[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book I)]
[January 31, 2008]
[Pages 134-141]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]
Remarks on the War on Terror in Las Vegas, Nevada
January 31, 2008
Thanks for the warm welcome. Thank you. So what Ranson didn't tell you is he believes in free speech, and
that's what I'm here to give. [Laughter] I appreciate the invitation.
[Laughter] Sharon, thank you very much as
well.
I'm honored to be here with the Governor.
Governor--the Governor has been a friend of mine for a long time. We
served together in Washington. He came back to Nevada--[laughter]--to
serve the great State. As my wife said, when you get over there, don't
mispronounce it again. [Laughter] I learned my lesson. But, Governor,
thank you for being here. I appreciate all the State and local officials
who are here, and I want to thank you for giving me a chance to come by
and share some thoughts about the world in which we live.
I do appreciate very much your advocacy of open markets, ownership.
I believe the ownership society is necessary for a hopeful America. We
want people owning their homes. We want people owning and managing their
own health care accounts. We want people managing their pension plans.
We ought to trust people. And at my State of the Union--one of the
themes at the State of the Union was that government ought to trust
people and empower them to make their own decisions about their future.
And this institute does that, and I appreciate it very much. I thank you
for being on the forefront of good, optimistic thought.
The world in which we live is a dangerous world, but a world full of
great opportunity. We're involved in an ideological struggle, the likes
of which we have seen before in our history. It's an ideological
struggle between those of us who love freedom and human rights and human
dignity and those who want to impose their dark vision on how people
should live their lives.
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This is a--not a political conflict--I mean, a religious conflict. And
I'll tell you why: Because the--one of the tactics--and the main tactic
of those enemies of freedom--is to murder the innocent to achieve their
objectives. Religious people do not murder the innocent.
And so we're facing this ideological struggle of people who use
asymmetrical warfare. What distinguishes this ideological struggle from
previous ideological struggles, those with--against fascism or
communism, is that in this war, individuals use weapons to kill innocent
people--car bombs and suicide vests. And they do so to frighten the
West. They do so to create chaos and confusion. They do so with the aim
of creating vacuums into which their hateful ideology can flow. And
that's why you see the September 11th attacks, in London, in Madrid, in
Jordan, attacks around the world. Some will say these are just isolated
moments of--where all we need is a good, strong law enforcement
response. I think they're all part of an ideological struggle.
And the interesting development that is taking place in the
beginnings here of the 21st century is the freedom movement is on the
march. I'm not surprised, and you shouldn't be either. I believe there
is an Almighty. I believe the gift of that Almighty to every man, woman,
and child is freedom. I believe that people, if given a chance, will
always go to freedom, and that's what you're beginning to see.
And yet every time freedom tries to advance, these ideologues murder
innocent people--in Afghanistan, in Iraq, in Lebanon, in Israel, in
Palestine. People who can't stand the thought of free societies unleash
their hatred by killing innocent people. And the great challenge facing
America and the world is, one, will we recognize the challenge? Do we
understand the consequences of success and failure? And will the United
States be bold and stay in the lead? And my answer is, we have been, we
will continue to be, and we must be engaged in making sure we lay the
foundation of peace for the sake of our children and grandchildren.
We will prevail. We will prevail in this ideological struggle
because liberty is powerful, liberty is hopeful. The enemy we face can
only convince people to join their cause is when they find hopelessness.
And so our strategy is threefold: one, protect the homeland; two, stay
on the offense against these folks; and three, provide an alternative, a
hopeful alternative to despair and doubt and hopelessness.
So today I want to spend some time on the strategy. The first--our
most important job in government, whether it be the Federal Government,
State government, or local government, is to protect you. And remember
the lessons of September the 11th, that oceans cannot protect us, that
we face coldblooded killers who, in our case, resorted to mass murder to
send a message. We've got--you know, thankfully there hasn't been an
attack on our homeland since then. That's not for the lack of effort by
these evil people.
I hope you take heart in knowing there are a lot of really fine
people working long, long hours to get the best information possible to
protect the homeland. There's a--unbelievably dedicated folks. And as I
said in the State of the Union the other night, we owe these folks a
debt of gratitude. And we owe them more; we owe them the tools necessary
to protect the American people.
