    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2007, Book I)]
    [January 11, 2007]
    [Pages 23-29]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks to Military Personnel and Their Families at Fort Benning,
    Georgia
    January 11, 2007

        Thank you all. Please be seated. You call him
    ``General;'' I call him ``Wojo.''
    [Laughter] Thank you for the introduction. I'm proud to be with you. I'm
    proud to be at Fort Benning, Georgia, home of the Infantry. I'm proud to
    be with those who have volunteered to serve our country, brave men and
    women who understand that the awesome responsibility of Government is to
    provide security to the American people. I applaud you for your efforts.
    I'm proud to be your Commander in Chief. And I'm honored to have lunch
    with you.
        I'm only sorry that my wife hasn't joined me.
    She's the better half of our deal. [Laughter] But she sends her love and
    her respect.
        Speaking about families, I have the greatest of respect for not only
    those of you who wear the uniform but your families as well. I fully
    understand, in times of danger the military families make a significant
    sacrifice. And so on behalf of a grateful nation, I say thanks to the
    families of the soldiers here at Fort Benning, Georgia.
        Wojo, I'm glad your wife
    Candy joined us. We both married well. I
    appreciate traveling here today with the United States Congressman who
    represents this area, Congressman Sanford Bishop. Thank you for coming, Congressman. And I'm pleased that
    Congressman Lynn Westmoreland--he is
    from the district right north of here--has joined us today. Lynn, thank
    you for being here.
        I appreciate the mayor of Columbus, Georgia, Mayor
    Wetherington. Mr. Mayor,
    thank you for being here. Thanks for coming. Mayor Hardin, of Phenix City, Alabama, has joined us. Mr. Mayor,
    appreciate you coming. I know you didn't ask--neither of the mayors
    asked--but sometimes I like to remind them, just go ahead and fill the
    potholes. [Laughter] I'm not suggesting there are any; it's just my
    advice.
        I appreciate all the officials, local officials who are here. I
    can't thank the commanders of the base who have arranged this visit--I
    do want to thank Keith Lovejoy, Colonel
    Keith Lovejoy, garrison commander of Fort Benning, and his wife
    Carol; Sergeant Major Doug Greenway, his wife JoAnn. You've got
    a little bit of a following here. [Laughter]
        I appreciate all the civilian personnel that have joined us to help
    make this base run. You know, our bases cannot run without the important
    contributions of civilians, and I appreciate your effort in helping this
    fine base survive. This is a really important place. This is a place
    that has a long tradition of turning civilians into highly skilled
    soldiers. And I can't thank you enough for the contribution you're
    making to the security of this country.
        There's a lot of history here at Fort Benning, Georgia. A lot of
    folks have left this base to defend freedom and pass the peace. And I
    appreciate the fact--and I know you do as well--that you're part of a
    long tradition of people who have made incredibly important sacrifices
    so that hundreds of millions of people would enjoy the blessings of
    liberty and freedom and the world will be more peaceful. And that's what
    we're here to celebrate today.
        On September the 11th, our Nation saw firsthand the destructive
    vision of a new

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    kind of enemy, and once again the men and women of Fort Benning answered
    the call to protect our country from that enemy. You know, I knew that
    right after the attacks, the American psyche being what it is, people
    would tend to forget the grave threat posed by these people. I knew
    that. As a matter of fact, I was hoping that would happen so that life
    would go on. But the fortunate thing for this country is that those who
    wear the uniform have never forgotten the threat. You understand the
    stakes.
        You know, the Rangers from the 3d Battalion of the 75th Regiment led
    the way when it came to upholding doctrine that said, ``If you harbor a
    terrorist, you're equally as guilty as the terrorists,'' and helped
    liberate Afghanistan. The first fight of this new war was in that
    faraway place. Soldiers from Fort Benning led the way.
