[Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2006, Book I)]
[February 24, 2006]
[Pages 344-352]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]



Remarks to the American Legion
February 24, 2006

    Thank you all. Please be seated. Thanks for the warm welcome. Mr. 
Commander, thank you for letting me come by 
and visit with you about the subject of how to keep the peace and 
protect the United States of America. I'm proud to be with my fellow 
Legionnaires. Always a pleasure to be in the midst of veterans who 
served our country. I see some people who are not quite veterans yet 
that are with us, members who are serving all branches of Government, 
and I thank you all for coming. I appreciate your interest in the 
direction this country must continue to lead in order to protect 
ourselves and promote the peace.
    I want to thank Carol Van Kirk, who's the 
national president of the American Legion Auxiliary. Old Tom Bock is wise enough to always include the Auxiliary. He 
knows something about leadership. I want to thank Paul Hasz. I want to thank John Sommer, executive director. He spends quality time in the Oval 
Office, along with the commander. He's never shy to express his opinion, 
but that's what you pay him for. [Laughter]
    I want to thank the chairman of the Senate Arms Services Committee, 
Senator John Warner. Senator, it means a lot 
to me and it means a lot to the folks here that you take time to come 
here to be with them. And I'm honored you're here. Thanks for coming.
    The American Legion is one of America's great organizations. From 
your founding after World War I to today's war on terror, Legionnaires 
have fought for our freedom, and you fought for the brave veterans who 
defended our freedom as well. You served our country in uniform, and you 
serve our country in civilian life. The Legion was founded, in the words 
of your constitution, ``to build a sense of individual obligation to the 
community, state, and nation.'' And when Hurricane Katrina struck our 
Nation's gulf coast, Legion posts all across America swung into action 
to help neighbors in need.
    Take, for example, Post 338 in Bradner, Ohio. These good folks 
helped arrange medical transportation to reunite a sick child with his 
family after the family was forced apart because of the storm. Or Post 
27 in DeRidder, Louisiana, which turned its bingo hall into an emergency 
shelter for 41 kidney dialysis patients and their caregivers and their 
loved ones.
    I think it's very interesting what the post commander, Retired Navy 
Master Chief Bill Loftin, said--by the way, he 
said it when he was cooking hot meals and helped care for disabled 
evacuees. He put it this way: ``This is for human life. That's what the 
Legion is all about.'' In times of crisis, our citizens know 
Legionnaires always come through, and I appreciate you.
    Members of the American Legion are showing the heart of the Legion 
every single day, not just when catastrophe hits. Across America, 
Legionnaires and members of the Ladies Auxiliary volunteer in veterans 
hospitals, sponsor Scout troops and youth baseball, collect scholarship 
money for deserving students, including a special fund that the Legion 
established for the children of troops who've been killed in the war on 
terror. And I thank you for that as well.
    Our Nation is grateful for your service on and off the battlefield. 
As you serve

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your fellow Americans in need, you're also strongly supporting the 
American flag. It was a Legion that helped draft our Nation's first flag 
code back in 1923. And Legionnaires have been working ever since to 
ensure the flag is cherished and protected. I appreciate your leadership 
of the Citizens Flag Alliance, and like you, I support a constitutional 
amendment to protect the American flag.
    As veterans, you have placed the Nation's security before your own 
lives, and that sacrifice creates a debt that our country can never 
fully repay. Yet there are things Government can do, such as strongly 
support our veterans, and that's precisely what my administration is 
doing. The time when we're holding down discretionary spending, my 2007 
budget--with my 2007 budget, my administration will have increased 
funding for our veterans by $35 billion since I took office, which is an 
increase of 75 percent.
    We have made health care a top priority for my administration. With 
my 2007 budget, we'll increase VA's medical care budget by 69 percent 
since 2001. Our increased funding has given almost a million more 
veterans access to the VA medical care system. Since January 2002, 
disability claims are being processed 63 days faster than they were when 
I took office.
