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Skriven 2005-10-03 23:39:52 av Whitehouse Press (1:3634/12.0)
Ärende: Press Release (0510034) for Mon, 2005 Oct 3
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Remarks by the Vice President to the Marines at Camp Lejeune
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For Immediate Release
Office of the Vice President
October 3, 2005

Remarks by the Vice President to the Marines at Camp Lejeune
Camp Lejeune, North Carolina



11:05 A.M. EDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, General. And I want to thank you
for the introduction and the warm welcome. It's a real pleasure to be with
the men and women from the Second Marine Expeditionary Force and the
"Follow Me" Division of United States Marine Corps. It sounds like you're
glad to be home.

AUDIENCE: Ooh-rah!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: For more than a half-century, Camp Lejeune has had a
very simple and very critical mission -- to maintain combat-ready units for
expeditionary deployment in service for the United States. And every
generation to serve has fulfilled that mission with uncompromising skill,
readiness, and courage. In the four years since our nation was attacked,
units from Camp Lejeune have been deployed on many fronts in the war on
terror, from the Horn of Africa to the broader Middle East.

This morning we take special pride in recognizing the fine Marine Corps
units that have returned from duty in Iraq. As battle-tested Marines you
represent a superb cross-section of ground, sea, and air combat power. We
also have with us some fine Navy hospital corpsmen, who have saved many
lives -- and we thank you all.

In recent months your country has asked you to carry out some extremely
difficult and perilous work. You've met every challenge with focus, with
great effectiveness and, above all, with honor. You brought credit to
yourselves and to the nation. I want to thank you for a job well done, and
say "welcome home" for all of us.

Military service, whether active or reserve, often requires a family
commitment, and I'm delighted to see all the family members who've joined
us today. Our military families make many sacrifices, here at Lejeune and
in communities all across the country. I want you to know that you have the
respect of your fellow citizens, and the gratitude of our Commander in
Chief, President George W. Bush.

Let me thank Lieutenant General Amos, Major General Dickerson, Major
General Moore, Brigadier General McMenamin, Colonel Qualls, Sergeant Major
Colon, Sergeant Major Tucker, Sergeant Major Mason for their leadership of
Camp Lejeune and the Marines of America's Second Marine Expeditionary
Force.

As you know, I just came from Washington, where we have a brand-new
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He's a great American who rose from
rifle platoon leader to four-star general. And he is the first Marine ever
to hold that job -- General Peter Pace. (Applause.)

I always love getting back to Marine installations. I've always come away
with renewed confidence in the men and women who wear the eagle, globe, and
anchor of the United States Marine Corps. Each one of you has dedicated
yourself to serving our country and its ideals, and you are meeting that
commitment during a very challenging hour in American history. Some
challenges have arisen close to home, as we saw last month after the
devastating impact of Hurricane Katrina. Highly skilled Marine units rushed
into the Gulf Coast area to provide disaster relief and humanitarian
assistance. Both active Marines and reservists went in to hard-to-reach
areas and saved many stranded citizens, and brought food and water to
people desperately in need. In the aftermath of a terrible storm, Marine
patrols and rescue and recovery efforts were skillful and swift, and a
welcome sight to fellow citizens. And Americans can always count on the
Marines.

Our nation has counted on the Marine Corps now for 230 years, and in this
young century you are repaying that confidence every day that we fight the
war on terror. When this war began on a terrible September morning four
years ago, President Bush said that the struggle would be lengthy and
difficult, and would require our best effort and unfailing resolve. It is
tough and it is dangerous to fight enemies who dwell in the shadow, who
target the innocent, who plot destruction on a massive scale. And in this
fight some of the hardest duties have come to the men and women of our
armed forces.

Your performance in Iraq -- not just the progress you've made, but also the
character you have shown -- has left a lasting impression on people up and
down the chain of command. You've been taking on rough assignments,
adapting to enemy tactics, pressing on and hanging tough in desert
temperatures. Units of the Second Marine Division helped to free Iraq in
2003, moving in swiftly to take down the regime of Saddam Hussein and
liberating 25 million people from tyranny. You've played a critical role in
helping Iraqis to secure their new democracy, to set up a well trained
military force, and to prepare for the constitutional referendum next week
and national elections in December.

We're grateful to members of the First Battalion, Eighth Marine Regiment,
who fought the fierce battle of Fallujah and liberated that city from
terrorist control. We're grateful to members of the Third Battalion,
Twenty-Fifth Marine, who served from Hit to Haditha along the Euphrates
River corridor. We're grateful to the Second Light Armor Reconnaissance
Battalion, which kept the main supply route open, found caches of weapons,
and provided security for Army and civilian convoys. We're grateful for the
Second Marine Logistics Brigade, which provided superior combat logistics
throughout al-Anbar province.

From duty at sea we welcome the men and women of the 26th Marine
Expeditionary Unit. From air operations, we welcome the "Gunrunners" of
Marine Light/Attack Helicopter Squadron 269, and Marine Medium Helicopter
Squadron 264, the "Black Knights."

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Ooh-rah!

THE VICE PRESIDENT: It's all right. (Laughter.)

Lieutenant General Amos said you're going to miss the Wadi-Watch, but he
says you can still download it from home.