And one such tool in this different kind of war is to fully
understand the intentions, the motives, the plans of people who use
suicide and bombs to kill the innocent. If these terrorists and
extremists are making phone calls into our country, we need to know why
they're calling, what they're thinking, and what they're planning. In
order to protect the American people, our professionals need to have the
tools necessary to do their job you expect them to
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do. And one such tool is a surveillance program that guarantees the
rights of our citizens, but doesn't extend those same guarantees to
those who would do us harm.
Congress passed such a bill last year. They recognized that this
tool was important to protect America. And yet, unfortunately, the bill
they passed is set to expire tomorrow--or was set to expire tomorrow.
Now, it's an interesting train of logic, isn't it? The tool was
necessary 6 months ago, and yet it was set to expire as if the threat to
our country was set to expire. But it's not. There's still ongoing
threats.
I will sign today, here in Las Vegas, an extension, 15-day extension
to the Protect America Act. This will give people in Congress time to
pass a good piece of legislation that makes sure that our professionals
have the tools necessary to do their job and provides liability
protection to carriers who it is assumed helped us in protecting the
American people. This Protect America Act and its strengthening is
essential to the security of the United States of America. I will sign
the extension, but I expect members from both political parties to get
this work done so our professionals can protect the American people.
The second part of our strategy is to stay on the offense against
these folks--I mean, every day, stay on the offense, an unrelenting
effort to find them and bring them to justice. It's hard to plot, plan,
and attack America if you're running and hiding. It's hard to recruit if
you're cutting off money. It is hard to spread your poison if other
reasonable people join the cause. And so we spend a lot of time doing
everything we can to keep the pressure on these folks. And we got some
good people working it.
I repeat to you: I know there's some good folks who think this is
just simply a law enforcement matter; it is not. This is an effort that
requires all assets of the United States and requires coalitions working
together. I mean, we need to be sharing intelligence. We need our
military on the hunt. We need to be working with allies to keep the
pressure on them. And that's exactly what we're doing. America must not
relent. If our most important job is to protect the American people, we
have got to stay on the offense and defeat the enemy overseas so we do
not have to face them here at home.
The third part of our strategy is to spread liberty. I love to tell
folks that one of the most unique relationships I had as your President
was with the Prime Minister of Japan, Prime Minister Koizumi. He's no longer the Prime Minister, but for a good
period of time during my Presidency, he was. You might remember, he's
the fellow that Laura and I took to Elvis's place in Memphis. [Laughter]
He loved Elvis, and he wanted to go to Elvis's place. [Laughter] And it
was a--we had a--it was a remarkable experience. [Laughter]
Even more remarkable was the fact that the United States had no
stronger ally in defeating terror, no stronger ally than understanding
the power of freedom to be transformative. I say ``no stronger ally.''
Tony Blair was strong; there was a lot, but so
was Prime Minister Koizumi. What's ironic
about that is that my dad fought the
Japanese, and many of your relatives fought the Japanese. They were the
sworn enemy of the United States of America. I mean, there was
unbelievable hatred in our culture toward the Japanese. After all, they
attacked us--the second largest attack on American soil--the first being
that on September the 11th, 2001.
And yet 60 years later, the son of a Navy fighter pilot was sitting at the table with the Prime
Minister of the former enemy strategizing
on how to win this ideological war. I find it ironic. The summary I've
come away with is that liberty is transformative. People want to be
free, and if given the chance, will be free, do the hard work necessary
to be free. And liberty has got the capacity to transform an enemy to an
ally.
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And therefore, we ought to have confidence in liberty's power to
bring the peace we want, and not shy away from helping people realize
the great blessings of freedom. We've got to be confident in the
transformative powers of liberty, recognizing that deep in everybody's
soul is the desire to be free. I recognize that is a--there are some in
the world who dismiss the capacity of liberty to take hold in parts of
the world. There used to be a foreign policy that advocated stability as
the cornerstone of our policy. But stability just masked the
hopelessness that seethed beneath the surface. If you believe this is an
ideological struggle, like I do, then it's paramount to help people
realize a different ideology than that of the enemy. And that's what
you're seeing unfold.
And the two most evident places that that's happening right now is
in Afghanistan and Iraq. Both those countries are part of the war on
terror. These aren't separate, you know, wars; they're part of the same
war--different theaters, certainly different circumstances, but the
outcome is essential for our security. And so I want to spend a little
time on Afghanistan and a little time on Iraq.
