George
W. Bush
End of Major Combat in
Iraq
San Diego, California
May 1, 2003
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.)
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.)
Also see: Responses
to End of Combat in Iraq
<< Go Back
|