    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book I)]
    [June 28, 2007]
    [Pages 816-829]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the Naval War College and a Question-and-Answer Session in
    Newport, Rhode Island
    June 28, 2007

        The President. Thank you all. Thank you. Thank you all. Please be
    seated. Thanks for the warm welcome. Thanks, Governor; appreciate you. Go find a nice seat. [Laughter] I am
    really pleased to be among the best and brightest of the United States
    military. I am pleased to be with many here who represent nations from
    around the world. Thanks for coming by. [Laughter] Those who go to
    school here are at a great place. We actually have some things in
    common. We went to school in New England. [Laughter] We pursued advanced
    degrees. And we compiled outstanding academic records--[laughter]--well,
    two out of three. [Laughter]
        The Naval War College is where the United States military does some
    of its finest thinking. You help the Navy define its mission. You
    support its combat readiness. You strengthen our maritime security
    cooperation with other countries. You train our officers to think
    strategically. And that's important. The United States Navy is one of
    the most professional and advanced navies in--the world has ever seen,
    and the men and women of the Naval War College are working to keep it
    that way, and I appreciate your work.
        More than a century ago, the president of this college wrote a book
    called ``The Influence of Sea Power Upon History.'' The book was read by
    Theodore Roosevelt. It affected American strategic thinking for decades
    to come. Now we're in a new and unprecedented war against violent
    Islamic extremists. This is an ideological conflict we face against
    murderers and killers who try to impose their will. These are the people
    that attacked us on September the 11th and killed nearly 3,000 people.
    The stakes are high, and, once again, we have to change our strategic
    thinking.
        The major battleground in this war is Iraq. And this morning I'm
    going to give you an update on the strategy we're pursuing in Iraq. I'll
    outline some of the indicators that will tell us if we're succeeding.

    [[Page 817]]

    And I appreciate you giving me a chance to come and visit with you.
        I appreciate the Governor of this
    great State and his wife Sue. I'm
    proud to call you friend, and thank you very much for your
    thoughtfulness today. The Governor gave me a helicopter tour of this
    beautiful part of the world. The tall ships were magnificent.
        Rear Admiral Shuford and his wife
    Cathy, thanks, as well, for being in the
    military; thanks for leading; and thanks for inviting me here. I
    appreciate Rear Admiral Tom Eccles,
    commander, Naval Undersea Warfare Center. I thank my friends, Governors
    who have joined us: Governor Jodi Rell,
    Governor Mark Sanford, Governor Matt
    Blunt. One day we'll all be members of the ex-
    Governors club. [Laughter] Later, rather than sooner, in your case.
    [Laughter] I appreciate all the other State and local officials, the
    students here, the faculty here, and the alumni here. Thanks for coming.
        Earlier this year, I laid out a new strategy for Iraq. I wasn't
    pleased with what was taking place on the ground. I didn't approve of
    what I was seeing. And so I called together our military and said, can
    we design a different strategy to succeed? And I accepted their
    recommendations. And this new strategy is different from the one we were
    pursuing before. It is being led by a new commander, General David
    Petraeus, and a new ambassador, Ryan
    Crocker. It recognizes that our top priority
    must be to help the Iraqi Government and its security forces protect
    their population from attack, especially in Baghdad, the capital. It's a
    new mission, and David Petraeus is in Iraq carrying it out. Its goal is
    to help the Iraqis make progress toward reconciliation, to build a free
    nation that respects the rights of its people, upholds the rule of law,
    and is an ally against the extremists in this war.
        And it's in our interests; it's in our national interests to help
    them succeed. America has sent reinforcements to help the Iraqis secure
    their population. In other words, one of the decisions I had to make
    was, what should our troop levels be? I asked the military what they
    thought the troop levels ought to be. That's what you expect from your
    Commander in Chief, to consult closely with the United States military
    in times of war. They made recommendations, and I sent the
    reinforcements in to help the Iraqis secure their population, to go
    after terrorists, insurgents, and militias that incite sectarian
    violence, and to help get this capital of Iraq under control.
        The last of the reinforcements arrived in Iraq earlier this month,
    and the full surge has begun. One of our top commanders, Ray
    Odierno, puts it this way: ``We are
    beyond a surge of forces, and we're now into a surge of operations.''
    Today I am going to give you an update on how these operations are
    proceeding. I'll talk about the progress and challenges regarding
    reconciliation at both the national and local levels. And I'm going to
    outline some of the criterion we will be using to tell us if we are
    succeeding.
        Let me begin with Anbar Province. You can see here on the map; Anbar
    is a largely Sunni Province that accounts for nearly a third of Iraqi
    territory. It's a big place. Anbar stretches from the outskirts of
    Baghdad to Iraq's borders with Jordan and Syria. It was Al Qaida's chief
    base of operations in Iraq. Remember, when I mention Al Qaida, they're
    the ones who attacked the United States of America and killed nearly
    3,000 people on September the 11th, 2001. They're part of the enemy.
    They're extremists and radicals who try to impose their view on the
    world.
        According to a captured document--in other words, according to
    something that we captured from Al Qaida--they had hoped to set up its--
    a government in Anbar. And that would have brought them closer to their
    stated objective of taking down Iraq's democracy, building a radical
    Islamic empire, and having a safe haven from which to launch attacks on
    Americans