In Afghanistan--the interesting lesson on Afghanistan for the world
to see is that how the vision of the enemy would be implemented; in
other words, these poor folks had the Taliban as their oppressors. The
Taliban also, as you might remember, provided safe haven to those who
came and attacked us. But if you lived in Afghanistan in those days and
were a mom of a child, particularly a female child, you had no hope.
These thugs didn't believe in freedoms; they didn't believe in women
having equal status; they didn't believe young girls should be educated.
And if you dared express your opinion that didn't mesh with theirs,
you'd be whipped in the public square or killed. These are brutal
people. That's the vision that these folks have for the world. That's
what they want. Some Americans probably just missed that and say, ``Oh,
that's just a pipedream, pie-in-the-sky on their part.''
I think the United States needs to take that vision seriously. I
think it's in our interest to liberate people. I think it's in our
interest that when we find human suffering, we help deal with it.
In Afghanistan, I am proud to report that the United States of
America, thanks to a brave military, liberated 25 million people and
gave them a chance to realize the blessings of liberty. Since liberation
from the Taliban and since Al Qaida was routed out of that country,
where they no longer had safe havens to plot and plan an attack, the
people of Afghanistan voted for a President; they voted for a
parliament; girls now go to school; highways are being built; health
clinics are being constructed around the country.
Is it perfect Government? No, but neither were we. I would remind
our fellow citizens that we believed all men were created equal and for
a 100 years had slaves. Afghanistan is working on their--on democracy.
And it's hard work. It's not easy. It's like, it doesn't happen
overnight. But it's in our interest to help them. It's in our interest
to help them because we believe that liberty is transformative. And a
part of the world that was once a safe haven for an enemy that attacked
us will be a more hopeful place when freedom takes hold.
The other night to the Nation I said, we're sending 3,200 marines in
to supplement our troops there. And the reason why is because this enemy
is relentless in trying to overthrow this democracy, and it's in our
interest to stop them. You see, we've got to do the hard work now to
make sure that a future generation of Americans can grow up in peace.
In Iraq, the decision to remove Saddam Hussein was the right
decision. The world is better off without Saddam Hussein in power, and
so are the Iraqi people. There has been some interesting progress in
Iraq. They wrote a Constitution. They voted.
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Imagine a society going from a brutal tyrant to being able to vote in a
short period of time.
And yet the enemy--in this case, Al Qaida as well as militia,
militia fighters, some sponsored by Iran, some of them just pure
criminals--resented the fact that freedom was moving and in early 2006
began a campaign, and they were looking like they were successful. There
was unspeakable violence, and I was concerned about it. I was concerned
about it because I understand the consequences of failure for our peace,
for the future peace for our children.
I had to make a tough decision. And the decision I made was based on
the considered judgment of military people, considered judgment of a lot
of folks who were following Iraq. It was not based upon any Gallup poll
or focus group. It was based upon what was right for the future of the
United States, and that is, as opposed to pulling troops out, send more
in. And we went in to--with a counterinsurgency strategy, all aimed at,
of course, helping the Iraqis stand up and do the hard work necessary,
but in the meantime, making sure that when the enemy was cleaned out of
neighborhoods, there was somebody there to provide security for the
folks.
Our surge, by the way, was more than just military. We surged
diplomats and public service officials, Provincial Reconstruction Teams
to make sure that in neighborhoods where an enemy had been routed--and
we had folks there, along with the Iraqis, to provide security--that
there was also a opportunity to improve life for the average citizen.
The Iraqis surged. They created 100,000 new soldiers and police. But
curiously enough--and I don't know whether a lot of our citizens
understand this--80,000 local citizens stepped up and said: ``We want to
help patrol our own neighborhoods. We're sick and tired of violence and
extremists.''
I'm not surprised that that happens. I believe Iraqi moms want the
same thing that American moms want, and that is for their children to
grow up in peace. That's what I believe. I don't believe that people
welcome violence. They got sick of it. People want to be free. People
want to live in peace, whether you're Methodist or a Muslim, whether
you're American or Iraqi. And what you're watching play out now is that
folks are becoming more confident in their capacity to self-govern.
They're becoming confident that if they step up and expose these
extremists or push these extremists out of their neighborhood, there
will be enough muscle to help them.
The surge is working. I know some don't want to admit that, and I
understand. But the terrorists understand the surge is working. Al Qaida
knows the surge is working. They thought they could live safely in Anbar
Province. This was the place from which they were going to launch
attacks throughout Iraq and throughout the Middle East. This is a place
where they proudly proclaimed, ``This is our safe haven.'' They no
longer have a safe haven in Anbar Province; they're on the run. We're
going to keep them on the run, and it's in our interests for our own
security to keep them on the run.