        The 3d Brigade Combat Team of the 3d Infantry Division took up the
    sledgehammer to help liberate Baghdad. One soldier from Fort Benning,
    Sergeant First Class Paul R. Smith of the 3d Infantry Division, went
    into Iraq. He was there when they surprised about 100 of Saddam
    Hussein's Republican Guard. They were attacked, and Sergeant Smith
    manned a 50-caliber machine gun atop a damaged armored vehicle to
    protect his men. He continued to fire from an exposed position. He took
    a fatal round. He saved more than 100 lives of American soldiers. He
    received the Medal of Honor.
        This is the kind of remarkable courage found throughout the men and
    women on this base. Troops from Fort Benning are now serving in Iraq
    right now, helping to protect the troops and the Iraqi citizens,
    training Iraqi security forces.
        You're doing something else remarkable. You're rebuilding schools
    and helping improve lives. Everywhere that warriors from this base
    serve, you leave your mark, and I believe it will be a legacy of hope
    and freedom and peace.
        Last night I talked about a new strategy for Iraq, and I want to
    share some thoughts with you about that. You know, in 2005, I was able
    to report to the country that nearly 12 million Iraqis had cast their
    ballots in a remarkable election. I hope you still remember the moments
    when people were proudly able to wave their fingers saying, ``We have
    shed ourselves from a tyrant,'' and, ``We're able to express our
    individual wills about the future of our country.'' I believe that 2005
    would have been a--we would have completed a lot of the mission and that
    would had been training the Iraqis so they would be in the lead, that
    they would be in a position to uphold the wishes of the 12 million
    people that voted.
        In spite of the remarkable progress, 2006 turned out differently
    than I had anticipated. And it did because there's an enemy there that
    recognizes that the advance of freedom is in contrast to their hopes and
    their dreams. They can't stand the thought of a free society. Al Qaida
    and foreigners and radicals took action trying to spur sectarian
    violence. They bombed holy--important holy site. They killed innocent
    people, and they were effective at spawning sectarian violence.
        The situation in Iraq is difficult, no question about it. It's a
    difficult time in Iraq because the sectarian violence needs to be
    challenged and stopped in order for this young society to advance. Yet,
    it's important for our fellow citizens to understand that failure in
    Iraq would be a disaster for our future, and here's why: One of the
    wisest comments I've heard about this battle in Iraq was made by General
    John Abizaid, smart guy, a great soldier. He
    told me, he said, ``Mr. President, if we were to fail in Iraq, the enemy
    would follow us here to America.''
        It's a different kind of war in which failure in one part of the
    world could lead to disaster here at home. It's important for our
    citizens to understand that as tempting

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    as it might be--to understand the consequences of leaving before the job
    is done. Radical Islamic extremists would grow in strength. They would
    be emboldened. It would make it easier to recruit for their cause. They
    would be in a position to do that which they have said they want to do,
    which is to topple moderate governments, to spread their radical vision
    across an important region of the world.
        Imagine what would happen if these extremists who hate America and
    our way of life gained control of energy reserves. You can bet they
    would use those reserves to blackmail economies in order to achieve
    their objective. If we were to leave before the job is done, if we were
    to fail in Iraq, Iran would be emboldened in its pursuit of nuclear
    weapons. Our enemies would have safe havens from which to launch
    attacks. People would look back at this moment in history and say,
    ``What happened to them in America? How come they couldn't see the
    threats to a future generation?'' That is why we must and we will
    succeed in Iraq.
        The most urgent priority for success in Iraq is security, especially
    in Baghdad. Only the Iraqis can end sectarian violence. That's their
    job. The Iraqis must secure their people. The Government recognizes
    they've got to do so, and they've put forth a plan. I received their
    plan, their version of the plan when I was in Jordan. The Prime
    Minister came and said, ``Look, I understand
    we've got to do something about this violence, and here is what I
    suggest we do.'' Our commanders looked at it, helped fine-tune it so it
    would work.