    [[Page 818]]

    at home and abroad. This is what the enemy said. And I think it is vital
    that the United States of America listen closely to what the enemy says.
        Last September, Anbar was all over the news. It was held up as an
    example of America's failure in Iraq. The papers cited a leaked
    intelligence report that was pessimistic about our prospects there. One
    columnist summed it up this way: ``The war is over in Anbar Province,
    and the United States lost.''
        About the same time some folks were writing off Anbar, our troops
    were methodically clearing Anbar's capital city of Ramadi of terrorists
    and winning the trust of the local population. In parallel with these
    efforts, a group of tribal sheiks launched a movement called The
    Awakening and began cooperating with American and Iraqi forces. These
    sheiks--these leaders were tired of murder and tired of mayhem that Al
    Qaida had brought to their towns and communities. They knew exactly who
    these folks were.
        To capitalize on the opportunity, I sent more marines into Anbar.
    And gradually, they have been helping the locals take back their
    Province from Al Qaida.
        These operations are showing good results. Our forces are going into
    parts of Anbar where they couldn't operate before. With the help of
    Iraqi and coalition forces, local Sunni tribes have driven Al Qaida from
    most of Ramadi. Attacks there are now down to a 2-year low. Recruiting
    of Iraqi police forces now draws thousands of candidates, compared to a
    few hundred just a few months ago. This month, Anbar opened its first
    police academy. And as the slide shows, overall attacks in Anbar are
    sharply down from this time last year.
        Despite successes, Anbar Province remains a dangerous place. Why?
    Because Al Qaida wants their base of operations back; it's working to
    assassinate sheiks and intimidate the local population. We've got to
    prepare ourselves for more violence and more setbacks. But a Province
    that had been written off as hopeless now enjoys a level of peace and
    stability that was unimaginable only a few months ago.
        We are hoping to replicate the success we have had in Anbar in other
    parts of Iraq, especially in areas in and around Baghdad. In the months
    since I announced our new strategy, we have had--we've been moving
    reinforcements into key Baghdad neighborhoods and the areas around the
    capital to help secure the population. I told you what the mission was,
    and that's what we're doing. We--now we have launched a wider offensive
    called Operation Phantom Thunder, which is taking the fight to the enemy
    in the capital as well as its surrounding regions. This operation
    focuses on defeating Al Qaida terrorists, the insurgents, and militias,
    denying the extremists safe havens, and breaking up their logistics,
    supply, and communications.
        This map shows Baghdad and its surrounding areas. In January, I
    explained that 80 percent of Iraq's sectarian violence occurs within 30
    miles of the capital. Although some of the violence that plagues Baghdad
    is homegrown, a good part of it originates from terrorists operating in
    the surrounding areas. If we can clear these strongholds of Al Qaida and
    death squads, we can improve life for the citizens of the areas and
    inhibit the enemy's ability to strike within the capital. And this is
    what Phantom Thunder is designed to do.
        I am going to describe some of the operations that are unfolding in
    different areas around the capital.
        To the north of Baghdad, our forces have surged into Diyala
    Province. The primary focus is the Provincial capital of Baqubah, which
    is just an hour's car ride from Baghdad. There, masked gunmen enforce
    their brutal rule with prisons and torture chambers and punish crimes
    like smoking.
        In one building, our forces discovered a medical facility for the
    terrorists. That tells us the enemy was preparing itself for a sustained
    and deadly fight. They had burrowed in. There was no resistance. They

    [[Page 819]]

    were trying to export their violence to the capital. Iraqi and American
    troops are now fighting block by block. The colonel leading the assault
    says, ``We have denied Al Qaida a major bastion.'' The city is cleared.
    The challenge, of course, is going to be for coalition and Iraqi forces
    to keep it that way. But we're making progress in Operation Phantom
    Thunder.
        To the southeast of Baghdad, we are going after Al Qaida in safe
    havens they established along the Tigris River. These safe havens
    include areas like Salman Pak and Arab Jabour, areas well known for
    sending car bombs and truck bombs into Baghdad. Extremists in many of
    these areas are being confronted by U.S. and Iraqi forces for the first
    time in 3 years. We can expect determined resistance. They don't like to
    be confronted. But General Petraeus says:
    ``In order to accomplish the mission, we're going to confront them with
    the finest military ever assembled on the face of the Earth.'' That's
    the U.S. military. Our forces are determined, and we're going to take
    those safe havens away from Al Qaida and the extremists.
        To the west and northwest of Baghdad, Operation Phantom Thunder is
    going after Al Qaida's remaining outposts in Anbar. We're taking the
    fight to areas around Karmah; it's a known transit point for Al Qaida
    fighters. One example of what we are now seeing, U.S. and Iraqi forces
    in Fallujah seized 25,000 gallons of nitric acid, a critical ingredient
    for car bombs and truck bombs. The deputy commander of U.S. forces west
    of Baghdad says, ``We have largely succeeded in driving the terrorists
    out of Anbar's population centers.'' He says, ``The surge has given us
    the troops we needed to really clear up those areas, so we cleared them,
    and we stayed.''
        Within Baghdad itself, the surge of forces has allowed us to
    establish a presence in areas where the terrorists and insurgents had
    embedded themselves among the people. In the past 2 weeks alone, our
    troops in Baghdad have captured five militia cells. Some of the names
    you will be hearing in the next few months will include places like
    Adhamiyah, Rashid, and Mansour. These areas are important because they
    represent so-called sectarian faultlines, locations where Shi'a
    extremists and Al Qaida terrorists are attempting to reignite sectarian
    violence through murder and kidnapings and other violent activities.
    Until these areas and others like them are secured, the people of
    Baghdad can't be protected; they can't go about their lives.
        Right now, we're at the beginning stage of the offensive. We finally
    got the troops there. Americans have got to understand, it takes awhile
    to mobilize additional troops and move them from the United States to
    Iraq. And we got them there. And now we're beginning to move. And there
    are hopeful signs. Last week, our commanders reported the killing of two
    senior Al Qaida leaders north of Baghdad: one who operated a cell that
    helped move foreign fighters into Iraq and another who served as a
    courier for the same cell.
        Within Baghdad, our military reports that despite an upward trend in
    May, sectarian murders in the capital are now down substantially from
    what they were in January. We are finding arms caches at more than three
    times the rate a year ago. Although the enemy continues to carry out
    sensational attacks, the number of car bombings and suicide attacks has
    been down in May and June. And because U.S. and Iraqi forces are living
    among the people they secure, many Iraqis are now coming forward with
    information on where the terrorists are hiding.
        On the ground, our forces can see the difference the surge is
    making. General Petraeus recently
    described what he called astonishing signs of normalcy. He said that
    about Baghdad. He talks about professional soccer leagues and amusement
    parks and vibrant markets. In the mixed Shi'a-Sunni neighborhood of
    Rashid, our foot patrols discovered a wall with two Arabic sentences