    In the last 4 years, we've committed almost $3 billion to modernize 
and expanding VA facilities so that more veterans can get care closer to 
home. We're working to ensure that veterans with the greatest needs--
those with service disabilities and lower incomes and special needs--are 
given priority. We're making sure that our men and women returning from 
combat are the first in line for treatment.
    We're also getting results for veterans beyond the health care 
system. For more than a century, Federal law prohibited disabled 
veterans from receiving both their military retired pay and their VA 
disability compensation. Combat-injured and severely disabled veterans 
deserve better. I'm the first President in more than 100 years to sign 
concurrent receipt legislation. And I thank the Legion for working on 
these issues.
    Our Nation's debt extends not just to the veterans who served but 
also to the families who stood by them in war. I signed into law the 
Veterans Benefits Act, authorizing $1 billion in new and expanded 
benefits for disabled veterans, surviving spouses, and their children. 
The families of our veterans have served our country; our Nation will 
honor their service by standing with them in their time of need.
    As veterans you know what it means to leave your family, put on the 
uniform, and head off to war. And today in Afghanistan and Iraq and 
other fronts in this war on terror, a new generation of service men and 
women is carrying on your legacy of selfless sacrifice and courage under 
fire. As they fight dangerous enemies in distant lands, I know that you 
share America's pride in them, and I thank all of you for your strong 
support of our troops in harm's way. Their service is needed in these 
dangerous times.
    We remain a nation at war. The war reached our shores on September 
the 11th, 2001, when our Nation awoke to a sudden attack. Like 
generations before us, we have accepted new responsibilities, and we 
will confront these dangers with firm resolve.
    Our most important duty is to defend the American people, and so 
we're taking the fight to those who attacked us. We're taking the fight 
to those who share their murderous vision for future attacks. We will 
take this fight to the enemy without wavering, and we will prevail.
    The enemy we face is brutal and determined. The terrorists have an 
ideology; they share a hateful vision that rejects tolerance and crushes 
all dissent. They seek a world where women are oppressed, where children 
are indoctrinated, and those who reject their ideology of violence and 
extremism are threatened and often murdered.

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    The terrorists have aims. They seek to impose their heartless 
ideology of totalitarian control throughout the Middle East. They seek 
to arm themselves with weapons of mass murder. Their stated goal is to 
overthrow moderate governments, take control of countries, and then use 
them as safe havens to launch attacks against Americans and other free 
nations. To achieve their aims, the terrorists have turned to the weapon 
of fear. They don't have the military strength to beat us. They can't 
beat us on the battlefield. They just cannot defeat the United States 
military. And so they're trying to break our will with stunning acts of 
violence. The terrorists do not understand America. They're not going to 
shake our will. We will stay in the hunt. We will never give in, and we 
will prevail.
    After the attacks of September the 11th, we have set forth a new 
strategy to do our duty to protect the American people. First, we're on 
the offensive, and we'll stay on the offensive, recognizing that we must 
defeat the terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them here at 
home.
    Secondly, I've set a clear doctrine: America makes no distinction 
between the terrorists and the countries that harbor them. If you harbor 
a terrorist, you're just as guilty as the terrorists, and you're an 
enemy of the United States of America.
    Thirdly, one of the clear lessons of September the 11th is that the 
United States of America must confront threats before they fully 
materialize. After September the 11th, I looked at the world and saw a 
clear threat in Saddam Hussein. Saddam 
Hussein was an enemy of the United States. He was firing at American 
military pilots patrolling the no-fly zones. He was a state sponsor of 
terror. He was in open defiance of more than a dozen United Nations 
resolutions. He had invaded his neighbors. He had brutalized his people. 
He had a history of using and producing weapons of mass destruction. 
Saddam defied the will of the world. And because we acted to remove this 
threat, Saddam Hussein is in prison, he's on trial for his crimes, and 
the world is better for it.