        The plan basically calls for the Government to appoint a military
    commander for Baghdad, which they have done. And they've got the city
    divided into 9 divisions in which there will be 18 Iraqi Army and
    National Police brigades operating out of local police stations to set
    up checkpoints, to knock on doors and take a census, to let them know
    that there is an Army presence in the neighborhood to protect them.
        The commanders on the ground there in Iraq, people who I listen to--
    by the way, that's what you want your Commander in Chief to do. You
    don't want decisions being made based upon politics or focus groups or
    political polls. You want your military decisions being made by military
    experts. And they analyzed the plan, and they said to me and to the
    Iraqi Government, ``This won't work unless we help them. There needs to
    be a bigger presence.''
        And there needs to be a bigger presence because, in the past, we
    would go in with Iraqis and clear a neighborhood of extremists and
    terrorists, and then there wouldn't be enough troops to hold the
    neighborhood. So our kids would do a lot of hard work, and insurgents
    and terrorists and killers would generally not want to engage our
    troops, probably a pretty smart decision on their part. But when they
    did, they would find justice, and then we'd go on to another assignment,
    and they'd come back in the neighborhood. And it's frustrating to our
    troops; it's equally frustrating to the Iraqi citizens who want to live
    in peace. That's what they want; they want to be able to have a peaceful
    life.
        And so our commanders looked at the plan and said, ``Mr. President,
    it's not going to work until--unless--we support, provide more troops.''
    And so last night I told the country that I've committed an additional--
    a little over 20,000 more troops, 5 brigades of which will be in
    Baghdad. They're going to work alongside the Iraqi units. They will be
    embedded in Iraqi units. They will help the Iraqis take the lead in
    securing the neighborhoods.
        They're going to have a well-defined mission. You hear people say,
    ``There must be a clear military mission.'' That's what the military
    people have said to me. The mission is to help Iraqis clear and secure
    neighborhoods, to help Iraqis protect the local population, and to
    ensure that the Iraqi forces that are left behind will be capable of
    providing the security necessary

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    in the capital city of Iraq. That's the mission.
        I asked General Casey, ``Can we
    accomplish that mission?'' He said, ``You bet we can accomplish that
    mission.'' It's got enough troops to accomplish the mission. But one
    other thing must happen, that our troops and Iraqi troops must have
    proper rules of engagement. In other words, there can't be politics
    interfering with the action of our troops. The American people say,
    ``You tried it before,'' and we did. And they say, ``What went wrong?
    What's different?''
        Well, what's new about this plan is there will be enough troops to
    clear, build, and hold and that our troops will be able to move
    alongside the Iraqis without political interference, and that's very
    important. It's important for our troops to hear, and it's important for
    the American people to know: this is new. This is something different
    that enables the military folks to predict that we will succeed in
    helping quell sectarian violence in Baghdad.
        The other thing that's going to have to happen is that the
    Government of Iraq must exhibit the will necessary to succeed. It's one
    thing to develop a plan, it's another thing to see it through. The Prime
    Minister and I have had some plain talking.
    I have made it clear that the patience of the American people is not
    unlimited, and now is the time to act. It's time to act not only for our
    sake, it's time to act for the sake of people in Iraq. Shi'a and Sunni
    mothers want their children to grow up in peace.
        The Prime Minister has pledged that
    political or sectarian interference will not be tolerated. He has said
    this publicly. The new strategy is not going to yield immediate results.
    It's going to take awhile. The American people have got to understand
    that suicide bombings won't stop immediately. The IED attacks won't stop
    immediately.
        Yet, over time, we can expect to see positive results, and that
    would be the Iraqis chasing down the murderers, that there will be fewer
    brazen acts of terror inside of Baghdad, that there will be growing
    trust between the different neighborhoods. In other words, you'll begin
    to see a society that is somewhat more peaceful. Daily life will
    improve. The Iraqis will gain confidence in their leaders, and the
    Government will have the breathing space necessary to be able to do
    other things: to do the politics necessary, to reconcile, to pass an oil
    law, to allow there to be provincial elections, to make sure that de-
    Ba'athification rules are altered, to say to people, ``This society is a
    unified society''-- in other words, to listen to the will of the 12
    million people that voted.