    [[Page 820]]

    spray-painted on them. It's just a small example. It certainly didn't
    get any news, but it says, ``Yes, yes to the new security plan. No
    difference between Shi'a and Sunni.''
        The fight's been tough. It's a tough fight, and it is going to
    remain difficult. We've lost some good men and women. And even as our
    troops are showing some success in cornering and trapping Al Qaida, they
    face a lot of challenges. After all, the people of Iraq lived for
    decades under the brutal dictatorship that bred distrust. And so there's
    still sectarian tensions. The feelings are being exploited, and they're
    being manipulated by outsiders. Iran, for example, continues to supply
    deadly IED explosives that are being used against American forces. It is
    also providing training in Iran as well as funding and weapons for Iraqi
    militias. Meanwhile, Syria continues to be a transit station for Al
    Qaida and other foreign fighters on their way to Iraq.
        Influx of foreign fighters and foreign support makes this job a lot
    tougher, tougher on the Iraqis, tougher on our troops. We can expect
    more casualties as our forces enter enemy strongholds and push back
    against foreign interference. But General Petraeus and our commanders in Iraq have carefully laid out a plan
    that our forces are executing on the ground. It's a well-conceived plan
    by smart military people, and we owe them the time, and we owe them the
    support they need to succeed.
        I fully agree with the military that says this is more than a
    military operation. Have to be making tough decisions--the Iraqis have
    got to be making tough decisions towards reconciliation. And that's why
    I will keep the pressure on Iraqi leaders to meet political benchmarks
    they laid out for themselves. Now, at home, most of the attention's
    focused on important pieces of legislation that the Iraqi Parliament
    must pass to foster political reconciliation, including laws to share
    oil revenues, hold Provincial elections, and bring more people into the
    political process. I speak to the Prime Minister and I speak to the Presidency Council quite often, and I
    remind them, we expect the Government to function and to pass law.
        Many Americans have been frustrated by the slow pace of legislation,
    as have I. However, I think we ought to put the challenge into
    perspective. In a democracy, the head of government just can't decree
    the outcome. [Laughter] I'm not saying that's what I'd like to do.
    [Laughter] Some in Washington are suggesting that's what I'd like to do.
    The Iraqi Parliament is composed of members representing many different
    religions and ethnicities: Sunnis, Shi'a, Turkoman, Kurds, and others.
        Even in a long-established democracy, it's not easy to pass
    important pieces of legislation in a short period of time. We're asking
    the Iraqis to accomplish all these things at a time when their country
    is being attacked. I make no excuses; we will continue to keep the
    pressure up. We expect there to be reconciliation. We expect them to
    pass law.
        On the benchmarks not related to legislation, they're doing better.
    Prime Minister Maliki promised to provide
    three brigades to support the operations in Baghdad, and he did. Iraqi
    leaders promised to give military commanders the authority they need to
    carry out our plans, and for the most part, they have. In addition,
    Iraqis have helped reduce sectarian violence and established joint
    security stations. The Iraqi Ministry of Defense is working hard to
    improve its logistical capabilities. It's going to spend nearly $2
    billion of its own funds this year to equip and modernize its forces.
    The Iraqi Government appropriated $2 billion so their force can become
    more modern, so their force is more ready to take the fight to the
    enemy.
        With the help of our troops, the Iraqi security forces are growing
    in number; they are becoming more capable, and coming closer to the day
    when they can assume responsibility for defending their own country. Not
    all this progress is even, and we're going to keep pressing the Iraqis
    to keep

    [[Page 821]]

