THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Please be seated. You call
him General, I call him "Wojo." (Laughter.) Thank you for the
introduction. I'm proud to be with you. I'm proud to be at Fort Benning,
Georgia, home of the Infantry. I'm proud to be with those who have
volunteered to serve our country, brave men and women who understand
that the awesome responsibility of government is to provide security to
the American people. I applaud you for your efforts. I'm proud to be
your Commander-in-Chief. And I'm honored to have lunch with you.
I'm only sorry that my wife hasn't joined me. She's the better half of
our deal. (Laughter.) But she sends her love and her respect.
Speaking about families, I have the greatest of respect for not only
those of you who wear the uniform, but your families, as well. I fully
understand in times of danger the military families make a significant
sacrifice. And so on behalf of a grateful nation, I say thanks to the
families of the soldiers here at Fort Benning, Georgia. (Applause.)
Wojo, I'm glad your wife, Candy, joined us. We both married well. I
appreciate traveling here today with the United States Congressman who
represents this area, Congressman Sanford Bishop. Thank you for coming,
Congressman. (Applause.) And I'm pleased that Congressman Lynn
Westmoreland -- he is from the district right north of here -- has
joined us today. Lynn, thank you for being here. (Applause.)
I appreciate the Mayor of Columbus, Georgia, Mayor Wetherington. Mr.
Mayor, thank you for being here. Thanks for coming. (Applause.) Mayor
Hardin, of Phenix City, Alabama has joined us. Mr. Mayor, appreciate you
coming. (Applause.) I know you didn't ask, neither of the Mayors asked,
but sometimes I like to remind them, just go ahead and fill the
potholes. (Laughter.) I'm not suggesting there are any, it's just my
advice.
I appreciate all the officials, local officials who are here. I can't
thank the commanders of the base who have arranged this visit -- I do
want to thank Keith Lovejoy, Colonel Keith Lovejoy, Garrison Commander
of Fort Benning, and his wife, Carol; Sergeant Major Doug Greenway, his
wife JoAnn.
AUDIENCE MEMBER: Hooah!
THE PRESIDENT: You've got a little bit of a following here.
(Laughter.)
I appreciate all the civilian personnel that have joined us to help
make this base run. You know, our bases cannot run without the important
contributions of civilians, and I appreciate your effort in helping this
fine base survive. This is a really important place. This is a place
that has a long tradition of turning civilians into highly skilled
soldiers. And I can't thank you enough for the contribution you're
making to the security of this country.
There's a lot of history here at Fort Benning, Georgia. A lot of folks
have left this base to defend freedom and pass the peace. And I
appreciate the fact -- and I know you do, as well -- that you're part of
a long tradition of people who have made incredibly important sacrifices
so that hundreds of millions of people would enjoy the blessings of
liberty and freedom and the world will be more peaceful.
And that's what we're here to celebrate today. On September the 11th,
our nation saw firsthand the destructive vision of a new kind of enemy,
and once again the men and women of Fort Benning answered the call to
protect our country from that enemy. You know, I knew that right after
the attacks, the American psyche being what it is, people would tend to
forget the grave threat posed by these people. I knew that. As a matter
of fact, I was hoping that would happen so that life would go on. But
the fortunate thing for this country is that those who wear the uniform
have never forgotten the threat. You understand the stakes.
You know, the Rangers from the Third Battalion of the 75th regiment
led the way when it came to upholding doctrine that said, if you harbor
a terrorist, you're equally as guilty as the terrorists, and helped
liberate Afghanistan. The first fight of this new war was in that
faraway place. Soldiers from Fort Benning led the way.
The Third Brigade Combat Team of the Third Infantry Division took up
the sledgehammer to help liberate Baghdad. One soldier from Fort Benning,
Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith of the Third Infantry Division, went
into Iraq. He was there when they surprised about a hundred of Saddam
Hussein's Republican Guard. They were attacked, and Sergeant Smith
manned a 50-caliber machine gun atop a damaged armored vehicle to
protect his men. He continued to fire from an exposed position. He took
a fatal round. He saved more than a hundred lives of American soldiers.
He received the Medal of Honor. (Applause.)
This is the kind of remarkable courage found throughout the --
throughout the men and women on this base. Troops from Fort Benning are
now serving in Iraq right now, helping to protect the troops and the
Iraqi citizens, training Iraqi security forces.