        We--it's interesting, you know, I mentioned that the Prime
    Minister and the Government have got to step
    up and lead. I was heartened by the resolve that I've seen in the last
    couple of days, the resolve of the Government and the resolve of the
    Iraqi troops. They fought bravely beside U.S. forces in Baghdad to rout
    out insurgents and terrorists along Haifa Street. I don't know if you
    followed that battle, but it was a tough battle, with the Iraqis in the
    lead and our folks helping them.
        Yesterday the resolve was seen when Prime Minister Maliki made it clear that illegal militias, including the
    Mahdi army, have a choice to make: Either lay down your arms, or face
    justice. That's the kind of leadership that the Iraqi people expect, and
    that's the kind of leadership I expect and the American people expect.
    Our support is not open-ended. If the Iraqis demonstrate a willingness
    to fight for a better future, we'll help them. It's in our interests
    that we do so. Not only do we expect to see action militarily, as I
    mentioned; we expect to see them fulfill the benchmarks that they laid
    out for their people.
        We're going to help them. I was telling the general, we'll double the number of Provincial Reconstruction
    Teams; our commanders and civilians will have greater flexibility to
    spend money on the ground. For those of you who have been there, it's
    called CERP money. You know, it's an

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    effective tool to help part of the ``build'' part of clear, build, and
    hold. But their Government has got to come in behind us.
        I was pleased to see that the Iraqi Government pledged $10 billion
    of their own money to help this Government show the people that beyond
    just security there needs to be an improvement in life, that people have
    got to have--see a better life in order for this Government to work.
        Last night I also talked about Anbar Province. It's important for
    the American people to understand, Al Qaida still is in Iraq. As a
    matter of fact, they made it clear, their ambitions in Iraq. These are
    the same folks that came and killed about 3,000 of our citizens. Their
    goal in Iraq is to topple the Government, topple democracy.
        See, their vision of life, their ideology can't stand the thought of
    free societies in their midst. They're totalitarians. You do it this way
    or else, is their attitude about government. They don't believe in
    freedoms, like freedom to worship. I frankly--well, speaking about
    religion, these are murderers. They use murder as a tool to achieve
    their objective. Religious people don't murder. They may claim they're
    religious, but when you kill an innocent woman or a child to create a
    political end, that's not my view of religion. And yet there are a lot
    of peaceful, religious people in the Middle East.
        These people need to be stopped. They can't stand the thought of the
    Iraqis being able to worship freely. They want safe haven, and they've
    chosen Anbar as their place to achieve safe haven.
        We've got a lot of really fine troops fighting Al Qaida, and we're
    making progress. There's a lot of pressure on them in Anbar.
    Interestingly enough, a lot of sheiks have decided to join in the fight
    against Al Qaida. They're tired of foreigners and killers in their
    midst; that's what the commanders have told me. And they believe we have
    a good opportunity to really crush this group of folks. And that's why
    I've committed 4,000 additional troops into Anbar, as well as the troops
    into Baghdad.
        The purpose really is to crush these insurrections now, so that
    the--democracy in Iraq can develop, has a chance to make it. That's why
    I made the decision I made. I understand the consequences of failure;
    they're not acceptable. And so I thought long and hard how best to
    succeed. That's what I'm interested in, is success. The American people
    are interested in success. And I laid out a plan that is our best chance
    for success.
        It's also important for our citizens to understand that Iraq must be
    viewed in the larger context of the Middle East. It's important for Iran
    and Syria to understand that we will disrupt their attacks on our
    forces, that we will interrupt the flow of support from Iran and Syria.
