    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
    [May 27, 2006]
    [Pages 1034-1040]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Commencement Address at the United States Military Academy in West
    Point, New York
    May 27, 2006

        Thank you for the warm welcome--General Lennox, Secretary Harvey, Members
    of the United States Congress, Academy staff and faculty, distinguished
    guests, proud family, and, most importantly, the class of 2006.
        On the way in, General Lennox
    showed me what you did to his car. [Laughter] I told him, ``That's a
    fine looking vehicle''--[laughter]--``but you need to stay away from
    Marine One.'' [Laughter]
        I see a lot of ``Gray Hogs'' out there--a few ``Century Men'' too.
    During your 4 years at this Academy, I'm told, there are about 18,000
    opportunities to be late for class, drill, march, or inspection, and
    many of you availed yourselves of those opportunities. [Laughter] Others
    got written up just for having bad haircuts. No matter what reason you
    got slugged, help is on the way. In keeping with longstanding tradition,
    I hereby absolve all cadets who are on restriction for minor conduct
    offenses. I leave it to General Lennox to define exactly what ``minor'' means. [Laughter]
        It's a privilege to stand before the future leaders of the United
    States Army. You have worked hard to get to this moment. You've survived
    the hardest Beast on record, the ``best summer of your lives'' in
    Buckistan, countless hours in the House of Pain. In 4 years, you've been
    transformed from ``bean-heads'' to ``yuks'' to ``cows'' and
    ``Firsties.'' And today you will become proud officers of the greatest
    army in the history of the world. Your teachers are proud of you; your
    parents are proud of you; and so is your Commander in Chief.
    Congratulations on a fantastic achievement.
        This Academy has shaped your minds and bodies for the challenges
    that lie ahead. You worked hard in the classroom and on the playing
    field to prepare for the rigors of combat. One cadet described the West
    Point attitude this way: ``First I'll beat Navy and Air Force, and then
    I'll beat the enemies of freedom on the battlefield.''
        The field of battle is where your degree and commission will take
    you. This is the first class to arrive at West Point after the attacks
    of September the 11th, 2001. Each of you came here in a time of war,
    knowing all the risks and dangers that come with wearing our Nation's
    uniform. And I want to thank you for your patriotism, your devotion to
    duty, your courageous decision to serve. America is grateful and proud
    of the men and women of West Point.
        The reality of war has surrounded you since your first moments at
    this Academy. More than 50 of your fellow cadets here at West Point have
    already seen combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. And 34 times since your
    class arrived, you have observed a moment of silence in Washington Hall
    to honor a former cadet fallen in the war on terror. Each loss is
    heartbreaking, and each loss has made you even more determined to pick
    up their mantle, to carry on their fight, and to achieve victory. We
    will honor the memory of those brave souls. We will finish the task for
    which they gave their lives. We will complete the mission.
        West Point has adapted to prepare you for the war you're about to
    enter. Since

    [[Page 1035]]

