    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2008, Book II)]
    [December 9, 2008]
    [Pages 1433-1438]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    Remarks at the United States Military Academy at West Point in West
    Point, New York
    December 9, 2008

        Thank you. Please be seated. Thank you, General, for your warm welcome. Thank you for inviting me here to
    West Point. I now know why you're so happy I'm here--[laughter]--all
    classes were canceled.
        I had the honor of sitting next to the General and Judy during the game over
    the weekend. I am disappointed I could not bring the Commander in
    Chief's Trophy with me. However, you just get the Commander in Chief.
        This is my last visit to a military academy as President, so I
    thought I would exercise a certain prerogative of office one last time:
    I hereby absolve all cadets who are on restriction for minor conduct
    offenses. As always, I always--I leave it to General
    Hagenbeck to determine what ``minor''
    means. [Laughter]
        I really am proud to be with you today. I appreciate General Mike
    Linnington and his wife
    Brenda for meeting me. It turns out
    Brenda was a--is a 1981 West Point graduate.
        I appreciate being here with General Pat Finnegan and Joan. Today on Air
    Force One, Congressman John Shimkus, 1980
    West Point graduate, and Congressman Geoff Davis, 1981 West Point graduate, flew down with me. It's my honor
    to let them fly on the big bird. [Laughter]
        There are many honors that come with the Presidency, but none higher
    than serving as Commander in Chief in the greatest Armed Forces on
    Earth. Every one of you is a volunteer. You came to this academy in a
    time of war, knowing all the risks that come with military service. I
    want to thank you for making the noble and selfless decision to serve
    our country. And I will always be grateful to the men and women who wear
    the uniform of the United States military.
        As West Point cadets, you're part of a generation that has witnessed
    extraordinary change in the world. Two decades ago, the cold war was
    nearing its end, and the Soviet Union was about to collapse. You were

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    just beginning your lives. About the same time, another threat was
    quietly gathering. In hidden corners of the world, violent religious
    extremists were plotting ways to advance their radical aims and their
    grim ideology. We saw the results in a series of horrifying blows: the
    truck bombing of the World Trade Center, the attack of Khobar Towers,
    the bombing of our Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, and the strike on
    the USS Cole.
        For many years, America treated these attacks as isolated incidents
    and responded with limited measures. And then came September the 11th,
    2001. In the space of a single morning, we realized that we were facing
    a worldwide movement of fanatics pledged to our destruction. We saw that
    conditions of repression and despair on the other side of the world
    could bring suffering and death to our own streets.
        As a result, America reshaped our approach to national security.
    Here at home, we hardened our defenses and created the Department of
    Homeland Security. We gave our national security professionals vital new
    tools, like the PATRIOT Act and the ability to monitor terrorist
    communications. We reorganized our intelligence community to better meet
    the needs of war against these terrorists, including increasing the
    number of intelligence officers. We deployed aggressive financial
    measures to freeze their assets and to cut off their money. We launched
    diplomatic initiatives to pressure our adversaries and attract new
    partners to our cause.
        We also made dramatic changes to both our military strategy and
    our--the military itself. We resolved that we would not wait to be
    attacked again, and so we went on the offense against the terrorists
    overseas so we never had to face them here at home. We recognized that
    we needed strong partners at our side, so we helped strengthen the
    counterterrorism capabilities of our allies. We understood, as I said
    here at West Point in 2002, ``If we wait for threats to fully
    materialize, we will have waited too long.'' So we made clear that
    hostile regimes sponsoring terror or pursuing weapons of mass
    destruction would be held to account.
        We concluded that we are engaged in an ideological struggle, so we
    launched an effort to discredit the hateful vision of the extremists and
    advance the hopeful alternative of freedom. We saw the urgency of
    staying a step ahead of our enemies, so we transformed our military both
    to prevail on the battlefields of today and to meet the threats of
    tomorrow.
        These changes will have a direct impact on your military careers.
    This morning I'm going to give you a report on where we stand in each of
    these areas and the challenges that lie ahead.
        First, within weeks of September the 11th, our Armed Forces began
    taking the fight to the terrorists around the world, and we have not
    stopped. From the Horn of Africa to the islands of Southeast Asia to
    wherever these thugs hide, we and our allies applied the full range of
    military and intelligence assets to keep unrelenting pressure on Al
    Qaida and its affiliates. We have severely weakened the terrorists.
    We've disrupted plots to attack our homeland. We have captured or killed
    hundreds of Al Qaida leaders and operatives in more than two dozen
    countries, including the man who mastermind the 9/11 attacks, Khalid
    Sheikh Mohammed.
        The terrorists continue to pose serious challenges, as the world saw
    in the terrible attack in Mumbai last month. Al Qaida's top two leaders
    remain at large. Yet they are facing pressure so intense that the only
    way they can stay alive is to stay underground. The day will come, the
    day will come when they receive the justice they deserve.
        Second, we've helped key partners and allies strengthen their
    capabilities in the fight against the terrorists. We've increased
    intelligence sharing with friends and allies around the world. We've
    provided training and support to counterterrorism partners