    We'll seek out and destroy the networks providing advanced weaponry and
    training to our enemies in Iraq.
        Iran's desire to have a nuclear weapon has caught the attention of
    the world. It is a very dangerous--that would be a dangerous situation
    if the Iranians were able to achieve a nuclear weapon. We will continue
    to pressure Iran, and call upon the world to do so, to end its nuclear
    weapons ambitions.
        I made a statement last night that I had ordered the deployment of
    an additional carrier strike group to the region. I also talked about
    Patriot missile systems in the region, to help others deal with the
    external threats. We will use our full diplomatic resources throughout
    the Middle East.
        It's very important for people to understand--put this situation in
    Iraq in a larger context, and that is the ideological war that we're
    seeing. I talked to you about the consequences of failure. The best way
    to defeat the totalitarian of hate is with an ideology of hope--an
    ideology of hate; excuse me--with an ideology of hope. It matters
    whether or not people are resentful in the Middle East. It matters if
    people are hateful and look to strike out at a convenient target

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    in the Middle East. Our security depends on there to be a alternative to
    the ideology of hate. Because if there's resentment and hate, it's
    easier to recruit 19 kids to get on an airplane and kill 3,000 people.
        And therefore, in the long run, your children and grandchildren are
    more likely to live in peace with the advent of liberty. And I'm
    confident that there are millions of people who are desirous to live in
    a free society, regardless of their religion, because I believe in the
    universality of freedom. I believe there's an Almighty, and I believe a
    gift of the Almighty to every soul is the desire to be free. That's what
    I believe, and so it did not surprise me when people defied car bombers
    and killers to vote, to send a signal: ``I want to be free.''
        And the task, immediate task of America, and the long-range goal of
    this country must be to help those who desire to live in free societies
    to do so, for the sake of peace for our own children. And that's the
    call. And it's going to require sacrifice, and I appreciate the
    sacrifices our troops are willing to make. Some units are going to have
    to deploy earlier than scheduled as a result of the decision I made.
    Some will remain deployed longer than originally anticipated. I will
    work with you and the Congress to provide all the resources you need in
    this war on terror, and that means good equipment and training, good
    housing. I understand full well, if your family is happy, you're happy.
    The same thing in my house, by the way. [Laughter]
        I believe it's important to increase the end strength of the United
    States Army so it can remain engaged--[applause]. If this is a long
    struggle, now is the time to prepare this country and our military for
    this long struggle. It's important for our citizens to understand that
    the terrorists and extremists are as brutal an enemy as this country has
    ever faced. There are no rules of warfare. They don't--they will kill
    you in a minute in order to achieve an objective. And I know we're going
    to face difficulties as we take on this important duty and task, and so
    do you.
        You know firsthand that--what it means to lose a comrade. My view is
    that it is important for us to succeed so that comrade would not have
    died in vain. It's important to leave behind a better world, as the
    sacrifices that all have made.
        There is no doubt in my mind; we will prevail. It will require
    patience and determination. It will require our military to do what you
    have done every time this Government has asked of you. It will require
    the full resolve of not only this Government but future Governments that
    will be following this one. Every time this country has been tested,
    we've responded. As I said last night, we have defied the pessimists,
    and we will do so again in this first battle of the 21st century.
        God bless.

    Note: The President spoke at 1:10 p.m. in Freedom Hall. In his remarks,
    he referred to Maj. Gen. Walter Wojdakowski, USA, commanding general,
    Fort Benning, GA, who introduced the President; Mayor William J.
    Wetherington of Columbus, GA; Mayor Jeff Hardin of Phenix City, AL;
    Command Sgt. Maj. Douglas Greenway, USA, U.S. Army Infantry Center; Gen.
    John P. Abizaid, USA, commander, U.S. Central Command; Prime Minister
    Nuri al-Maliki of Iraq; and Gen. George W. Casey, Jr., USA, commanding
    general, Multi-National Force--Iraq.

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