As a result of our successes, some of our troops are coming home. A
Marine expeditionary unit and one Army brigade came home in December.
It's not going back. I don't know whether my fellow citizens understand
that or not. We surged; we accomplished missions; the Iraqis are more
capable. The commanders on the ground say that now we can do the same
job with less troops. So folks came home for Christmas. It is
anticipated that five [four] 1A* more Army brigades and two Marine
battalions will be coming home by July. That's over 20,000 troops will
be coming home because we've been successful, that's why.
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* 1AWhite House correction.
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You know, a lot of folks say, ``Well, what's next, Mr. President?''
And my answer is, we have come too far in this important theater in this
war on terror not to make sure that we succeed. And therefore, any
further troop reductions will be based upon commanders and conditions.
Iraq is important for our security. I will be making decisions based
upon success in Iraq. The temptation, of course, is for people to say,
``Well, make sure you do the politically right thing.'' That's not my
nature. That's not exactly what we're going to do.
The fundamental question is whether or not democracy can take hold.
In other words, the security situation is improving, and therefore, will
there be efforts by the Iraqi people to seize the moment? Reconciliation
is taking place at the local level. People--as I told you, the basic
instinct of people is to want to live in peace, and one way you do that
is you put this horrible past as best you can behind you and look
forward.
So the two things I look for are, one, economic development--you
know, a good economy will lead to a more hopeful future, therefore,
causing people to be more likely to reconcile--and politics. On the
economic front, the interesting thing about Iraq, as opposed to
Afghanistan, is that they've got assets and a lot of money. And we, of
course, want to help them build the ministries and the bureaucracies
necessary to make sure that money gets spent on people. I know that may
sound counterintuitive to you, but governments do need the capacity to
take a budget and distribute monies throughout the country in an
equitable basis in order for people to say, ``Well, this experience in
democracy is worthwhile.'' I just want to make sure the bureaucracy
doesn't get too big when you do it.
And so we--you know, we chart business startups and markets. And all
I can tell you is, I talk to our Ambassador
and General Petraeus on a weekly basis,
and they report that markets that were once shut down in dismal places
as a result of attacks are beginning to come back and flourish, and life
is improving dramatically. Baghdad--the capital of Baghdad is--which was
once subject to unbelievable sectarian violence--is improving, and life
is returning, and that's positive.
And so we watched a lot about the inflation rates and unemployment
rates. And they're doing pretty well--they really are--given the fact
that they've come from a tyrannical regime that let the infrastructure
of the country fall apart.
The other question is politics. One of the lessons of democracy is a
lot of times what happens at the local level informs people who are at
the central Government level. And competition is pretty healthy in the
democracy. As I told you, the local folks are reconciling; they're
getting along better; they understand they have a common future. And the
people in Baghdad are beginning to respond. They pass budgets. They're
now arguing about their 2008 budget. I'm not sure which Government does
their budget work better, ours or theirs. [Laughter] I can tell you
this: We definitely have an issue with earmarks. [Laughter] I don't know
if they do yet or not. [Laughter]
And by the way, I'm going to do something about earmarks. I signed
an Executive order the other day, basically saying if you slip these--
slip this spending into bills that don't get debated or voted on, we're
not going to spend your money. And this Executive order will--
[applause]. Let me rephrase that: The money will be spent, but just not
on those projects necessarily--[laughter]--not on those projects
necessarily. And this Executive order goes beyond my Presidency.
But they passed budgets. They're sharing oil revenues. They need to
pass a law codifying the oil issue there, but they are sharing oil
revenues. And they've got revenues, mainly from oil, and they're
distributing those revenues to the Provinces. They passed a pension law
and a de-
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Ba'athification law, which basically is a part of reconciling with the
past. They're now in the process of debating a Provincial powers law.
And what's important about that is the--there's a constant debate in
free societies--at least in our free society--about the relationship
between the Federal Government and State governments. The
Governor is most interested in that debate.
[Laughter] We believe to the best extent possible that we ought to
devolve power. Of course, we even take it--this group here, including
me--takes it a step further. We devolve power not only in local
government but more importantly to individuals, which help define the
political landscape of both State and locals.
