather for an "Eagles
Remembrance" ceremony. Since the war on terror began, more than 150 members
of the division have given their lives for our freedom. Their Army brethren
still feel the loss. And a grateful nation will honor their memory forever.

Every sacrifice reminds this nation that our freedom comes at a price, that
we're fortunate that so many fellow Americans have stepped forward to wear
the uniform of the United States. We are a democracy, defended by
volunteers who deserve all the tools and resources and support we can
possibly provide.

America's great respect for our people in uniform also extends to their
families. Not long ago, General Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs
and a career officer, said that military families, quote, "serve this
country equally well as anyone who has ever worn the uniform. They sit
silently at home and pray for their loved one, wait for news of their
return and then silently stand back and pretend they had nothing to do with
our success. Whereas, in fact, it is the love and support of our families
that makes all the difference in the world."

I know that General Pace's words speak for all of you. I'm told that during
a recent deployment, a Sergeant named Valerie Yates and her husband, Staff
Sergeant Raymond Yates, needed some help at home. So Valerie's mother moved
all the way from Australia to Kentucky to take care of her grandchildren.
That's the kind of spirit we've always seen in the families of Fort
Campbell. You've built a tremendous support network here. The Family
Readiness Groups truly serve beyond the call, and we're proud of each and
every one of them.

The greatest joy for a family, of course, is when a loved one is welcomed
home -- or when a new child is welcomed to life. Occasionally those two
circumstances come at the same time. They tell me that when Specialist
Christopher Roberts returned, his pregnant wife, Private Jennifer Roberts,
was waiting on the flight line. By the time the plane landed, Jennifer was
in labor. She and Christopher made a quick dash to the hospital, where they
delivered a brand-new baby girl, Myra Lynn Roberts. Congratulations.
(Applause.)

I want all the families of Fort Campbell to know how much your fellow
Americans appreciate you. We're not a country that takes its military for
granted. America has counted on the Army for more than 230 years, and the
Army has never let this nation down.

Shortly after the attacks of September 11th, President Bush came here to
Fort Campbell to meet with soldiers and to speak about the challenges that
lay ahead for the United States. He said, "Great causes are not easy
causes. It was a long way from Bunker Hill to Yorktown. It was a long way
for the 101st from Normandy to final victory over fascism in Europe. When
wronged, our great nation has always been patient and determined and
relentless."

Ladies and gentlemen, the war on terror is a test of our strength, a test
of our capabilities, and, above all, a test of our character as a nation.
Standing here with the soldiers and the families of Fort Campbell, I have
never had more confidence in the nerve and the will of the American people.
We love our country, only more when she is threatened. We know the hopes of
the civilized world depend on us. Our cause is right. It is just. And this
great nation will prevail.

Thank you very much.

END 3:08 P.M. CDT
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