    Fourthly, we're advancing our security at home by advancing the 
cause of freedom across the world because, in the long run, the only way 
to defeat the terrorists is to defeat their dark vision of hatred and 
fear by offering the hopeful alternative of human freedom. That's what I 
want to talk to you about today--our forward strategy for freedom. I'll 
discuss why the advance of freedom is vital to our security and the 
peace of the world and how our efforts to spread liberty and democracy 
throughout the broader Middle East are progressing. I'm going to discuss 
with you our work to help the world's newest democracies build 
institutions of liberty that are the foundations for lasting peace. Our 
freedom agenda 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 an 
oppressive state 7,000 miles away could bring murder and destruction to 
our country. We saw that dictatorships shelter terrorists and feed 
resentment and radicalism and threaten the security of free nations. We 
know throughout history that democracies can replace resentment with 
hope and respect the rights of their citizens and our neighbors and join 
together to fight in this global war against terror.
    History has shown that free nations are peaceful nations. Think 
about all the bloodshed on the continent of Europe the past 100 years. 
In World War I and in World War II, there were bloody battles. Thousands 
of Americans went to Europe to fight in those wars and never came home. 
Democracy took hold in Europe, and today, Europe is whole, free, and at 
peace.
    Think about the example of the Far East. You know, my dad, like many of your relatives, went off to fight 
the Japanese as an 18-year-old fighter pilot; 60 years later, his son is 
working with the Prime Minister of Japan 
to keep the peace. And what took

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place between war and friendship was the development of a Japanese-style 
democracy. As we march into the future, America must be confident in the 
capacity of democracies to yield the peace we all want.
    We're committed to an historic long-term goal: To secure the peace 
of the world, we seek the end of tyranny in our world. Far from being a 
hopeless dream, the advance of freedom is the great story of our time. 
Just 25 years ago, at the start of the 1980s, there were only 45 
democracies on the face of the Earth. Today, there are 122. And in the 
past 4 years alone, more than 110 million human beings have joined the 
ranks of the free.
    In our time, we've witnessed revolutions of Rose and Orange and 
Purple and Tulip and Cedar, and these are just only the beginnings. 
Across the world, freedom is on the march, and we will not rest until 
the promise of freedom reaches people everywhere across the globe. It's 
in our national interest. It's important that we understand the capacity 
of freedom to yield the peace.
    In the march of freedom, some of the most important progress is 
taking place in a region that has known--has not known the blessings of 
liberty, and that's the broader Middle East. Since September the 11th, 
2001, the nation of Afghanistan has gone from the terror of the Taliban 
to a democratic Constitution, to successful Presidential elections, to 
the seating of a democratically elected Parliament.
    In less than 3 years, the nation of Iraq has gone from living under 
the boot of a brutal tyrant to liberation, to sovereignty, to free 
elections, to a constitutional referendum, and to elections for a fully 
constitutional government.
    By any standard or precedent of history, these two countries have 
made incredible progress on the road to a free society. America is 
inspired by Afghan and Iraqi determination to live in freedom.
    Freedom's progress in Afghanistan and Iraq is inspiring millions 
around the world to demand their liberty as well. In Lebanon, in 
Kyrgyzstan, voters have gone to the polls to choose their leaders in 
free elections. In other nations across the broader Middle East, hope is 
stirring at the prospect of change, and change is going to come. In that 
region that has known decades of tyranny and oppression, we're seeing 
the rise of a new generation whose hearts burn for freedom, and they 
will have freedom.
    As freedom spreads to new parts of the world, we're seeing something 
else as well, the uncertainty that often follows democratic change. Free 
elections are exhilarating events. Yet history teaches us that the path 
to a free society is long and not always smooth. I've seen that in our 
own history. In the years following the American Revolution, there were 
riots and uprisings and even a planned coup. In 1783, Congress was 
chased from Philadelphia by angry veterans demanding back pay, and 
Congress stayed on the run for 6 months. [Laughter] It was then that 
Congress learned, don't mess with America's veterans.