    the attacks of September the 11th, 2001, this Academy has established a
    new combating terrorism center, a new minor in terrorism studies, with
    new courses in counterinsurgency operations, intelligence, and homeland
    security, and winning the peace. West Point has expanded Arabic language
    training, has hired new faculty with expertise in Islamic law and
    culture, brought in members of the 101st and 82d Airborne to train you
    and share their experiences on the frontlines in Iraq and Afghanistan.
    And each of you endured grueling Saturday training events where you
    practiced identifying IEDs, conducting convoy operations, and running
    checkpoints. By changing to meet the new threats, West Point has given
    you the skills you will need in Afghanistan and Iraq and for the long
    war with Islamic radicalism that will be the focus of much of your
    military careers.
        This Academy went through a similar period of change six decades
    ago, at the end of World War II. Some of West Point's greatest
    graduates--men like Eisenhower and Bradley, Patton and MacArthur--had
    just brought our Nation victory in Europe and Japan. Yet almost
    immediately, a new threat appeared on the horizon, the threat of
    imperial communism. And West Point, like America, had to prepare for a
    long struggle with a new adversary, one that would require the
    determination of generations of Americans.
        In the early years of that struggle, freedom's victory was not
    obvious or assured. In 1947, Communist forces were threatening Greece
    and Turkey; the reconstruction of Germany was faltering; mass starvation
    was setting in across Europe. In 1948, Czechoslovakia fell to communism;
    France and Italy appeared to be headed for the same fate; and Berlin was
    blockaded on the orders of Josef Stalin. In 1949, the Soviet Union
    exploded a nuclear weapon, giving our new enemy the ability to bring
    catastrophic destruction to our homeland. And weeks later, Communist
    forces won their revolution in China and claimed the world's most
    populous nation for communism. And in the summer of 1950, seven North
    Korean divisions poured across the border into South Korea, marking the
    start of the first direct military clash of the cold war. All of this
    took place in just the first 5 years following World War II.
        Fortunately, we had a President named Harry Truman, who recognized
    the threat, took bold action to confront it, and laid the foundation for
    freedom's victory in the cold war. President Truman set a clear
    doctrine. In a speech to Congress, he called for military and economic
    aid to Greece and Turkey and announced a new doctrine that would guide
    American policy throughout the cold war. He told the Congress, ``It must
    be the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are
    resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside
    pressures.'' With this new doctrine, and with the aid to back it up,
    Greece and Turkey were saved from communism, and the Soviet expansion
    into Southern Europe and the Middle East was stopped.
        President Truman acted boldly to confront new adversaries. When
    Stalin tested America's resolve with a blockade of Berlin, President
    Truman launched the Berlin Airlift, delivering supplies to the besieged
    city, forcing the Red Army to back down, and securing the freedom of
    West Berlin. Later, Truman again responded to Communist aggression with
    resolve, fighting a difficult war in Korea. Korean war saw many setbacks
    and missteps and terrible losses. More than 54,000 Americans gave their
    lives in Korea. Yet in the end, Communist forces were pushed back to the
    38th Parallel, and the freedom of South Korea was secure.
        President Truman acted boldly to help transform old adversaries into
    democratic allies. In Asia, his administration led the effort to help
    Japan change from a nation that had launched a surprise attack on
    America into a thriving democracy and steadfast ally. In Europe, he
    launched the

    [[Page 1036]]

    Marshall plan, an unprecedented effort to help Germany and other nations
    in Europe recover from war and establish strong democracies. The
    Marshall plan cost about 100 billion in today's dollars, and it helped
    to save Western Europe from Soviet tyranny and led to the emergence of
    democratic allies that remain indispensable to the cause of peace today.
        President Truman transformed our alliances to deal with new dangers.
    After World War II, he led the effort to form the North Atlantic Treaty
    Organization, the first peacetime alliance in American history. NATO
    served as a military bulwark against Communist aggression and helped
    give us a Europe that is now whole, free, and at peace.
        President Truman positioned U.S. forces to deal with new threats.
    Despite enormous pressure to bring our troops home after World War II,
    he kept American forces in Germany to deter Soviet aggression and kept
    U.S. forces in Japan as a counterweight to Communist China. Together
    with the deployment of U.S. forces to Korea, the military footprint
    Truman established on two continents has remained virtually unchanged to
    this day and has served as the foundation for security in Europe and in
    the Pacific.
        President Truman launched a sweeping reorganization of the Federal
    Government to prepare it for a new struggle. Working with Congress, he
    created the Department of Defense, established the Air Force as a
    separate military service, formed the National Security Council at the
    White House, and founded the Central Intelligence Agency to ensure
    America had the best intelligence on Soviet threats.
        President Truman made clear that the cold war was an ideological
    struggle between tyranny and freedom. At the time when some still wanted
    to wish away the Soviet threat, he brought Winston Churchill to Missouri
    to deliver his famous ``Iron Curtain'' speech. And he issued a
    Presidential directive called NSC-68, which declared that America faced
    an enemy ``animated by a new fanatic faith'' and determined to impose
    its ideology on the entire world. This directive called on the United
    States to accept the responsibility of world leadership and defend the
    cause of freedom and democracy, and that's exactly what the United
    States did.
        By the actions he took, the institutions he built, the alliances he
    forged, and the doctrines he set down, President Truman laid the
    foundation for America's victory in the cold war. As President Truman
    put it towards the end of his Presidency, ``When history says that my
    term of office saw the beginning of the cold war, it will also say that
    in those 8 years, we set the course that can win it.'' His leadership
    paved the way for subsequent Presidents from both political parties--men
    like Eisenhower and Kennedy and Reagan--to confront and eventually
    defeat the Soviet threat.
        Today, at the start of a new century, we are again engaged in a war
    unlike any our Nation has fought before. And like Americans in Truman's
    day, we are laying the foundations for victory. The enemies we face
    today are different in many ways from the enemy we faced in the cold
    war. In the cold war, we deterred Soviet aggression through a policy of
    mutually assured destruction. Unlike the Soviet Union, the terrorist
    enemies we face today hide in caves and shadows and emerge to attack
    free nations from within. The terrorists have no borders to protect or
    capital to defend. They cannot be deterred--but they will be defeated.
    America will fight the terrorists on every battlefront, and we will not
    rest until this threat to our country has been removed.
        While there are real differences between today's war and the cold
    war, there are also many important similarities. Like the cold war, we
    are fighting the followers of a murderous ideology that despises
    freedom, crushes all dissent, has territorial ambitions, and pursues
    totalitarian aims. Like