All of you are part of a team that continues to make history, removing
threats to the United States and other free nations, and bringing new hope
to a troubled region of the world. As a Marine, each of you defends this
country, and represents the best that is in it. And by your achievements
you've made one thing very clear: The day you decided to become a Marine
was a great day for the United States of America.

There's still difficult work ahead, because the terrorists regard Iraq as
the central front in a war against the civilized world. We are dealing with
enemies that recognize no rule of warfare and accept no standard of
morality. They have declared their intention to bring great harm to any
nation that opposes their aims. Their prime target is the United States.
And so we have a responsibility to lead in this fight.

Although we've been in the struggle against terrorism for four years now,
the terrorists were actually at war with this country even before 2001. But
for a long time, they were the ones on offense. And they grew bolder in
their belief that if they killed Americans, they could change American
policy. In Beirut in 1983, terrorists killed 241 Americans -- and you're
well aware of that attack because most of those men were Marines from Camp
Lejeune, members of the First Battalion, Eighth Marine Regiment.

Following that attack, the United States forces were withdrawn from Beirut.
Time and time again, for the remainder of the 20th century, the terrorists
hit America and America did not hit back hard enough. In 1993 we had the
killing of American soldiers in Mogadishu, and the bombing of the World
Trade Center in New York. We had the murders at the Saudi National Guard
Training Center in Riyadh in 1995, the killings at Khobar Towers in 1996,
the destruction of two American embassies in East Africa in 1998, and the
attack on the USS Cole in 2000. The terrorists came to believe that they
could strike America without paying any price.

And so they continued to wage those attacks, making the world less safe and
eventually striking the United State s on 9/11. Now they are making a stand
in Iraq, testing our resolve, and trying to shake our commitment to
democracy in that country. 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 ever greater attacks against
America and other civilized nations. As President Bush has said, the only
way the terrorists can win is if we lose our nerve and abandon our mission.
But this nation has made a decision: We will stand by our friends. We will
help Iraqis build a nation that is free and secure, able to defend itself.
We will confront our enemies on this and every other front in the war on
terror. With good allies at our side, we will prevail, we will destroy the
enemy.

The progress we've seen in Iraq has been superb, and we can be confident
going forward because the Iraqi people value their own liberty and are
determined to choose their own destiny. And by staying in this fight, we
honor both the ideals and the security interests of the United States. The
victory of freedom in Iraq will inspire democratic reformers in other
lands. In the broader Middle East and beyond, America will continue to
encourage free markets, democracy, and tolerance, because these are the
ideas and the aspirations that overcome violence and turn societies to the
pursuits of peace. And as the peoples of that region experience new hope,
progress, and control over their own destiny, we will see the power of
freedom change to our world, and a terrible threat will be removed from the
lives of our children and our grandchildren.

Each one of you has helped to write a proud chapter in the history of
freedom. As Lieutenant Colonel Tim Mundy recently put it, "I can never say
enough about how great our young Marines and small unit leaders are when
put to the test." He went on to express a view that each one of you
probably shares. He said, "I hope people look at our success out there and
realize that it was done on the backs of those Marines." Ladies and
gentlemen, I want you to know that our nation does realize it, and we are
grateful.

This is not a country that takes its military for granted. We are a
democracy, defended by volunteers who deserve all the tools and all the
support we can provide. Americans appreciate our fellow citizens who go out
on long deployments, endure the hardship of separation from home and
family, go in harm's way for the nation. We care about those who have
returned with injuries, and we have a responsibility to help them on the
hard road ahead. And our nation grieves for the brave men and women whose
lives have ended in freedom's cause. For so many of you, these losses have
been deeply personal, and tomorrow the Third Battalion, 25th Marine
Regiment will hold a memorial service for the 48 Marines and sailors who
laid down their lives on this deployment. The loss to our country is
irreplaceable, and no one can take away the sorrow that has come to the
families of the fallen. We can only say, with complete certainty, that
these Americans served in a noble and necessary cause, and their sacrifice
has made our nation and the world more secure. We will honor their memory
forever, and we will honor their sacrifice by completing the mission.

None of us can know every turn that lies ahead for America in the fight
against terror. Yet the direction of events is plain to see, and this
period of struggle and testing is also a time of promise. The United States
of America is a good country, a decent country, and we are making the world
a better place by defending the innocent, confronting the violent, and
bringing freedom to the oppressed. We understand the continuing dangers to
civilization, and we have the resources, the strength, and the moral
courage to overcome those dangers.

As our President has made clear, our terrorist enemies will fail, because
the movement of history is toward justice and human freedom. The terrorists
will fail, because the resolve of America and our allies will not be
shaken. And, Marines and sailors of Camp Lejeune, the terrorists will fail,
because men and women like you are standing in their way and saying, "Not
on our watch."

Once again, I thank each and every one of you for the great service you've
rendered to America. It's an honor to be in your company. All of you in the
current generation of our military have shown yourselves worthy of the
title you hold, the uniform you wear, and the code you live by. Your
Commander-in-Chief is proud of you. On his behalf, and on behalf of the
people of the United States of America, I thank you all. Semper Fi.
(Applause.)

END 11:27 A.M. EDT

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