    their commitments. Yet we must keep in mind that these benchmarks are
    aimed at improving life for the Iraqi people, and that is the standard
    by which they should be judged.
        To evaluate how life is improving for the Iraqis, we cannot look at
    the country only from the top down. We need to go beyond the Green Zone
    and look at Iraq from bottom up. This is where political reconciliation
    matters the most because it is where ordinary Iraqis are deciding
    whether to support new Iraq or to sit on the fence, uncertain about the
    country's future. I'm encouraged, and, more importantly, the people in
    Baghdad are encouraged by what we're seeing. Citizens are forming
    neighborhood watch groups. Young Sunnis are signing up for the army and
    police. Tribal sheiks are joining the fight against Al Qaida. Many Shi'a
    are rejecting the militias.
        Much progress we are seeing is the result of the work of our
    Provincial Reconstruction Teams. These teams bring together military and
    civilian experts to help local Iraqi communities pursue reconciliation,
    strengthen moderates, and speed the transition to Iraqi self-reliance.
    PRTs in Anbar are working with Iraqi judges to restore the rule of law
    with new trials for terrorist detainees. The PRT in Ramadi helped the
    Provincial council pass a budget that appropriates more than $100
    million for capital expenditures so people can begin rebuilding their
    Province and people can find work. PRT in Kirkuk is extending microloans
    to finance reconstruction and help stimulate job creation. The PRT in
    Ninewah has created more than 1,000 jobs through infrastructure projects
    that range from renovating a hospital to paving roads to building a new
    soccer field.
        This bottom-up approach to reconciliation and reconstruction is not
    headline grabbing. You don't read a lot about it, but it is making a
    difference in the lives of Iraqi citizens. It's ongoing, and we need to
    make sure it continues.
        We are also encouraged by the way Iraqis are responding to
    atrocities intended to inflame passions and provoke reprisals. In early
    2006--things were going fine in 2005. You might remember, at the end, we
    had an election where 12 million people showed up, an astonishing moment
    for the Middle East. And I frankly wasn't surprised because I believe in
    the universality of freedom. I believe everybody wants to be free;
    that's what I believe.
        I wasn't surprised, but I was pleased. I was pleased to hear the
    stories of Iraqis who got to vote and their joy in voting. Al Qaida
    wasn't pleased. As a matter of fact, they were frightened by the advance
    of democracy. You see, democracy is the opposite of their ideology.
    These folks believe something; it's just the opposite of what we
    believe. I remind people, one of the great, precious gifts of America is
    the right for people to worship or not worship and be equally American,
    that we're all Americans, that we're all Americans together, whether
    you're a Christian, Jew, Muslim, or don't believe. It's the opposite of
    what Al Qaida believes. They believe if you don't worship the way they
    tell you to, they're likely going to kill you.
        And so they didn't like the advance of democracy in 2005. And so in
    early 2006, they blew up the Golden Mosque in Samarra. It's one of Shi'a
    Islam's holiest sites. It set off a spiral of sectarian killing. Earlier
    this month, in an attack that had all the hallmarks of Al Qaida, the
    terrorists went back to their old playbook and blew up the minarets on
    the same mosque.
        This time, Iraqi leaders united immediately in rejecting the attack.
    They took swift and aggressive actions to prevent a rerun of last year's
    violence. Prime Minister Maliki imposed a
    curfew, ordered additional security for holy places, and convened a
    meeting of Sunni, Shi'a, and Kurdish leadership. He traveled to Samarra
    with his Defense and Interior
    Ministers to demonstrate their commitment
    to peace and reconciliation.

    [[Page 822]]

        Now, look, there are still some reprisals that have occurred, and
    it's too early to judge whether the Government's efforts will be enough
    to prevent a spiral of violence that we saw after last year's attacks.
    But it is not too early to say that the response by the Iraqi leadership
    has been impressive and very different from what it was the last time
    around.
        One reason it is different is that the Iraqis are beginning to
    understand that Al Qaida is the main enemy for Shi'a, Sunni, and Kurds
    alike. Al Qaida is responsible for the most sensational killings in
    Iraq. They're responsible for the sensational killing on U.S. soil, and
    they're responsible for the sensational killings in Iraq. Here at home,
    we see the bloody aftermath of a suicide bombing in an Iraqi market, and
    we wonder what kind of people would do that. That's what we wonder.
    We're good-hearted people. Our commanders tell me that 80 to 90 percent
    of these suicide bombings are the work of foreign fighters--people who
    don't like the advance of an alternative to their ideology--and they
    come in and murder the innocent to achieve their objective.
        And that's their strategy. Al Qaida's strategy is use--is to use
    human beings as bombs to create grisly images for the world to see. They
    understand that sensational images are the best way to overwhelm the
    quiet progress on the ground. They aim to cultivate a sense of despair
    about the future of a free Iraq. They hope to gain by the television
    screen what they cannot gain on the battlefield against U.S. and Iraqi
    forces.
        Our success in Iraq must not be measured by the enemy's ability to
    get a car bombing into the evening news. No matter how good the
    security, terrorists will always be able to explode a bomb on a crowded
    street. In places like Israel, terrorists have taken innocent human life
    for years in similar attacks. The difference is that Israel is a
    functioning democracy that is not prevented from carrying out its
    responsibilities. And that's a good indicator of success that we're
    looking for in Iraq: the rise of a government that can protect its
    people, deliver basic services for all its citizens, and function as a
    democracy even amid violence.
        We're involved in a broader war against these ideological killers.
    Iraq is just a theater in this war. The extremists understand this, that
    if the Middle East knows--if the Middle East know that if the Iraqis
    succeed, it's going to be a terrible blow to their ambitions. That's
    what they see. But they also feel the same way about Afghanistan, where
    the Taliban, one-time allies of Al Qaida, is trying to murder its way
    back into power; or in Lebanon, where extremists are trying to bring
    down that nation's democratic Government; or in the Palestinian
    Territories, where terrorists have set off a suicidal war; or in Iran,
    where the Government pursues nuclear weapons while its President declares that Israel must be wiped off the map.
        The stakes are high in the beginning stages of this global war
    against ideologues that stand for the exact opposite of what America
    stands for. And what makes the more--the war even more significant is
    that what happens overseas matters to the security in the United States
    of America, as we learned on September the 11th, when killers were able
    to use a failed state to plot the deadly attack. And so if we withdraw
    before the Iraqi Government can defend itself, we would yield the future
    of Iraq to terrorists like Al Qaida, and we would give a green light to
    extremists all throughout a troubled region.
        The consequences for America and the Middle East would be
    disastrous. In Iraq, sectarian violence would multiply on a horrific
    scale. Fighting could engulf the entire region in chaos. We would soon
    face a Middle East dominated by Islamic extremists who would pursue
    nuclear weapons, who would use their control of oil for economic
    blackmail, and who would be in a position to launch new attacks on the
    United States of America. September the