    It's important to remember that our first effort at a governing 
charter, the Articles of Confederation, failed, and it took over a 
decade after independence before we adopted our Constitution and 
inaugurated George Washington as our first President. Other countries 
have had similar experiences. After the collapse of communism in Eastern 
and Central Europe, nations like Slovakia and Romania and Ukraine 
struggled for many years to overcome the legacy of oppression before 
freedom finally took root.
    No nation in history has made the transition to a free society 
without setbacks and false starts. Free elections are an important step 
on the road to a free society, but they're the first step. What 
separates nations that succeed from those that falter is their progress 
in establishing a civil society based on free institutions. So, as we 
work for democratic change across the broader Middle East, we're also 
working

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to help new democracies establish the institutions that are the 
foundations of lasting free societies.
    Our efforts in the broader Middle East have been guided by a clear 
principle. Democracy takes different forms in different cultures. Yet 
all cultures, in order to be successful, have certain common truths, 
universal truths--rule of law, freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, a 
free economy, freedom of women, and the freedom to worship. Societies 
that lay these foundations not only survive, but they thrive. Societies 
that don't lay these foundations risk backsliding into tyranny.
    This principle has guided our efforts in Iraq. When our coalition 
arrived in Iraq, we found a nation where almost none of these basic 
foundations existed. Decades of brutal rule by Saddam Hussein had destroyed the fabric of Iraqi civil society. Under 
Saddam, Iraq was a country where dissent was crushed, a centralized 
economy enriched a dictator instead of the people, secret courts meted 
out repression instead of justice, and Iraqis were brutally oppressed by 
Saddam's security forces. And when Saddam Hussein's regime fled Baghdad, 
they left behind a country with few civic institutions in place to hold 
Iraqi society together.
    So our coalition has worked to help the Iraqi people rebuild its 
civil society and the free institutions that sustain a democracy. And it 
has been very difficult work. Today, Iraq, though, does have a thriving 
free press, with hundreds of independent newspapers and magazines and 
talk radio shows where Iraqis openly debate the future course of their 
country. In spite of the difficulties, Iraq does have a emerging free 
market with an independent central bank and thousands of small 
businesses operating across the country.
    Iraq is building an independent judiciary that is replacing the rule 
of a tyrant with the rule of law, and which 
is now holding Iraq's former dictator to account for his crimes against 
the Iraqi people. Iraqis have adopted one of the most progressive 
democratic constitutions in the Arab world with protections for minority 
rights and women's rights. Iraqis now enjoy freedom of association, as 
we saw in the December elections, when parties and coalitions openly 
campaigned for the vote of the Iraqi people.
    We're carrying out our clear strategy of victory in Iraq. On the 
political side, we're helping Iraqis build a strong democracy so old 
resentments will be eased and the insurgency marginalized. On the 
economic side, we're continuing reconstruction efforts and helping 
Iraqis build a modern economy so all Iraqi citizens can experience the 
benefits of freedom.
    And on the security side, we're striking terrorist targets and, at 
the same time, training Iraqis which are becoming increasingly capable 
of carrying the fight to the enemy. Our strategy in Iraq is, as the 
Iraqis stand up, we'll stand down. Troop levels on the ground will be 
decided by commanders on the ground, not by politicians in Washington, 
DC.
    In all aspects of our strategy, we've learned from experiences. 
We've learned from the good advice of people like Chairman 
Warner. We're fixing what hadn't worked. 
We'll continue to make changes as necessary to complete the mission, to 
meet the objective, and that is a country which can sustain itself, 
defend itself, protect itself, and serve as a strong ally in the war on 
terror.
    For every terrorist working to stop freedom in Iraq, there are many 
more Iraqis and Americans and troops from around the world working to 
defeat them. There's still a lot of work to be done. The enemies of a 
free Iraq are working to stop Iraq's democratic progress. Democracy 
scares them. They understand a democratic Iraq will be a major defeat in 
their totalitarian aims.
    They're going to continue their campaign of violence and 
destruction. We saw their brutality again this week when terrorists 
bombed the Golden Mosque in Samarra.