You're doing something else remarkable here, rebuilding schools and
helping improve lives. Everywhere that warriors from this base serve,
you leave your mark, and I believe it will be a legacy of hope and
freedom and peace.
Last night I talked about a new strategy for Iraq, and I want to
share some thoughts with you about that. You know, in 2005, I was able
to report to the country that nearly 12 million Iraqis had cast their
ballots in a remarkable election. I hope you still remember the moments
when people were proudly able to wave their fingers saying, we have shed
ourselves from a tyrant, and we're able to express our individual wills
about the future of our country. I believe that 2005 would have been a
-- we would have completed a lot of the mission and that would had been
training the Iraqis so they would be in the lead, that they would be in
a position to uphold the wishes of the 12 million people that voted.
In spite of the remarkable progress, 2006 turned out differently than I
had anticipated. And it did because there's an enemy there that
recognizes that the advance of freedom is in contrast to their hopes and
their dreams. They can't stand the thought of a free society. Al Qaeda
and foreigners and radicals took action trying to spur sectarian
violence. They bombed holy -- important holy site, they killed innocent
people, and they were effective at spawning sectarian violence.
The situation in Iraq is difficult, no question about it. It's a
difficult time in Iraq because the sectarian violence needs to be
challenged and stopped in order for this young society to advance. Yet,
it's important for our fellow citizens to understand that failure in
Iraq would be a disaster for our future. And here's why. One of the
wisest comments I've heard about this battle in Iraq was made by General
John Abizaid -- smart guy, a great soldier. He told me -- he said, Mr.
President, if we were to fail in Iraq, the enemy would follow us here to
America.
It's a different kind of war in which failure in one part of the
world could lead to disaster here at home. It's important for our
citizens to understand that as tempting as it might be, to understand
the consequences of leaving before the job is done, radical Islamic
extremists would grow in strength. They would be emboldened. It would
make it easier to recruit for their cause. They would be in a position
to do that which they have said they want to do, which is to topple
moderate governments, to spread their radical vision across an important
region of the world.
Imagine what would happen if these extremists who hate America and
our way of life gained control of energy reserves. You can bet they
would use those reserves to blackmail economies in order to achieve
their objective. If we were to leave before the job is done, if we were
to fail in Iraq, Iran would be emboldened in its pursuit of nuclear
weapons. Our enemies would have safe havens from which to launch
attacks. People would look back at this moment in history and say, what
happened to them in America? How come they couldn't see the threats to a
future generation? That is why we must, and we will, succeed in Iraq.
(Applause.)
The most urgent priority for success in Iraq is security, especially in
Baghdad. Only the Iraqis can end sectarian violence. That's their job.
The Iraqis must secure their people. The government recognizes they've
got to do so, and they've put forth a plan. I received their plan, their
version of the plan when I was in Jordan. The Prime Minister came and
said, look, I understand we've got to do something about this violence,
and here is what I suggest we do. Our commanders looked at it, helped
fine-tune it so it would work.
The plan basically calls for the government to appoint a military
commander for Baghdad, which they have done. And they've got the city
divided into nine divisions in which there will be 18 Iraqi Army and
National Police brigades operating out of local police stations to set
up checkpoints, to knock on doors and take a census, to let them know
that there is an army presence in the neighborhood to protect them.
The commanders on the ground in Iraq, people who I listen to -- by
the way, that's what you want your Commander-in-Chief to do. You don't
want decisions being made based upon politics, or focus groups, or
political polls. You want your military decisions being made by military
experts. And they analyzed the plan and they said to me, and to the
Iraqi government, this won't work unless we help them. There needs to be
a bigger presence.
And there needs to be a bigger presence because, in the past, we
would go in with Iraqis and clear a neighborhood of extremists and
terrorists, and then there wouldn't be enough troops to hold the
neighborhood. So our kids would do a lot of hard work, and insurgents
and terrorists and killers would generally not want to engage our troops
-- probably a pretty smart decision on their part. But when they did,
they would find justice, and then we'd go on to another assignment, and
they'd come back in the neighborhood. And it's frustrating to our
troops; it's equally frustrating to the Iraqi citizens who want to live
in peace. That's what they want. They want to be able to have a peaceful
life.
And so our commanders looked at the plan and said, Mr. President,
it's not going to work until -- unless we support -- provide more
troops. And so last night I told the country that I've committed an
additional -- a little over 20,000 more troops, five brigades of which
will be in Baghdad. They're going to work alongside the Iraqi units.