    [[Page 1037]]

    the cold war, our enemies are dismissive of free peoples, claiming that
    men and women who live in liberty are weak and lack the resolve to
    defend our way of life. Like the cold war, our enemies believe that the
    innocent can be murdered to serve a political vision. And like the cold
    war, they're seeking weapons of mass murder that would allow them to
    deliver catastrophic destruction to our country. If our enemies succeed
    in acquiring such weapons, they will not hesitate to use them, which
    means they would pose a threat to America as great as the Soviet Union.
        Against such an enemy, there is only one effective response: We will
    never back down; we will never give in; and we will never accept
    anything less than complete victory. Like previous generations, history
    has once again called America to great responsibilities, and we're
    answering history's call with confidence. We're confronting new dangers
    with new determination and laying the foundations for victory in the war
    on terror.
        In this new war, we have set a clear doctrine. After the attacks of
    September the 11th, I told a joint session of Congress, ``America makes
    no distinction between the terrorists and the countries that harbor
    them. If you harbor a terrorist, you are just as guilty as the
    terrorists, and you're an enemy of the United States of America.'' In
    the months that followed, I also made clear the principles that will
    guide us in this new war: America will not wait to be attacked again; we
    will confront threats before they fully materialize; we will stay on the
    offense against the terrorists, fighting them abroad so we do not have
    to face them here at home.
        In this new war, we have acted boldly to confront new adversaries.
    When the Taliban regime in Afghanistan tested America's resolve,
    refusing our just demands to turn over the terrorists who attacked
    America, we responded with determination. Coalition forces drove the
    Taliban from power, liberated Afghanistan, and brought freedom to 25
    million people.
        In Iraq, another tyrant chose to test America's resolve. Saddam
    Hussein was a dictator who had pursued and
    used weapons of mass destruction. He sponsored terrorists, invaded his
    neighbors, abused his people, deceived international inspectors, and
    refused to comply with more than a dozen United Nations resolutions.
    When the United Nations Security Council gave him one final chance to
    disclose and disarm, or face serious consequences, he refused to take
    that final opportunity. So coalition forces went into Iraq and removed
    his cruel regime. And today, Iraq's former dictator is on trial for his
    crimes, and America and the world are better off because Saddam Hussein
    is no longer in power.
        In this new war, we have helped transform old adversaries into
    democratic allies. Just as an earlier generation of Americans helped
    change Germany and Japan from conquered adversaries into democratic
    allies, today, a new generation of Americans is helping Iraq and
    Afghanistan recover from the ruins of tyranny. In Afghanistan, the
    terror camps have been shut down; women are working; boys and girls are
    going to school; and Afghans have chosen a President and a new parliament in free elections.
        In Iraq, the people defied the terrorists and cast their ballots in
    three free elections last year. And last week, Iraqis made history when
    they inaugurated the leaders of a new Government of their choosing,
    under a Constitution that they drafted and they approved. When the
    formation of this unity Government--with the formation of this unity
    Government, the world has seen the beginning of something new: a
    constitutional democracy in the heart of the Middle East. Difficult
    challenges remain in both Afghanistan and Iraq. But America is safer and
    the world is more secure because these two countries are now
    democracies--and