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That mosque is one of the holiest sites in Shi'a Islam. This senseless 
attack is an affront to people of faith throughout the world. The United 
States strongly condemns this cowardly act of terror and the subsequent 
attacks on other mosques and holy sites in Iraq. We'll do everything in 
our power to help the Iraqi Government identify and bring to justice 
those responsible for the terrorist acts.
    This is a moment of choosing for the Iraqi people. This morning I 
talked to our Ambassador in Iraq, Zal Khalilzad, and General Casey. 
Zal is actively engaged with leaders of all political factions to ensure 
a common message of restraint and unity. He reports to me that the 
leaders are committed to stopping civil strife. The Government is taking 
concrete steps to determine how the attack happened and the necessary 
actions to help move the political process forward. The Ambassador 
reports many religious leaders are committed to a unified Iraq, a 
peaceful Iraq. The response by the Grand Ayatollah Sistani and many other leaders has been constructive and very 
important, and we appreciate their leadership. It's also been a test for 
the Iraqi security forces. General Casey reports that they're doing a 
fine job of enforcing curfew and working to restore order and calm.
    We can expect the days--coming days will be intense. Iraq remains a 
serious situation. But I'm optimistic, because the Iraqi people have 
spoken, and the Iraqi people made their intentions clear. In December, 
more than 11 million Iraqis sent a clear message to the world and to the 
terrorists: They want their freedom. They want their country to be a 
democracy. Each of these elections that took place last year saw larger 
and broader participation than the one that came before. And with the 
results from the December elections in, the Iraqi leaders are now 
working to form a new Government under a new Constitution with different 
factions competing for position and jockeying for power.
    Listen, the way ahead is going to require some patience as this 
process unfolds. The Iraqi Constitution requires two-thirds of the 
Parliament to form a government, which makes it harder to get agreement, 
but it helps ensure that all groups have a say in who governs them. The 
days ahead in Iraq are going to be difficult and exhausting. We're 
likely to see a lot of political bargaining. That doesn't happen under 
dictatorships. They seem orderly, particularly when one man makes all 
the decisions, and there is no need for negotiation or compromise.
    In democracies, different party advance competing agendas, and they 
seek their share of power. And yet they reach accommodation and respond 
to the will of the people. And Iraqis are doing all this for the first 
time in the midst of violence and terrorist attacks. Yet out of 
negotiations now taking place in Iraq, a free government will emerge 
that will represent the will of the Iraqi people, instead of that of a 
cruel dictator, and that will help us keep the peace.
    We're encouraging Iraqi leaders to reach out across political, 
religious, and sectarian lines and form a government that gives a voice 
to all Iraqis. And when a new Iraqi Government assumes office, Iraq's 
new leaders will face tough decisions on issues such as security and 
reconstruction and economic reform. This Government will need to provide 
effective leadership and earn the confidence of the Iraqi people by 
showing it can protect them. The Government will also need to put a stop 
to human rights abuses by security officers. By building free 
institutions and an inclusive society that provides minority rights, 
Iraqi leaders will bring the nation together, and this will help to 
defeat the terrorists and the Saddamists who are fighting Iraq's 
democratic progress.
    Some critics have pointed out that the free elections in the Middle 
East have put political power in the hands of Islamics and extremists, 
in the case of the Palestinian

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elections, a notorious--notorious terrorist organization. Critics argue 
that our policies of promoting democracy are backfiring and 
destabilizing the region. I strongly disagree. First, their argument 
rests on the false assumption that the Middle East was a bastion of 
stability before the United States came in and disturbed the status quo 
by promoting democracy.
    It was the status quo of the Middle East that led to the bombing of 
our Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. It was the status quo in the Middle 
East that led to the attack of the USS Cole that killed 17 American 
sailors. It was the status quo in the Middle East that produced 19 
hijackers and took planes and crashed them into the Pentagon and the 
World Trade Towers and killed nearly 3,000 innocent people on September 
the 11th, 2001. The status quo in the Middle East was dangerous and 
unacceptable, and our security demanded that we change it.