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    like the Philippines and Indonesia and Jordan and Saudi Arabia. These
    partners have made enormous contributions in the war on terror. For
    example, Indonesia has crippled the terrorist group JI. Saudi Arabia has
    killed or captured hundreds of Al Qaida terrorists. And in Europe,
    security services have broken up terrorist cells in Germany and Denmark,
    in Turkey and the United Kingdom.
        One of the most important challenges we will face, and you will
    face, in the years ahead is helping our partners assert control over
    ungoverned spaces. This problem is most pronounced in Pakistan, where
    areas along the Afghanistan border are home to Taliban and to Al Qaida
    fighters. The Pakistani Government and people understand the threat,
    because they have been victims of terror themselves. They're working to
    enforce the law and fight terror in the border areas. And our Government
    is providing strong support for these efforts. And at the same time, we
    have made it clear to Pakistan, and to all our partners, that we will do
    what is necessary to protect American troops and the American people.
        Third, we have made clear that governments that sponsor terror are
    as guilty as the terrorists and will be held to account. After 9/11, we
    applied the doctrine to Afghanistan. We removed the Taliban from power.
    We shut down training camps where Al Qaida planned the attacks on our
    country. We liberated more than 25 million Afghans. Now America and our
    25 NATO allies and 17 partner nations are standing with the Afghan
    people as they defend their free society. The enemy is determined, the
    terrain is harsh, and the battle is difficult, but our coalition will
    stay in this fight. We will not let the Taliban or Al Qaida return to
    power. And Afghanistan will never again be a safe haven for terrorists.
        We also took a hard look at the danger posed by Iraq, a country that
    combined support for terror, the development and the use of weapons of
    mass destruction, violence against its own people, aggression against
    its neighbors, hostility to the United States, and systemic violation of
    United Nations resolutions. After seeing the destruction of September
    the 11th, we concluded that America could not afford to allow a regime
    with such a threatening and violent record to remain in the heart of the
    Middle East. So we offered Saddam Hussein a final chance to peacefully
    resolve the issue. And when he refused, we acted with a coalition of
    nations to protect our people and liberated 25 million Iraqis.
        The battle in Iraq has been longer and more difficult than expected.
    Foreign terrorists, former regime elements, and Iraqi insurgents--often
    with outside support--combined to drive up violence and bring the
    country to the verge of chaos. So we adopted a new strategy, and rather
    than retreating, sent more troops into Baghdad in Iraq. And when the
    surge met its objective, we began to bring our troops home under a
    policy of return on success. Last week, Iraq approved two agreements
    that formalize diplomatic and economic and security ties with America
    and set a framework for the drawdown of American forces as the fight in
    Iraq nears a successful end.
        Fourth, America recognized the only way to defeat the terrorists in
    the long run is to present an alternative to their hateful ideology. So
    when we overthrew the dictators in Afghanistan and Iraq, we refused to
    take the easy option and instill friendly strongmen in their place.
    Instead, we're doing the tough work of helping democratic societies
    emerge as examples for people all across the Middle East. We're pressing
    nations around the world, including our friends, to trust their people
    with greater freedom of speech and worship and assembly. We're advancing
    a broader vision of reform that includes economic prosperity and quality
    health care and education and vibrant civil societies and women's
    rights.
        The results of these efforts are unfolding slowly and unevenly, but
    there are encouraging signs. From Iraq and Afghanistan to