    [[Page 823]]

    11th, we saw how a failed state, like I'd just told you, can affect the
    security at home. And so for the sake of our own security, for the sake
    of the security of the United States of America, the United States must
    stand with millions of moms and dads throughout the Middle East who want
    a future of dignity and peace, and we must help them defeat a common
    enemy.
        No one understands that better than the men and women in uniform. It
    is a huge honor to be the Commander in Chief of such a noble group of
    men and women. Our military is not only great; it's good. Good-hearted
    people, all volunteers, who said, ``I want to serve in the face of
    danger.'' It's a remarkable country that can produce such good men and
    women.
        I think of a fellow named Cory Endlich. Cory was an Ohio boy. He
    wanted to join the Army so badly that his dad
    let him start training his senior year of high school. He was deployed
    to Iraq. It tells you something about his character that when his
    mom asked him if he needed anything, he said
    the only things he asked for--she said the only things he asked for were
    coloring books, crayons, and candy for the Iraqi children he had
    befriended. Earlier this month, he was killed. Here's what his dad said:
    ``He felt the war was justified and wanted to be there.'' That's what
    his dad said. ``I am proud of him and the job he is doing.'' And so am
    I. [Applause] Thank you. Thank you all.
        I know you will join me in asking a loving God to hold the families
    of those who have lost a loved one in His loving hand. We resolve to
    honor their sacrifice by finishing the work they have begun. That's the
    task ahead of us. And when we do, we'll see a true legacy of a man like
    Sergeant Endlich: a dawn of a Middle East where leaders are at peace
    with their own people, where children enjoy the opportunities their
    parents only dreamed of, and where America has new allies in the cause
    of freedom.
        Thanks for letting me come today. God bless your work, and God bless
    our country. [Applause]
        Thank you all. Thank you. Be seated. I've enjoyed my stay so much, I
    thought I might answer some questions--[laughter]--if you've got any,
    particularly from the students who might be curious. Yes, sir. You're
    the guy. Are you the mic-man, or are you the questioner? Well, you're
    the questioner. Mic-man, okay. [Laughter] Yes, sir.

    Role of U.S. Navy/War on Terror

        Q. Mr. President, it was my great privilege to be a representative
    of the Royal Navy here at the Naval Command College class of 1994. It's
    a huge privilege, clearly, to be here today as well. We support and
    admire your country's commitment and sacrifice in Iraq, Afghanistan, and
    around the world in the war on terror. But it strikes me that what you
    described today is very much a land-orientated campaign. What, if any,
    impact is that land campaign focus likely to have on your propensity to
    invest in a maritime strategy in the future, please?
        The President. Yes, thanks. Yes. [Laughter] Now, who exactly invited
    you here? No. [Laughter] I think the--thank you, sir. No, never mind;
    just kidding. [Laughter] It is a land-based campaign because that's
    where the enemy is. They hide in caves, and they hide in remote regions,
    and they try to destabilize countries. They try to create chaos. You've
    got to understand, chaos is the friend of these radicals. The more chaos
    there is, the more likely it is they'll be able to find a place to
    roost.
        And I know people--some people in our country just have trouble
    believing that they want to strike us again, but they do. That's what I
    live with every day. That's what Presidents do: They think about the
    threats, and they deal with them. And my attitude has been, let's keep
    the pressure on them. And the Nation is going to have to do that. We're
    going to have to continually press. This means good intelligence,

    [[Page 824]]

    good special ops, working with allies like Great Britain, who have been
    a fantastic country to work with, by the way--and just got to pressure
    them. It's hard to plan and plot when you're on the move. And it takes a
    lot of work. It takes a lot of diplomacy, it takes a lot of military
    action, it takes a lot of good intel, and it's going to take a lot of
    determination by the United States.
        In the meantime, we have--we're going through a transformation of
    our forces. And one of the most transformative branches has been the
    Navy. It's amazing how the Navy has been able to accomplish more with
    less. Perhaps that's what you've been able to--that's less manpower,
    more mission, better use of equipment, the capacity to manage manpower
    better. No question, we're increasing our Army and Marines, which some
    claim is part of the Navy--[laughter]--he doesn't claim it, yes.
    [Laughter] Well, we're not going there. [Laughter]
        But our Navy is modern, and we'll keep it that way. And it's--the
    main thing for militaries as we head into the 21st century is,
    constantly adjust to meet threat. And we've got a lot of money in our
    budget, and I hope that this new Congress keeps it that way for the
    Navy, as well as the rest of the military. It's really important. And
    it's important we continue to transform and become more interoperable.
    And that's really the challenge I presume you're studying this year at
    the university. It's part of the strategic thought for our military, is
    interoperability. And we're becoming much better at it; at least, that's
    what the commanders tell me. And that's important.
        By the way, named a Navy man today, sent his name up to the Senate
    for confirmation as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs: Admiral
    Mullen. And Vice Chairman is going to be a
    marine named Hoss Cartwright.
    They understand the need to continue to wage this war and also to
    transform our military to meet the threats of the 21st century. And
    we're doing it.
        One of the major transformative events we have done is, we have
    begun to reposition our troops in Europe. The cold war is over; it
    ended. And therefore, the troop posture doesn't need to be the way it
    has been for the--throughout the fifties, sixties, and seventies. That's
    transformative. That also frees up money for capital investment as well
    as different places where--let me just say, the capacity to base out of
    home is going to save us a lot of money and save you a lot of wear and
    tear.
        The Volunteer Army only works well if we take care of the wives and
    husbands, the spouses. And one way to do that is to reposition our
    forces to meet the threats of the 21st century. Well, it turns out, in
    many times--it means they have to be based here and be, then, in a
    capacity to move quickly to deal with the threats.
        Anyway, thanks, good question. Great Britain has been a great ally.
    I said goodbye to my friend, Tony Blair,
    yesterday. I said hello to the new Prime Minister, Gordon Brown. And there's no doubt in my mind, we'll continue to
    have a good, close working relationship for the sake of peace, for doing
    the hard work necessary to make this world a peaceful place.
        Surely there's more questions than that. [Laughter]
        Yes, ma'am.