    Secondly, the idea that lasting stability can be achieved by denying 
people a voice in the future control of their destiny is wrong. It is, 
in large part, because people in the Middle East have been denied 
legitimate means to express dissent that radical extremism has 
flourished. And it's only by giving people in the Middle East the 
freedom to express their opinions and choose their leaders that we will 
be able to defeat radical extremism. As liberty spreads in the broader 
Middle East, freedom will replace despair and hope. And over time, the 
terrorist's temptation will fall away.
    Third, free societies do not take root overnight, especially in 
countries that have suffered from decades of tyranny and repression. It 
should come as no surprise that after 60 years of Western nations 
excusing and accommodating the lack of freedom in the Middle East, civil 
society in that region is not strong and those with the most extreme 
views are the most organized.
    It will take time for the people of this region to build political 
parties and movements that are moderate in their views and capable of 
competing in a free democratic system. Yet free elections cannot wait 
for perfect conditions. Free elections are instruments of change. By 
giving people an opportunity to organize, express their views, and 
change the existing order, elections strengthen the forces of freedom 
and encourage citizens to take control of their own destiny.
    Finally, as democracy takes root, the responsibilities of governing 
will have a moderating influence on those who assume power in free 
elections. It's easier to be a martyr than a mayor or a cabinet 
minister. When you're responsible for building roads and bridges and 
power stations and educating people and providing help, you're less 
likely to blow up health clinics and schools and bridges.
    In democracies, elected leaders must deliver real change in people's 
lives, or the voters will boot them out at the next election time. This 
is a lesson that the leaders of Hamas will now have to learn, as they 
take power after their election victory in the Palestinian Territories. 
Hamas campaigned on a platform of fighting corruption and improving 
social services, and that is how a Hamas Government will be judged by 
the Palestinian people. The leaders of Hamas have a choice to make. If 
they want the help of America and the international community to build a 
prosperous, independent Palestinian state, they must recognize Israel, 
disarm, reject terrorism, and work for lasting peace. The international 
community must continue to make clear to Hamas that democratically 
elected leaders cannot have one foot in the camp of democracy and one 
foot in the camp of terror. The world is waiting to see what choice 
Hamas makes.
    The international community is also speaking with one voice to the 
radical regime in Tehran. Iran is a nation held hostage by a small 
clerical elite that is isolating and repressing its people and denying 
them

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basic liberties and human rights. The Iranian regime sponsors terrorists 
and is actively working to expand its influence in the region. The 
Iranian regime has advocated the destruction of our ally Israel. And the 
Iranian regime is defying the world with its ambitions for nuclear 
weapons.
    America will continue to rally the world to confront these threats, 
and Iran's aggressive behavior and pursuit of nuclear weapons is 
increasing its international isolation. When Iran's case was brought 
before the IAEA earlier this month, 27 nations voted against Iran, 
including Russia and China and India and Brazil and Sri Lanka and Egypt 
and Yemen. The only nations to support Iran were Syria, Cuba, and 
Venezuela. Now Iran's case will be taken up to the U.N. Security 
Council. The free world is sending the regime in Tehran a clear message: 
We're not going to allow Iran to have nuclear weapons.
    The world's free nations are also worried because the Iranian regime 
is not transparent. You see, a nontransparent society that is the 
world's premier state sponsor of terror cannot be allowed to possess the 
world's most dangerous weapons. So, as we confront Iran's nuclear 
weapons ambitions, we're also reaching out to the Iranian people to 
support their desire to be free, to build a free, democratic, and 
transparent society.
    To support the Iranian people's efforts to win their own freedom, my 
administration is requesting $75 million in emergency funds to support 
democracy in Iran. This is more than a fourfold increase over current 
levels of funding. These new funds will allow us to expand radio and 
television broadcasts into Iran. They will support reformers and 
dissidents and human rights activists and civil society organizers in 
Iran, so Iranians can organize and challenge the repressive policies of 
the clerical regime. They will support student exchanges, so we can 
build bridges of understanding between our people and expose more 
Iranians to life in a free society.