But this debate is now ongoing in Iraq. Isn't it interesting? I know
4 years seems like an eternity, particularly in this world of instant
news and 24-hour whatever on TV. But it's--but Saddam is removed and now
a Government elected by the people debating the proper role between
central Government and Provincial government. And that's an important
debate. And it's ongoing in the Council of Representatives now, and we
anticipate them passing that bill.
What I'm telling you is you're watching a democracy evolve. You're
watching people become more confident in their ability to self-govern.
And it's important that we help them. It's important we help them for
our own security, and it's important that we help them as a part of this
freedom movement. People have said, ``Freedom can't take hold in the
Middle East.'' I strongly disagree. I believe freedom will take hold in
the Middle East, and Iraq is an essential part of this strategy.
We will succeed in Iraq. We will succeed because the Iraqi people
want to succeed. And it's in our interest to help them. Success in Iraq
will show the world that freedom can take root in the Middle East and
inspire others. Success in Iraq will mean that we'll have a ally in this
struggle against extremists in the heart of the Middle East. Success in
Iraq will send an interesting message to its neighbor, Iran.
Failure in Iraq would cause people to doubt the sincerity of the
United States when it comes to keeping commitments. Failure in Iraq
would embolden the extremists. Failure in Iraq would say to thugs and
killers, the United States is a paper tiger. Failure in Iraq would
embolden other extremists in the Middle East. Failure in Iraq would
embolden Iran. It's in our strategic interests that we succeed, and we
will succeed. We have done this kind of work together.
I said in my speech the other day that it is vital for this
generation to do the hard work. It is vital for this generation to
assume the responsibilities of peace and take the lead so that when we
look back 30 to 40 years from now, people will say, ``Thank goodness
America didn't lose faith with liberty. Thank goodness they didn't
abandon a value system that they believe is universal.'' And I believe
an American President will be sitting down with elected leaders from the
Middle East saying the same thing to audiences in Nevada that I said
about Prime Minister Koizumi.
I hope that you are inspired by the fact that people are willing to
take risks for freedom. I hope these examples of Iraqi citizens who step
forward to protect their neighborhoods and their families and children
inspire you. They certainly inspire me. I hope you're inspired by
political figures who defy killers. They inspire me. And I hope you're
inspired by our military.
I want to tell you an interesting story. When I was in Reno, I met
a guy--a family named the Krissoff family.
They had lost a son in Iraq. He was a marine. And one of my duties is to
meet with the families of the fallen. I did so last night in northern
California. It's an inspiring experience, by the way. It is a--you know,
in many ways, the comforter becomes comforted by the spirit and--of
these--and pride of these families.
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And so I met the Krissoffs. Mr. Krissoff is a 60-year-old guy--I shouldn't be calling him
``mister'' because I'm a little older than he is--[laughter]--but he's a
baby boomer just like me and a successful doctor. He said something very
interesting to me. He said that he wanted to honor his country and honor
his son by joining the military. I looked at the guy and said, yes,
okay. [Laughter] I said, ``Why don't you?'' He said, ``Well, some of the
folks think I'm a little old.'' [Laughter] I said, ``I don't,'' with him
being a younger fella. [Laughter] So I helped him. And in the--
Laura's box at the State of the Union sat
Lieutenant Commander Bill Krissoff, serving the United States of
America.
Ours is a fabulous country. We are a dedicated, compassionate
people, aiming to lay the foundation of peace for generations to come. I
told you early, some see the world and tremble; I see the world and see
opportunities. And the great opportunity before us is to lay the
foundation of peace, and that is exactly what we're doing. God bless.
Thank you all. Okay, I got a little bit of business to do. If you
don't mind sitting down for just a second, I am now going to sign this
15-day extension to give Members of the House and the Senate time to get
this bill to my desk for the sake of our security. And thank you for
witnessing this.
[At this point, the President signed the bill.]
Thank you all very much. God bless.
Note: The President spoke at 9:30 a.m. at the Emerald at Queensridge. In
his remarks, he referred to Ranson W. Webster, chairman of the board of
directors, and Sharon J. Rossie, president, Nevada Policy Research
Institute; Gov. James A. Gibbons of Nevada; former Prime Minister Tony
Blair of the United Kingdom; and Gen. David H. Petraeus, USA, commanding
general, Multi-National Force--Iraq. He also referred to Executive Order
13457, which is listed in Appendix D at the end of this volume; and H.R.
5104, approved January 31, which was assigned Public Law No. 110 09182.