    President's Decisionmaking

        Q. Mr. President, I just returned from a week at the United States
    Army War College in Pennsylvania on national security. I walked away
    with so much more pride in our military. I would follow them anywhere.
    My question is: At the beginning of your speech--that you said that you
    consult with the military. With all due respect, sir, how much do you
    really listen and follow them?
        The President. Yes, a lot. I don't see how you can be the Commander
    in Chief of a well-motivated military without listening carefully to the
    advice of your commanders. I talk to General Petraeus all the time.

    [[Page 825]]

    I say, ``all the time''--weekly; that's all the time--[laughter]--on
    secure video from Baghdad. There's a lot of discussions about troop
    positioning--what will our footprint look like?
        My answer is, it depends on what David Petraeus says. David Petraeus is the commander on the ground, and
    he'll have the full support. And that's the way I do business. It's the
    way it's been throughout the--you know, I told you that, and rightly so,
    that--look, I had a decision to make: more troops to secure Baghdad and
    Anbar, or pull back and hope for the best? I made a decision to put more
    troops in. That was in close consultation with the Pentagon and, in
    particular, with the--you know, the folks who have been charged with the
    operations in Baghdad. And that's what you expect from the Commander in
    Chief.
        We do have a chain of command. It goes from me to Gates to Fox Fallon
    to Petraeus. But a lot of times--and we're all on the SVTS together--the
    secure video together to talk about matters and--so that's the way we do
    it, yes. Thanks for the question.
        Yes, sir.

    U.S. Military Capacity To Engage in Multiple Conflicts

        Q. Thank you very much. Our family was touched by 9/11, and I want
    to thank you very much for the support of the 9/11 families. Peter
    Dutton is my name. I'm from the Naval War College faculty. I wanted to
    ask you about your thoughts concerning strategic culmination. Are we----
        The President. Strategic----
        Q. Strategic culmination. In other words, are we getting to the
    point where we're unable to continue to affect world events in other
    areas other than the Middle East because of our huge commitment there to
    the Middle East?
        The President. No, I appreciate that. Obviously, we're constantly
    balancing--the first mission is, succeed in Iraq; let me just put it to
    you that way. And--yes, I think we are. I think we're capable of dealing
    with more thing--more than one event at a time. Witness the fact that
    we've got a lot of troops in Afghanistan. Fortunately, we've got a lot
    of NATO allies with us in Afghanistan. One of the things that I don't
    think a lot of people have really figured out is how successful we've
    been about putting--about our ability to put coalitions together. There
    are a lot of troops in Iraq other than our own, and there's a lot of
    troops in Afghanistan other than our own.
        The other hotspots, of course, would be the Far East. And we've got
    a significant military presence there. We hope and pray that diplomacy
    works--I think it will--in dealing with the North Korean issue. But we
    got--we're amply suited to deal with a lot of different theaters. But
    we're constantly watching. That's the job of the Joint Chiefs. Their job
    is to constantly monitor threats, positioning of troops, capabilities.
    And they bring them to my attention.
        And I think people recognize that obviously, you know, our military
    is going--undergoing through a lot of hard work and pressure. But
    according to them, they feel pretty good about it. And if they feel good
    about it, so do I.
        Yes, sir.

    U.S. Foreign Policy

        Q. Good morning, Mr. President. My name is Captain Norcross. I'm a
    family physician here, and I wanted to say, thank you for your support
    for the--for our military. I wanted to ask you your thoughts about our
    hospital ships that we've had.
        The President. Yes.
        Q. We had good success with the Mercy over in Indonesia, and also,
    pretty soon, we're going to be having the Comfort now in deployment. I'd
    like to ask your thoughts about using these humanitarian missions as a
    way to fight the global war on terror.
        The President. Yes, thank you very much. Our foreign policy is much
    more than the use of the military. I know the focus is