They will be embedded in Iraqi units. They will help the Iraqis take the
lead in securing the neighborhoods.
They're going to have a well-defined mission. You hear people say, there
must be a clear military mission. That's what the military people have
said to me. The mission is to help Iraqis clear and secure
neighborhoods, to help Iraqis protect the local population, and to
ensure that the Iraqi forces that are left behind will be capable of
providing the security necessary in the capital city of Iraq. That's the
mission.
I asked General Casey, can we accomplish that mission? He said, you
bet, we can accomplish that mission. It's got enough troops to
accomplish the mission. But one other thing must happen -- that our
troops and Iraqi troops must have proper rules of engagement. In other
words, there can't be politics interfering with the action of our
troops. The American people say, well, you tried it before -- and we
did. They said, what went wrong, what's different?
Well, what's new about this plan is there will be enough troops to
clear, build and hold, and that our troops will be able to move
alongside the Iraqis without political interference, and that's very
important. It's important for our troops to hear, and it's important for
the American people to know, this is new. This is something different
that enables the military folks to predict that we will succeed in
helping quell sectarian violence in Baghdad.
The other thing that's going to have to happen is that the government
of Iraq must exhibit the will necessary to succeed. It's one thing to
develop a plan, it's another thing to see it through. The Prime Minister
and I have had some plain talking. I have made it clear that the
patience of the American people is not unlimited. And now is the time to
act. It's time to act not only for our sake, it's time to act for the
sake of people in Iraq. Shia and Sunni mothers want their children to
grow up in peace.
The Prime Minister has pledged that political or sectarian
interference will not be tolerated. He has said this publicly. The new
strategy is not going to yield immediate results. It's going to take
awhile. The American people have got to understand that suicide bombings
won't stop immediately. The IED attacks won't stop immediately.
Yet over time, we can expect to see positive results, and that would
be the Iraqis chasing down the murderers; that there will be fewer
brazen acts of terror inside of Baghdad; that there will be growing
trust between the different neighborhoods. In other words, you'll begin
to see a society that is somewhat more peaceful. Daily life will
improve, the Iraqis will gain confidence in their leaders, and the
government will have the breathing space necessary to be able to do
other things, to do the politics necessary, to reconcile, to pass an oil
law, to allow there to be provincial elections, to make sure that
deBaathification rules are altered, to say to people, this society is a
unified society. In other words, to listen to the will of the 12 million
people that voted.
We -- it's interesting -- you know, I mentioned that the Prime Minister
and the government have got to step up and lead. I was heartened by the
resolve that I've seen in the last couple of days, the resolve of the
government, and the resolve of the Iraqi troops. They fought bravely
beside U.S. forces in Baghdad to rout out insurgents and terrorists
along Haifa Street. I don't know if you followed that battle, but it was
a tough battle, with the Iraqis in the lead, and our folks helping them.
Yesterday, the resolve was seen when Prime Minister Maliki made it
clear that illegal militias, including the Mahdi Army, have a choice to
make: either lay down your arms or face justice. That's the kind of
leadership that the Iraqi people expect. And that's the kind of
leadership I expect, and the American people expect. Our support is not
open-ended. If the Iraqis demonstrate a willingness to fight for a
better future, we'll help them. It's in our interests that we do so. Not
only do we expect to see action militarily, as I mentioned, we expect to
see them fulfill the benchmarks that they laid out for their people.
We're going to help them. I was telling the General we'll double the
number of provincial reconstruction teams; our commanders and civilians
will have greater flexibility to spend money on the ground. For those of
you who have been there, it's called CERP money. You know it's an
effective tool to help part of the "build" part of "clear" -- build and
hold. But their government has got to come in behind us.
I was pleased to see that the Iraqi government pledged $10 billion of
their own money to help this government show the people that beyond just
security there needs to be an improvement in life, that people have got
to have -- see a better life in order for this government to work.
Last night I also talked about Anbar Province. It's important for the
American people to understand al Qaeda still is in Iraq. As a matter of
fact, they made it clear their ambitions in Iraq. These are the same
folks that came and killed about 3,000 of our citizens. Their goal in
Iraq is to topple the government, topple democracy.
See, their vision of life, their ideology can't stand the thought of
free societies in their midst. They're totalitarians. You do it this
way, or else, is their attitude about government. They don't believe in
freedoms, like freedom to worship. I, frankly -- well, speaking about
religion, these are murderers. They use murder as a tool to achieve
their objective. Religious people don't murder. They may claim they're
religious, but when you kill an innocent woman, or a child to create a
political end, that's not my view of religion. And yet, there are a lot
of peaceful, religious people in the Middle East.