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    Lebanon and Pakistan, voters defied the terrorists to cast their ballots
    in free elections. In places like Iraq's Anbar Province, people have
    seen what life under the Taliban looks like, and they decided they want
    no part it--actually, it was life under Al Qaida looks like.
        You know, mothers don't want to raise their child in a neighborhood
    where thugs run and where thugs brutalize people. People want to live in
    peace. People want to live in freedom. Muslims from Jordan and Turkey to
    India and Indonesia have seen their brothers and sisters massacred and
    recoil from the terrorists. And even within the jihadist ranks,
    religious scholars have begun to criticize Al Qaida and its brutal
    tactics. In these ideological rejections, we see the beginning of Al
    Qaida's ultimate demise, because in the long run, the ideology of hatred
    and fear cannot possibly compete with the power of hope and freedom.
        Finally, we are transforming our military for a new kind of war that
    we're fighting now and for wars of tomorrow. This transformation was a
    top priority for the enterprising leader who served as my first
    Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld.
    Today, because of his leadership and the leadership of Secretary Bob
    Gates, we have made our military better
    trained, better equipped, and better prepared to meet the threats facing
    America today and tomorrow and long in the future.
        As part of our transformation effort, we are arming our troops with
    intelligence and weapons and training and support they need to face an
    enemy that wages asymmetric battle. See, this enemy hides among the
    civilian population, and they use terror tactics like roadside bombs to
    attack our forces, to demoralize local population, and to try to shake
    the will of the American people.
        To defeat this enemy, we have equipped our troops with real-time
    battlefield intelligence capabilities that would have been unimaginable
    just a few years ago. In Iraq and Afghanistan, troops in the field have
    used advanced technologies like global positioning systems to direct air
    strikes that take out the enemy while sparing innocent life. We've
    expanded America's arsenal of unmanned aerial vehicles from fewer than
    170 when I took office to more than 6,000 today. We're arming Predator
    drones. We're using them to stay on the hunt against the terrorists who
    would do us harm.
        We've expanded America's special operations forces. With more
    forces--more of these forces on the battlefield, we can respond more
    quickly to actionable intelligence on the terrorists who are in hiding.
    Over the past 8 years, we have more than doubled funding for special
    operators. We created the first-ever special operations command within
    the Marines. We have given Special Operations Command the lead role in
    the global war against the terrorists.
        In addition to these upgrades in our counterterrorism capabilities,
    we have placed a new focus on counterinsurgency. The Army has published
    a new counterinsurgency manual written by a distinguished graduate of
    this academy, General David Petraeus. The
    central objectives of this counterinsurgency strategy are to secure the
    population and gain support of the people and train local forces to take
    the responsibility on their own.
        One of the reasons we're meeting these objectives in Iraq is the
    ability to rapidly deploy brigade combat teams. These teams can join the
    battle on short notice as organized and cohesive units. With these teams
    in the fight, our Army is better able to carry out its counterinsurgency
    objectives and better equipped to defeat the enemies we'll face as the
    21st century unfolds.
        Our counterinsurgency strategy also stresses the importance of
    following up security gains with real benefits in people's daily lives.
    To better meet that objective, we created Provincial Reconstruction
    Teams or PRTs. These teams pair with