    [[Page 826]]

    on the military; it's, like, on TV everyday. I understand that. And
    that's normal during a time of combat. But our foreign policy is much
    broader than the use of military. You bring up those--the Navy ships--
    Comfort, for example, is just--saving lives in South America and Central
    America. I remember going to see--Laura and I
    went to Guatemala. And we went to this remote region and ran into some
    military docs and nurses that were just providing essential health care.
    It's really effective diplomacy to help a mom deal with a child's
    sickness. And we do a lot of it. We get no credit for it, but we do a
    lot of it.
        Our HIV/AIDS initiative on the continent of Africa--first of all, I
    believe to whom much is given, much is required. We've been given a lot
    in the United States. It's in our interests; it's in our moral interests
    to help deal with the pandemic on the continent of Africa and
    elsewhere--some in our neighborhood, like Haiti, for example.
        It's in our strategic interest to do so as well, because one of the
    lessons of this conflict we're in is that how people live matters as to
    whether or not the enemy is able to recruit. If you live in a society
    full of despair and hopelessness, it is more likely that you would
    become a suicide bomber or be swayed by an ideology that is really grim.
    Desperation is what these people prey on.
        And therefore, it's up to the United States, with our allies, by the
    way, to deal with desperate situations. I happen to believe that
    encouraging people and helping people to live in a free society is
    essential to our long-term security. I think that it is imperative that
    we have confidence in the ability of liberty to be a transforming agent
    for peace.
        I worry about isolationism in America. I worry about the struggle--
    which is going to take awhile--will cause us to lose our confidence in
    the ability to help others realize the blessings of liberty. I told you
    earlier; I believe in the universality of freedom. It is a principle by
    which I have made decisions. I believe--I personally believe there is an
    Almighty, and I believe a gift of the Almighty to each man, woman, and
    child on the face of the Earth is freedom. That's what I believe.
        And I have read a lot of history, as have you. I share the story
    about my friend Prime Minister Koizumi,
    the former Prime Minister of Japan. I marvel at the fact--or I used to
    marvel at the fact that my dad fought the
    Japanese as a United States Navy fighter pilot, and his son sits down at
    the table to work to keep the peace. It's an amazing--to me it's an
    amazing irony and--I guess is the best way to describe that--that a
    fellow's father fought them, and I'm working to keep peace. We had no
    stronger ally--and we still have a strong ally in Prime Minister
    Abe, by the way, from Japan--but no stronger ally
    in recognizing that democracy is the long-term solution to defeating
    this ideological enemy. And Japan, our former enemy, was making
    sacrifices in Iraq and helping in Afghanistan.
        We've got no stronger ally in working to peacefully solve the North
    Korean nuclear issue than Japan. And it is--something happened between
    when H.W. Bush was flying torpedo bombers
    and W. was in the White House. And what happened was, Japan changed its
    form of government. Liberty has got the capacity to change enemies to
    allies. And the fundamental question facing this country was, will we
    recognize that as we head into the 21st century, do we care what life is
    like around the world? Or are we going to hope for the best?
        I care about what life is like around the world, and so should
    America. And therefore, we ought to worry when people live under the
    thumb of a tyrant. Our foreign policy for years in the Middle East was
    stability. What mattered most was stability; it was: Are things stable?
    That, however, created conditions that enabled a group of killers to
    recruit people to come and kill

    [[Page 827]]

    us. And therefore, I changed our foreign policy in the Middle East to
    promote liberty as the great alternative to tyranny and a dark vision.
        Now, we're going to be kinetic if we need to be to protect
    ourselves. I've told you: We're going to stay on the offense and keep
    the pressure on them. But the long-term solution as to whether or not
    your grandkids can live in a peaceful world is whether or not we
    encourage liberty to take root around the Middle East, in particular.
    And people say, well, they can't possibly--you know, that's not going to
    work.
        Well, I suspect if you look back at history, they made us--they
    might have been somewhat suspect if someone would have predicted an
    American President would be sitting down keeping the peace with the
    Japanese Prime Minister at some point, particularly after World War II.
        I think it's going to be very important for our country to have
    faith in the capacity of liberty to be transformative. Some say that's--
    you know, he's a hopeless idealistic guy. Well, I think it's realistic
    to understand that this is a long-term struggle, and alternative
    ideologies need to be promoted--one particularly based upon hope. That's
    worked every time when given a chance to take root.
        That's not a seersucker suit, is it? [Laughter]
        Q. Mr. President----
        The President. It's coming back, yes. They're coming back.
        Q. I'm--[inaudible]--Campos from Colombia.
        The President. From?
        Q. Colombia, class of 1979.
        The President. Okay. Si. Thank you, sir.

    Free and Fair Trade/Spread of Democracy

        Q. First of all, I want to thank you for the support you are giving
    our country. And you have--we know that your main goal is to win the
    situation in Iraq. I want to ask you, which is your assessment for the
    situation in South America?
        The President. Si, thank you. First, I am a big admirer of mi amigo
    Presidente Uribe. He's strong--that's the
    President of Colombia. [Laughter] He's strong; he's courageous; and he
    believes in democracy. And he was--he started off in a--with a really
    very tough problem, and that is dealing with a very rich group of people
    who are violent, who didn't necessarily agree with democracy. And I
    admire the way he has led his nation.
        A key moment in our relations with Colombia will be coming up pretty
    soon. And that is, we negotiated a free trade agreement with your
    country. Why? Well, one, we did it because it's in our economic
    interests to open up markets for U.S. goods and services, just like it's
    in Colombia's economic interests to open up our markets for goods and
    services.
        I believe in trade. I believe trade is in the interests of our
    workers. I think more markets--listen, we're 5 percent of the people.
    That means 95 percent of the market should be available to our goods and
    services. When you're good at something, you ought to make it easier to
    sell it. We're good farmers; we ought to be selling our crops overseas
    to the extent they're not needed here at home. We're good manufacturers
    of a lot of products; we ought to be selling them.
        I also believe that trade is the best way to lift people out of
    poverty. When there's commerce, when there's activity, when there's
    enterprise, a society has a better chance of enabling its people to
    realize dreams. So I'm a big trader, a freetrader.
        And that's why we worked with the agreement with Colombia. Now the
    Congress is going to have an opportunity to determine whether or not
    they're going to be protectionist in nature and whether or not they'll
    turn--this country will turn its back on our friend or not.

