-sm
--- dana tierney <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> "The liberation of Iraq ... removed an ally of al
> Qaeda, and cut off a
> source of terrorist funding. And this much is
> certain: No terrorist
> network will gain weapons of mass destruction from
> the Iraqi regime,
> because the regime is no more. (Applause.)"
>
>
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2003/05/iraq/20030501-15.html
>
> As previously mentioned, implies though does not
> quite say there is a
> link. Hopefully this example will put the matter to
> rest.
>
> for those allergic to clicking:
>
> For Immediate Release
> Office of the Press Secretary
> May 1, 2003
>
>
> President's Remarks
>
> President Bush Announces Major Combat Operations in
> Iraq Have Ended
> Remarks by the President from the USS Abraham
> Lincoln
> At Sea Off the Coast of San Diego, California
>
> THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Admiral
> Kelly, Captain Card,
> officers and sailors of the USS Abraham Lincoln, my
> fellow Americans:
> Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the
> battle of Iraq, the
> United States and our allies have prevailed.
> (Applause.) And now our
> coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing
> that country.
>
> In this battle, we have fought for the cause of
> liberty, and for the
> peace of the world. Our nation and our coalition are
> proud of this
> accomplishment -- yet, it is you, the members of the
> United States
> military, who achieved it. Your courage, your
> willingness to face
> danger for your country and for each other, made
> this day possible.
> Because of you, our nation is more secure. Because
> of you, the tyrant
> has fallen, and Iraq is free. (Applause.)
>
> Operation Iraqi Freedom was carried out with a
> combination of
> precision and speed and boldness the enemy did not
> expect, and the
> world had not seen before. From distant bases or
> ships at sea, we sent
> planes and missiles that could destroy an enemy
> division, or strike a
> single bunker. Marines and soldiers charged to
> Baghdad across 350
> miles of hostile ground, in one of the swiftest
> advances of heavy arms
> in history. You have shown the world the skill and
> the might of the
> American Armed Forces.
>
> This nation thanks all the members of our coalition
> who joined in a
> noble cause. We thank the Armed Forces of the United
> Kingdom,
> Australia, and Poland, who shared in the hardships
> of war. We thank
> all the citizens of Iraq who welcomed our troops and
> joined in the
> liberation of their own country. And tonight, I have
> a special word
> for Secretary Rumsfeld, for General Franks, and for
> all the men and
> women who wear the uniform of the United States:
> America is grateful
> for a job well done. (Applause.)
>
> The character of our military through history -- the
> daring of
> Normandy, the fierce courage of Iwo Jima, the
> decency and idealism
> that turned enemies into allies -- is fully present
> in this
> generation. When Iraqi civilians looked into the
> faces of our
> servicemen and women, they saw strength and kindness
> and goodwill.
> When I look at the members of the United States
> military, I see the
> best of our country, and I'm honored to be your
> Commander-in-Chief.
> (Applause.)
>
> In the images of falling statues, we have witnessed
> the arrival of a
> new era. For a hundred of years of war, culminating
> in the nuclear
> age, military technology was designed and deployed
> to inflict
> casualties on an ever-growing scale. In defeating
> Nazi Germany and
> Imperial Japan, Allied forces destroyed entire
> cities, while enemy
> leaders who started the conflict were safe until the
> final days.
> Military power was used to end a regime by breaking
> a nation.
>
> Today, we have the greater power to free a nation
> by breaking a
> dangerous and aggressive regime. With new tactics
> and precision
> weapons, we can achieve military objectives without
> directing violence
> against civilians. No device of man can remove the
> tragedy from war;
> yet it is a great moral advance when the guilty have
> far more to fear
> from war than the innocent. (Applause.)
>
> In the images of celebrating Iraqis, we have also
> seen the ageless
> appeal of human freedom. Decades of lies and
> intimidation could not
> make the Iraqi people love their oppressors or
> desire their own
> enslavement. Men and women in every culture need
> liberty like they
> need food and water and air. Everywhere that freedom
> arrives, humanity
> rejoices; and everywhere that freedom stirs, let
> tyrants fear.
> (Applause.)
>
> We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We're bringing
> order to parts of
> that country that remain dangerous. We're pursuing
> and finding leaders
> of the old regime, who will be held to account for
> their crimes. We've
> begun the search for hidden chemical and biological
> weapons and
> already know of hundreds of sites that will be
> investigated. We're
> helping to rebuild Iraq, where the dictator built
> palaces for himself,
> instead of hospitals and schools. And we will stand
> with the new
> leaders of Iraq as they establish a government of,
> by, and for the
> Iraqi people. (Applause.)
>
> The transition from dictatorship to democracy will
> take time, but it
> is worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until
> our work is done.
> Then we will leave, and we will leave behind a free
> Iraq. (Applause.)
>
> The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror
> that began on
> September the 11, 2001 -- and still goes on. That
> terrible morning, 19
> evil men -- the shock troops of a hateful ideology
> -- gave America and
> the civilized world a glimpse of their ambitions.
> They imagined, in
> the words of one terrorist, that September the 11th
> would be the
> "beginning of the end of America." By seeking to
> turn our cities into
> killing fields, terrorists and their allies believed
> that they could
> destroy this nation's resolve, and force our retreat
> from the world.
> They have failed. (Applause.)
>
> In the battle of Afghanistan, we destroyed the
> Taliban, many
> terrorists, and the camps where they trained. We
> continue to help the
> Afghan people lay roads, restore hospitals, and
> educate all of their
> children. Yet we also have dangerous work to
> complete. As I speak, a
> Special Operations task force, led by the 82nd
> Airborne, is on the
> trail of the terrorists and those who seek to
> undermine the free
> government of Afghanistan. America and our coalition
> will finish what
> we have begun. (Applause.)