These people need to be stopped. They can't stand the thought of the
Iraqis being able to worship freely. They want safe haven, and they've
chosen Anbar as their place to achieve safe haven.
We've got a lot of really fine troops fighting al Qaeda and we're
making progress. There's a lot of pressure on them in Anbar.
Interestingly enough, a lot of sheikhs have decided to join in the fight
against al Qaeda. They're tired of foreigners and killers in their
midst. That's what the commanders have told me. And they believe we have
a good opportunity to really crush this group of folks. And that's why
I've committed 4,000 additional troops into Anbar, as well as the troops
into Baghdad.
The purpose really is to crush these insurrections now, so that the
-- democracy in Iraq can develop, has a chance to make it. That's why I
made the decision I made. I understand the consequences of failure;
they're not acceptable. And so I thought long and hard how best to
succeed. That's what I'm interested in, is success. The American people
are interested in success. And I laid out a plan that is our best chance
for success.
It's also important for our citizens to understand that Iraq must be
viewed in the larger context of the Middle East. It's important for Iran
and Syria to understand that we will disrupt their attacks on our
forces, that we will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria.
We'll seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and
training to our enemies in Iraq.
Iran's desire to have a nuclear weapon has caught the attention of
the world. It is a very dangerous -- that would be a dangerous situation
if the Iranians were able to achieve a nuclear weapon. We will continue
to pressure Iran, and call upon the world to do so, to end its nuclear
weapons ambitions.
I made a statement last night that I had ordered the deployment of an
additional carrier strike group to the region. I also talked about
Patriot missile systems in the region, to help others deal with the
external threats. We will use our full diplomatic resources throughout
the Middle East.
It's very important for people to understand -- put this situation in
Iraq in a larger context, and that is the ideological war that we're
seeing. I talked to you about the consequences of failure. The best way
to defeat the totalitarian of hate is with an ideology of hope -- an
ideology of hate -- excuse me -- with an ideology of hope. It matters
whether or not people are resentful in the Middle East. It matters if
people are hateful and look to strike out at a convenient target in the
Middle East. Our security depends on there to be a alternative to the
ideology of hate. Because if there's resentment and hate, it's easier to
recruit 19 kids to get on an airplane and kill 3,000 people.
And therefore, in the long run, your children and grandchildren are
more likely to live in peace with the advent of liberty. And I'm
confident that there are millions of people who are desirous to live in
a free society, regardless of their religion, because I believe in the
universality of freedom. I believe there's an Almighty, and I believe a
gift of the Almighty to every soul is the desire to be free. That's what
I believe. And so it did not surprise me when people defied car bombers
and killers to vote, to send a signal, I want to be free.
And the task, immediate task of America, and the long-range goal of
this country must be to help those who desire to live in free societies
to do so, for the sake of peace for our own children. And that's the
call. And it's going to require sacrifice, and I appreciate the
sacrifices our troops are willing to make. Some units are going to have
to deploy earlier than scheduled as a result of the decision I made.
Some will remain deployed longer than originally anticipated. I will
work with you and the Congress to provide all the resources you need in
this war on terror, and that means good equipment and training, good
housing. I understand full well, if you're family is happy, you're
happy. The same thing in my house, by the way. (Laughter.)
I believe it's important to increase the end strength of the United
States Army so it can remain engaged -- (applause.) If this is a long
struggle, now is the time to prepare this country and our military for
this long struggle. It's important for our citizens to understand that
the terrorists and extremists are as brutal an enemy as this country has
ever faced. There are no rules of warfare. They don't -- they will kill
you in a minute in order to achieve an objective. And I know we're going
to face difficulties as we take on this important duty and task, and so
do you.
You know first hand that -- what it means to lose a comrade. My view
is that it is important for us to succeed so that comrade would not have
died in vain. It's important to leave behind a better world as the
sacrifices that all have made.
There is no doubt in my mind we will prevail. It will require
patience and determination. It will require our military to do what you
have done every time this government has asked of you. It will require
the full resolve of not only this government, but future governments
that will be following this one. Every time this country has been
tested, we've responded. As I said last night, we have defied the
pessimists, and we will do so again in this first battle of the 21st
century.
God bless. (Applause.) |