    [[Page 828]]

        I--the freetrader vote has got a lot of strategic implications
    because in the neighborhood, there is a person who is undermining a
    democracy, and, therefore, we need to be concerned about the loss of
    democracies in our neighborhood. Democracies yield peace. They don't war
    against each other. And when we see a democracy being undermined--and I
    think it's going to be in the interests for the United States to work
    with friends in the neighborhood to promote the institutions necessary
    to prevent individuals from undermining a free society. And what does
    that mean? Free media, the right to dissent, the capacity to have open
    elections.
        And so I've got good relations with a lot of the leaders in the
    neighborhood. And we're working very closely with Brazil, for example,
    on a lot of initiatives, starting with the biodiesel initiative. It's an
    interesting initiative, by the way. That has got--that initiative is all
    done because of national security interests and economic security
    interests as well as environmental concerns. And Brazil grows--makes a
    lot of ethanol, and we're beginning to make a lot of ethanol. It's in
    our interests to share technologies, to promote others so we become less
    dependent on oil--I'm skipping around here.
        My only point to you is that good relations with Brazil are
    necessary to work--to make sure our neighborhood remains a peaceful
    place based upon the form of government. There's only one nondemocracy
    in our neighborhood; that's Cuba. And I strongly believe the people of
    Cuba ought to live in a free society. It's in our interests that Cuba
    become free, and it's in the interests of the Cuban people that they
    don't have to live under an antiquated form of government that has just
    been repressive.
        So we'll continue to press for freedom on the island of Cuba. One
    day, the good Lord will take Fidel Castro
    away and then the question--[laughter]--no, no, no--then the question
    is, what will be the approach of the U.S. Government? My attitude is, is
    that we need to use the opportunity to call the world together to
    promote democracy as the alternative to the form of government they have
    been living with.
        You'll see an interesting debate. Some will say, all that matters is
    stability, which, in my judgment, will just simply reinforce the
    followers of the current regime. I think we ought to be pressing hard
    for democracy.
        I went overseas recently to the Czech Republic and gave a speech on
    democracy. I saw Vaclav Havel. You might
    remember him; he was the leader of the Velvet Revolution that helped
    lead Eastern Europe to a new form of government and--new forms of
    government. And he's very much interested in the United States attitude
    toward Cuba because he believes we need to be promoting freedom before
    stability.
        It's going to be an interesting challenge for our country. We're
    working, by the way--back to your question: Can we do more than one
    thing at one time? We're working very closely with the Navy and Coast
    Guard to make sure that there is not any issues when it comes between
    the United States and Cuba, should there be a--or when there is a
    transition.
        Anyway, thanks for the question. I think I am somewhat concerned by
    the fact that--you know, a lot of our rhetoric is geared toward the
    Middle East and Africa and that people in the neighborhood say, ``Well,
    the United States is not paying attention, nor do they care about us.''
    That's just simply not the case. In my recent trip down there, I did go
    to Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, and Central America and emphasized our
    humanitarian programs, the health programs, the education programs. I
    wanted to make it clear to the people of South and Central America that
    the United States keeps--cares deeply about the human condition and that
    we believe that on the one hand, our Government aid ought to make sure
    that we battle corruption--we just don't give money to corrupt
    societies, that we ought to say, that in return for our aid: Change your
    habits if

    [[Page 829]]

    you're corrupt; otherwise, you're not going to get additional money.
        And at the same time, we believe we ought to foster programs aimed
    at the individual. And it's--and we are. We're spending a lot of money
    in South America. Now, we're not doing a very good job with the
    propaganda battle around the world. We created it, and we're losing. And
    that's one thing we've got to spend a lot of time on, is to make sure
    that the image of the United States corresponds to the realities on the
    ground.
        Yesterday I went to a mosque--or Islamic Center in Washington, DC.
    It's the 50th anniversary of the Islamic Center. It was a place where
    Dwight Eisenhower went to dedicate, and I went to rededicate it. And my
    message was, one, freedom is a beautiful thing, and that we expect
    societies to work toward freedom, and we want to do that. And at the
    same time, we honor all religion. That's what we do in America. And it
    is really meant to counter this notion that somehow America is in war
    against Islam. We're not. We're at war against killers who subvert a
    great religion in order to achieve their political objectives. And we'll
    keep working as hard as we can.
        Anyway, great question. Look, I've got to go. I thank you all for
    coming by. God bless.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:22 a.m. at Connelly Hall. In his
    remarks, he referred to Gov. Donald L. Carcieri of Rhode Island; Rear
    Adm. Jacob L. Shuford, president, Naval War College; Gov. M. Jodi Rell
    of Connecticut; Gov. Mark C. Sanford, Jr., of South Carolina; Gov. Matt
    Blunt of Missouri; Lt. Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, USA, commander, Multi-
    National Corps--Iraq; Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, Minister of Defense
    Abd al-Qadir al-Mufriji, and Minister of the Interior Jawad al-Bulani of
    Iraq; President Mahmud Ahmadi-nejad of Iran; Secretary of Defense Robert
    M. Gates; Adm. William J. ``Fox'' Fallon, USN, commander, U.S. Central
    Command; President Fidel Castro Ruz of Cuba; and former President Vaclav
    Havel of the Czech Republic.