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    military personnel civilian experts in areas like economics and
    agriculture and law enforcement and education. In both Iraq and
    Afghanistan, these teams are helping local communities create jobs and
    deliver basic services and keep the terrorists from coming back. PRTs
    bring diplomats, aid workers, and other experts from across the
    government into the fight, and we must expand them in the years to come.
        To better institutionalize all the changes we've made in recent
    years, we have transformed the education and training our troops
    receive. We're taking the lessons we've learned in Afghanistan and Iraq
    and teaching them at military academies and training centers across our
    country. For example, every branch of the military now receives the
    counterinsurgency training that was once reserved for special operations
    forces. Here at West Point, you've created a new Combating Terrorism
    Center that allows you to gain insights from the battles of today and
    apply them as you lead our military into the future.
        In addition to making these changes to help our troops prevail in
    the war on terror, we've been transforming our military since early 2001
    to confront other challenges that may emerge in the decades ahead. For
    example, we have begun the most sweeping transformation of America's
    global force posture since the end of World War II. We're shifting
    troops from cold war garrisons in Europe and Asia so they can surge more
    rapidly to troubled spots around the world. We've established new
    military commands to meet challenges unique to Africa and to support our
    homeland.
        We've invested more than a half a trillion dollars in research and
    development, so we can build even more advanced capabilities to protect
    America from the dangers of a new century. We're making our forces more
    joint and interoperable, so they can cooperate seamlessly across
    different services and with foreign partners. And to confront an
    emerging threat to our economy, our defense systems, and individual
    citizens, the Federal Government is cooperating closely with the private
    sector to improve security in cyberspace.
        One of the most serious dangers facing our people is the threat of a
    rogue regime armed with ballistic missiles. In 2001, I announced
    withdrawal from the ABM Treaty. I did so because it constrained our
    ability to develop the technologies needed to defend ourselves against
    the threat of blackmail by rogue states. With these constraints removed,
    we have developed and deployed new defenses capable of protecting
    American cities from ballistic missile attack.
        This system can now defend America against limited missile attacks
    from Northeast Asia. Concluded agreements with Poland and the Czech
    Republic to establish missile defense sites on their territories to help
    protect against ballistic missile attacks from the Middle East. Because
    we acted, America now has an initial capability to protect our people
    from a ballistic missile attack.
        As we built new defenses against a missile attack, we also worked
    with Russia to make historic reductions in offensive nuclear weapons.
    When these reductions are complete, the total U.S. nuclear stockpile
    will be at its lowest level since the Eisenhower administration. These
    reductions are part of a new approach to strategic deterrence that
    relies on both nuclear and conventional strike forces, as well as strong
    defenses. We're investing in new technologies that will ensure the long-
    term safety and security and reliability and effectiveness of our
    nuclear deterrent. This approach sends a clear message to the world:
    We'll reduce our reliance on nuclear weapons while keeping America's
    strategic deterrent unchallenged.
        With all the actions we've taken these past 8 years, we've laid a
    solid foundation on which future Presidents and future military leaders
    can build. America's military today is stronger, more agile, and better
    prepared to confront threats to our people than it was 8 years ago. In
    the years ahead,

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    our Nation must continue developing the capabilities to take the fight
    to our enemies across the world. We must stay on the offensive. We must
    be determined, and we must be relentless to do our duty to protect the
    American people from harm.
        We must stand by the friends and allies who are making tough
    decisions and taking risks to defeat the terrorists. We must keep up the
    pressure on regimes that sponsor terror and pursue weapons of mass
    destruction. We must continue to support dissidents and reformers who
    are speaking out against extremism and in favor of liberty. We must
    continue transforming our Armed Forces so that the next generation
    inherits a military that is capable of keeping the American people safe
    and advancing the cause of peace. And above all, we must always ensure
    that our troops have the funds and resources they need to do their jobs
    and that their families receive the full support they deserve.
        I have great confidence in the future because I have confidence in
    you all. Ultimately, the security of our Nation depends on the courage
    of those who wear the uniform. I see that courage in all of you. I thank
    you for your patriotism. I thank you for your devotion to duty. May God
    bless you in all your endeavors. May God bless your families, and may
    God continue to bless the United States of America.

    Note: The President spoke at 11:25 a.m. in Eisenhower Hall. In his
    remarks, he referred to Lt. Gen. Franklin L. Hagenbeck, USA,
    superintendent, U.S. Military Academy at West Point, who introduced the
    President, and his wife Judy; Brig. Gen. Michael S. Linnington, USA,
    commandant, U.S. Military Academy at West Point; Brig. Gen. Patrick
    Finnegan, USA, dean, U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and his wife
    Joan; and Gen. David H. Petraeus, USA, commander, U.S. Central Command.
    The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language
    transcript of these remarks.