>
> From Pakistan to the Philippines to the Horn of
> Africa, we are hunting
> down al Qaeda killers. Nineteen months ago, I
> pledged that the
> terrorists would not escape the patient justice of
> the United States.
> And as of tonight, nearly one-half of al Qaeda's
> senior operatives
> have been captured or killed. (Applause.)
>
> The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the
> campaign against
> terror. We've removed an ally of al Qaeda, and cut
> off a source of
> terrorist funding. And this much is certain: No
> terrorist network will
> gain weapons of mass destruction from the Iraqi
> regime, because the
> regime is no more. (Applause.)
>
> In these 19 months that changed the world, our
> actions have been
> focused and deliberate and proportionate to the
> offense. We have not
> forgotten the victims of September the 11th -- the
> last phone calls,
> the cold murder of children, the searches in the
> rubble. With those
> attacks, the terrorists and their supporters
> declared war on the
> United States. And war is what they got. (Applause.)
>
> Our war against terror is proceeding according to
> principles that I
> have made clear to all: Any person involved in
> committing or planning
> terrorist attacks against the American people
> becomes an enemy of this
> country, and a target of American justice.
> (Applause.)
>
> Any person, organization, or government that
> supports, protects, or
> harbors terrorists is complicit in the murder of the
> innocent, and
> equally guilty of terrorist crimes.
>
> Any outlaw regime that has ties to terrorist groups
> and seeks or
> possesses weapons of mass destruction is a grave
> danger to the
> civilized world -- and will be confronted.
> (Applause.)
>
> And anyone in the world, including the Arab world,
> who works and
> sacrifices for freedom has a loyal friend in the
> United States of
> America. (Applause.)
> Click here for a USS Abraham Lincoln photo essay.
>
> Our commitment to liberty is America's tradition --
> declared at our
> founding; affirmed in Franklin Roosevelt's Four
> Freedoms; asserted in
> the Truman Doctrine and in Ronald Reagan's challenge
> to an evil
> empire. We are committed to freedom in Afghanistan,
> in Iraq, and in a
> peaceful Palestine. The advance of freedom is the
> surest strategy to
> undermine the appeal of terror in the world. Where
> freedom takes hold,
> hatred gives way to hope. When freedom takes hold,
> men and women turn
> to the peaceful pursuit of a better life. American
> values and American
> interests lead in the same direction: We stand for
> human liberty.
> (Applause.)
>
> The United States upholds these principles of
> security and freedom in
> many ways -- with all the tools of diplomacy, law
> enforcement,
> intelligence, and finance. We're working with a
> broad coalition of
> nations that understand the threat and our shared
> responsibility to
> meet it. The use of force has been -- and remains --
> our last resort.
> Yet all can know, friend and foe alike, that our
> nation has a mission:
> We will answer threats to our security, and we will
> defend the peace.
> (Applause.)
>
> Our mission continues. Al Qaeda is wounded, not
> destroyed. The
> scattered cells of the terrorist network still
> operate in many
> nations, and we know from daily intelligence that
> they continue to
> plot against free people. The proliferation of
> deadly weapons remains
> a serious danger. The enemies of freedom are not
> idle, and neither are
> we. Our government has taken unprecedented measures
> to defend the
> homeland. And we will continue to hunt down the
> enemy before he can
> strike. (Applause.)
>
> The war on terror is not over; yet it is not
> endless. We do not know
> the day of final victory, but we have seen the
> turning of the tide. No
> act of the terrorists will change our purpose, or
> weaken our resolve,
> or alter their fate. Their cause is lost. Free
> nations will press on
> to victory. (Applause.)
>
> Other nations in history have fought in foreign
> lands and remained to
> occupy and exploit. Americans, following a battle,
> want nothing more
> than to return home. And that is your direction
> tonight. (Applause.)
> After service in the Afghan -- and Iraqi theaters of
> war -- after
> 100,000 miles, on the longest carrier deployment in
> recent history,
> you are homeward bound. (Applause.) Some of you will
> see new family
> members for the first time -- 150 babies were born
> while their fathers
> were on the Lincoln. Your families are proud of you,
> and your nation
> will welcome you. (Applause.)
>
> We are mindful, as well, that some good men and
> women are not making
> the journey home. One of those who fell, Corporal
> Jason Mileo, spoke
> to his parents five days before his death. Jason's
> father said, "He
> called us from the center of Baghdad, not to brag,
> but to tell us he
> loved us. Our son was a soldier."
>
> Every name, every life is a loss to our military, to
> our nation, and
> to the loved ones who grieve. There's no homecoming
> for these
> families. Yet we pray, in God's time, their reunion
> will come.
>
> Those we lost were last seen on duty. Their final
> act on this Earth
> was to fight a great evil and bring liberty to
> others. All of you --
> all in this generation of our military -- have taken
> up the highest
> calling of history. You're defending your country,
> and protecting the
> innocent from harm. And wherever you go, you carry a
> message of hope
> -- a message that is ancient and ever new. In the
> words of the prophet
> Isaiah, "To the captives, 'come out,' -- and to
> those in darkness, 'be
> free.'"
>
> Thank you for serving our country and our cause. May
> God bless you
> all, and may God continue to bless America.
> (Applause.)
>
> END 6:27 P.M. PDT
>
>
[Todays Threads] [This Message] [Subscription] [Fast Unsubscribe] [User Settings] [Donations and Support]