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    they are allies in the cause of freedom and peace.
        In this new war, we have forged new alliances and transformed old
    ones for the challenges of a new century. After our Nation was attacked,
    we formed the largest coalition in history to fight the war on terror.
    More than 90 nations are cooperating in a global campaign to dry up
    terrorist financing, to hunt down terrorist operatives, and bring
    terrorist leaders to justice. Nations like Pakistan and Saudi Arabia
    that once turned a blind eye to terror are now helping lead the fight
    against it. And since September the 11th, 2001, our coalition has
    captured or killed Al Qaida managers and operatives in over two dozen
    countries and disrupted a number of serious Al Qaida terrorist plots,
    including plots to attack targets inside the United States. Our Nation
    is more secure because we have rallied the world to confront this threat
    to civilization.
        The greatest threat we face is the danger of terrorists armed with
    weapons of mass destruction. To confront this danger, we launched the
    Proliferation Security Initiative, a coalition of more than 70 nations
    that are working together to stop shipments of weapons of mass
    destruction on land, at sea, and in the air, and to stop them from
    falling into terrorist hands. And building on the legacy of Harry
    Truman, we launched the most dramatic transformation of the NATO
    alliance since its founding in 1949. Working with allies, we created a
    new NATO Response Force that will allow NATO to deploy rapid reaction
    forces on short notice anywhere in the world. And together we
    transformed NATO from a defensive alliance focused on protecting Europe
    from Soviet tank invasion into a dynamic alliance that is now operating
    across the world in the support of democracy and peace.
        For five decades, NATO forces never deployed outside of Europe.
    Today, NATO is leading security operations in Afghanistan, training
    Iraqi security forces in Baghdad, delivering humanitarian relief to
    earthquake victims in Pakistan, and training peacekeepers in Sudan. An
    alliance some said had lost its purpose after the cold war is now
    meeting the challenges of the 21st century.
        In this new war, we're positioning our forces to meet new threats.
    For more than a half a century, American forces essentially had remained
    in the same places that President Truman deployed them. So 2 years ago,
    I announced the largest transformation of our global force posture since
    the start of the cold war. Over the coming decade, we will move U.S.
    forces from cold war garrisons in Europe and Asia and reposition them so
    they can surge quickly to trouble spots anywhere. We will deploy
    advanced military capabilities that will increase U.S. combat power
    across the world, while bringing home between 60,000 and 70,000 troops
    now stationed overseas. By taking these steps, we will reduce stress on
    our military families, raise the pressure on our enemies, and ensure
    that when you put on the uniform of the United States Army, you are
    ready to meet any threat.
        In this new war, we've undertaken the most sweeping reorganization
    of the Federal Government since the start of the cold war. We created a
    new Department of Homeland Security, merging 22 different Government
    organizations into a single department with a clear mission: to protect
    America from future attacks. We created the new Director of National
    Intelligence, which has led a broad restructuring of our Nation's
    intelligence agencies for the threats of the 21st century. We have
    transformed the FBI into an agency whose primary focus is stopping
    terrorism, and reorganized the Department of Justice to help us meet
    this new threat. We passed the PATRIOT Act, which broke down barriers
    that prevented law enforcement and intelligence agencies from sharing
    vital information on terrorist threats.
        At the Department of Defense, we created a new Northern Command
    responsible for homeland defense, a new Strategic

    [[Page 1039]]