    By supporting democratic change in Iran, we will hasten the day when 
the people of Iran can determine their own future and be free to choose 
their own leaders. Freedom in the Middle East requires freedom for the 
Iranian people, and America looks forward to the day when our Nation can 
be the closest of friends with a free and democratic Iran.
    Freedom is on the march in the broader Middle East. The hope of 
liberty now reaches from Kabul to Baghdad to Beirut and beyond. Slowly 
but surely, we're helping to transform the broader Middle East from an 
arc of instability into an arc of freedom. And as freedom reaches more 
people in this vital region, we'll have new allies in the war on terror 
and new partners in the cause of moderation in the Muslim world and in 
the cause of peace.
    Bringing greater freedom to nations in the Middle East is the work 
of generations, and the advance of liberty still faces determined 
enemies. The terrorists know the stakes in the struggle. They know that 
as more people in the region embrace freedom, they will lose their safe 
havens, lose their recruits, and lose the sources of funding they need 
to advance their hateful ideology. And so they'll continue to fight 
freedom's progress with all the murderous hatred they can muster. They 
will continue to create images of violence and suffering for the 
cameras. The terrorists know that the only way they can defeat us is to 
break our will and force our retreat. And that's not going to happen so 
long as I'm the President of the United States.
    We will stay on the offense. We will continue to hunt down the 
terrorists wherever they hide. We'll continue to stand with the people 
of the Middle East as they step forward to claim their freedom. We can 
be confident in our cause because we have seen freedom conquer tyranny 
and secure the peace before. We've seen freedom arrive on waves of 
unstoppable progress to nations in Latin America and Asia and Africa and 
Eastern Europe. And now the hope

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of freedom is stirring in the Middle East, and no one should bet against 
it.
    We can also have confidence in our cause--we have the greatest force 
for freedom in the history of the world on our side, the men and women 
of the United States Armed Forces. They are serving with courage and 
distinction on many fronts in the war on terror. And I know America's 
veterans feel a special bond with them as they defend freedom in foreign 
lands.
    In this war, we've lost some really good men and women who left our 
shores to defend liberty and did not live to make the journey home. 
Others have returned from war with wounds the best medicine cannot heal. 
As veterans, you've lost friends and comrades in the field of battle, 
and you understand the sadness that has come to some of our Nation's 
military families. We pray for the families of the fallen, and we honor 
the memory of all who have given their lives in freedom's cause. And we 
will honor that memory by defeating the terrorists and spreading liberty 
and laying the foundation of peace for generations to come.
    I appreciate the Legion's support for our troops in the fight. I 
appreciate the example you have set for those who wear the uniform 
today.
    Before Veterans Day a few years ago, a group of soldiers serving in 
Iraq sent a letter to the American Legion Headquarters here in 
Washington. They wrote, ``Veterans of past wars will forever be in our 
hearts as American heroes. Their sacrifices give us courage, and their 
devotion reminds us of what we are fighting for.'' Our men and women on 
the frontlines are taking inspiration from the valor and courage that 
you've shown on the field of battle. When they face dark moments in the 
thick of the fight, they remember that you faced enemies as brutal and 
determined as those who threaten America today, and they remember how 
you prevailed. And now they're picking up your mantle and carrying on 
your fight. And like our veterans, they're bringing security to our 
citizens and freedom to the world.
    Thank you for your idealism. I thank you for your dedication to God 
and country. May God bless our veterans. May God bless our troops in 
uniform. And may God continue to bless our country.

Note: The President spoke at 10 a.m. at the Capital Hilton Hotel. In his 
remarks, he referred to Tom Bock, national commander, and John Sommer, 
executive director, American Legion; Paul Hasz, commander, American 
Legion, District of Columbia; Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan; 
and Gen. George W. Casey, Jr., USA, commanding general, Multi-National 
Force--Iraq. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish 
language transcript of these remarks.