    Command responsible for defending America against long-range attacks. We
    transformed the Special Operations Command, more than doubling its
    budget, adding thousands of new troops, and making it the lead command
    in the global war on terror. And we're undertaking the largest
    transformation of the Army in more than 100 years. Since the turn of the
    last century, the Army has been organized around the division structure
    designed by Napoleon. Today, we're replacing that division structure
    with a 21st century Army built around modular brigade combat teams that
    will be interchangeable and available to work for any division
    commander. These brigades will make our Army faster and lighter and more
    agile and more lethal, and it will make you more effective in the
    defense of freedom.
        We have made clear that the war on terror is an ideological struggle
    between tyranny and freedom. When President Truman spoke here for the
    150th anniversary of West Point, he told the class of 1952, ``We can't
    have lasting peace unless we work actively and vigorously to bring about
    conditions of freedom and justice in the world.'' That same principle
    continues to guide us in today's war on terror. Our strategy to protect
    America is based on a clear premise: The security of our Nation depends
    on the advance of liberty in other nations. On September the 11th, 2001,
    we saw that problems originating in a failed and oppressive state 7,000
    miles away could bring murder and destruction to our country. And we
    learned an important lesson: Decades of excusing and accommodating the
    lack of freedom in the Middle East did nothing to make us safe. So long
    as the Middle East remains a place where freedom does not flourish, it
    will remain a place where terrorists foment resentment and threaten
    American security.
        So we are pursuing a forward strategy of freedom in the Middle East.
    I believe the desire for liberty is universal, and by standing with
    democratic reformers across a troubled region, we will extend freedom to
    millions who have not known it and lay the foundation of peace for
    generations to come.
        We're still in the early stages of this struggle for freedom, and
    like those first years of the cold war, we've seen setbacks and
    challenges and days that have tested America's resolve. Yet we've also
    seen days of victory and hope. We've seen people in Afghanistan voting
    for the first democratic parliament in a generation. We have seen
    jubilant Iraqis dancing in the streets, holding up ink-stained fingers,
    celebrating their freedom. We've seen people in Lebanon waving cedar
    flags and securing the liberty and independence of their land. We've
    seen people in Kyrgyzstan drive a corrupt regime from power and vote for
    democratic change. In the past 4 years alone, more than 110 million
    human beings across the world have joined the ranks of the free, and
    this is only the beginning. The message has spread from Damascus to
    Tehran that the future belongs to freedom, and we will not rest until
    the promise of liberty reaches every people and every nation.
        Now the class of 2006 will enter the great struggle, and the final
    outcome depends on your leadership. The war began on my watch, but it's
    going to end on your watch. Your generation will bring us victory in the
    war on terror. My call to you is this: Trust in the power of freedom,
    and be bold in freedom's defense; show leadership and courage, and not
    just on the battlefield; take risk; try new things; and challenge the
    established way of doing things; trust in your convictions; stay true to
    yourselves--and one day, the world will celebrate your achievements.
        I have confidence in the final outcome of this struggle, because I
    know the character and determination of the men and women gathered
    before me. We see that character and determination in a cadet named
    Patrick Dowdell. It was Patrick's dream to
    attend West Point, and he applied

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    straight out of high school, but he did not get in on his first try.
    After being turned down, he wondered if he was cut out for the Academy.
    His father, New York Fireman Kevin Dowdell, encouraged Patrick to apply
    again. Kevin wrote letters to his Congressman on behalf of his son. And he spent long hours working with
    Patrick on his application--right up to September the 9th, 2001. Two
    days later, Kevin Dowdell raced across the Brooklyn Bridge with his fire
    rescue unit to the burning World Trade Towers, and he never returned.
        After the attack, Patrick spent months
    digging at Ground Zero looking for his dad--and thinking about the dream
    that they had shared about his future. He was determined to fulfill that
    dream. And in the summer of 2002, Patrick arrived here at West Point as
    a new cadet, and today he will receive his degree and his commission.
        A few weeks ago, Patrick's mom,
    RoseEllen, attended another graduation
    ceremony, at the New York City Fire Academy, where her other son,
    James, followed his father's footsteps as one
    of New York's bravest. And today RoseEllen is with us to see Patrick
    join the ranks of America's bravest, as an officer in the United States
    Army.
        We live in freedom because young Americans like Patrick and all the cadets here today have stepped forward to
    serve. You have chosen a difficult and dangerous vocation, and America
    is grateful for that choice. Today you will accept a sacred trust: You
    will lead America's sons and daughters on the battlefield in a time of
    war. Our Nation is counting on you as we count on no other group of
    young leaders in our country. The last 4 years have tested you in ways
    you never imagined, and you leave here well prepared for the challenges
    you will face.
        There's a saying at West Point, that much of the history you teach
    here was made by the people you taught here. Now the class of 2006 will
    leave for the battlefield, and you will make history. Never falter;
    never quit. Bring honor to the uniform and pride to your country. May
    God bless you and the class of 2006.

    Note: The President spoke at 9:33 a.m. in Michie Stadium. In his
    remarks, he referred to Lt. Gen. William J. Lennox, Jr., USA,
    superintendent, U.S. Military Academy at West Point; former President
    Saddam Hussein of Iraq; and President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan.