[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 40, Number 23 (Monday, June 7, 2004)]
[Pages 999-1004]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Commencement Address at the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado 
Springs, Colorado

June 2, 2004

    Secretary Roche and General Jumper, General Rosa, Attorney General 
Ashcroft, Congresswoman Heather Wilson, Air Force Academy graduate 1982, 
Academy staff and faculty, distinguished guests, officers, cadets, 
members of the graduating class, and your families: Thanks for the warm 
welcome. And thanks--thank you for the honor to visit the United States 
Air Force Academy on your 50th anniversary.
    You've worked hard to get to this moment. You survived ``Beast,'' 
spent 7 months eating your meals at attention, carried boulders from 
Cathedral Rock, and endured countless hours in Jacks Valley. In 4 years, 
you've been transformed from ``basics'' and ``smacks''--[laughter]--to 
proud officers and airmen, worthy of the degree and the commission you 
receive. Congratulations on a great achievement.
    Your superintendent has made a positive difference in a short time. 
I thank him for helping to restore the Academy's tradition of honor, 
which applies to every man and woman without exception. I thank the 
superb faculty for your high standards and dedication to preparing Air 
Force officers. And I thank the parents here today for standing behind 
your sons and daughters as they step forward to serve America.
    This is a week of remembrance for our country. On Saturday we 
dedicated the World War II Memorial in Washington, in the company of 
veterans who fought and flew at places like Midway and Iwo Jima and 
Normandy. This weekend I will go to France for the ceremonies marking 
the 60th anniversary of D-day, at a place where the fate of millions 
turned on the courage of thousands. In these events, we recall a time of 
peril and national unity and individual courage. We honor a generation 
of Americans who served this country and saved the liberty of the world.
    On this day in 1944, General Eisenhower sat down at his headquarters 
in the English countryside and wrote out a message to the troops who 
would soon invade Normandy. ``Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied 
Expeditionary Force,'' he wrote, ``the eyes of the world are upon you. 
The hopes and prayers of liberty-loving people everywhere march with 
you.''
    Each of you receiving a commission today in the United States 
military will also carry the hopes of free people everywhere. As your 
generation assumes its own duties during a global conflict that will 
define your careers, you will be called upon to take brave action and 
serve with honor. In some ways, this struggle we're in is unique. In 
other ways, it resembles the great clashes of the last century between 
those who put their trust in tyrants and those who put their trust in 
liberty. Our goal, the goal of this generation is the same: We will 
secure our Nation and defend the peace through the forward march of 
freedom.
    Like the Second World War, our present conflict began with a 
ruthless surprise attack on the United States. We will not forget that 
treachery, and we will accept nothing less than victory over the enemy.
    Like the murderous ideologies of the 20th century, the ideology of 
terrorism reaches across borders and seeks recruits in every country. So 
we're fighting these enemies wherever they hide across the Earth.
    Like other totalitarian movements, the terrorists seek to impose a 
grim vision in which dissent is crushed and every man and woman must 
think and live in colorless conformity. So to the oppressed peoples 
everywhere, we are offering the great alternative of human liberty.
    Like enemies of the past, the terrorists underestimate the strength 
of free peoples. The

[[Page 1000]]

terrorists believe that free societies are essentially corrupt and 
decadent and with a few hard blows will collapse in weakness and in 
panic. The enemy has learned that America is strong and determined, 
because of the steady resolve of our citizens and because of the skill 
and strength of the Army, Navy, Marines, Coast Guard, and the United 
States Air Force.
    And like the aggressive ideologies that rose up in the early 1900s, 
our enemies have clearly and proudly stated their intentions: Here are 
the words of Al Qaida's self-described military spokesman in Europe, on 
a tape claiming responsibility for the Madrid bombings. He said, ``We 
choose death, while you choose life. If you do not stop your injustices, 
more and more blood will flow, and these attacks will seem very small 
compared to what can occur in what you call terrorism.''
    Here are the words of another Al Qaida spokesman, Suleiman Abu 
Gheith. Last year in an article published on an Al Qaida web site, he 
said, quote, ``We have the right to kill 4 million Americans--2 million 
of them children--and to exile twice as many and wound and cripple 
hundreds of thousands. Furthermore, it is our right to fight them with 
chemical and biological weapons.''
    In all these threats, we hear the echoes of other enemies in other 
times--that same swagger and demented logic of the fanatic. Like their 
kind in the past, these murderers have left scars and suffering. And 
like their kind in the past, they will flame and fail and suffer defeat 
by free men and women.
    The enemies of freedom are opposed by a great and growing alliance. 
Nations that won the cold war, nations once behind an Iron Curtain, and 
nations on every continent see this threat clearly. We're cooperating at 
every level of our military, law enforcement, and intelligence to meet 
the danger. The war on terror is civilization's fight. And as in the 
struggles of the last century, civilized nations are waging this fight 
together.
    The terrorists of our day are, in some ways, unlike the enemies of 
the past. The terrorist ideology has not yet taken control of a great 
power like Germany or the Soviet Union. And so the terrorists have 
adopted a strategy different from the gathering of vast and standing 
armies. They seek instead to demoralize free nations with dramatic acts 
of murder. They seek to wear down our resolve and will by killing the 
innocent and spreading fear and anarchy. And they seek weapons of mass 
destruction so they can threaten or attack even the most powerful 
nations.
    Fighting this kind of enemy is a complex mission that will require 
all your skill and resourcefulness. Our enemies have no capital or 
nation-state to defend. They share a vision and operate as a network of 
dozens of violent extremist groups around the world, striking separately 
and in concert. Al Qaida is the vanguard of these loosely affiliated 
groups, and we estimate that over the years many thousands of recruits 
have passed through its training camps. Al Qaida has been wounded by 
losing nearly two-thirds of its known leadership and most of its 
important sanctuaries. Yet many of the terrorists it trained are still 
active in hidden cells or in other groups. Homegrown extremists incited 
by Al Qaida's example are at work in many nations.
    And since September the 11th, we've seen terrorist violence in an 
arc from Morocco to Spain to Turkey to Russia to Uzbekistan to Pakistan 
to India to Thailand to Indonesia. Yet the center of the conflict, the 
platform for their global expansion, the region they seek to remake in 
their image is the broader Middle East.
    Just as events in Europe determined the outcome of the cold war, 
events in the Middle East will set the course of our current struggle. 
If that region is abandoned to dictators and terrorists, it will be a 
constant source of violence and alarm, exporting killers of increasing 
destructive power to attack America and other free nations. If that 
region grows in democracy and prosperity and hope, the terrorist 
movement will lose its sponsors, lose its recruits, and lose the 
festering grievances that keep terrorists in business. The stakes of 
this struggle are high. The security and peace of our country are at 
stake, and success in this struggle is our only option.
    This is the great challenge of our time, the storm in which we fly. 
History is once again witnessing a great clash. This is not a clash of 
civilizations. The civilization of Islam, with its humane traditions of 
learning and tolerance, has no place for this violent sect of killers 
and aspiring tyrants. This is not a clash

[[Page 1001]]

of religions. The faith of Islam teaches moral responsibility that 
ennobles men and women and forbids the shedding of innocent blood. 
Instead, this is a clash of political visions.
    In the terrorists' vision of the world, the Middle East must fall 
under the rule of radical governments, moderate Arab states must be 
overthrown, nonbelievers must be expelled from Muslim lands, and the 
harshest practice of extremist rule must be universally enforced. In 
this vision, books are burned; terrorists are sheltered; women are 
whipped; and children are schooled in hatred and murder and suicide.
    Our vision is completely different. We believe that every person has 
a right to think and pray and live in obedience to God and conscience, 
not in frightened submission to despots. We believe that societies find 
their greatness by encouraging the creative gifts of their people, not 
in controlling their lives and feeding their resentments. And we have 
confidence that people share this vision of dignity and freedom in every 
culture because liberty is not the invention of Western culture. Liberty 
is the deepest need and hope of all humanity. The vast majority of men 
and women in Muslim societies reject the domination of extremists like 
Usama bin Laden. They're looking to the world's free nations to support 
them in their struggle against the violent minority who want to impose a 
future of darkness across the Middle East. We will not abandon them to 
the designs of evil men. We will stand with the people of that region as 
they seek their future in freedom.
    We bring more than a vision to this conflict. We bring a strategy 
that will lead to victory. And that strategy has four commitments:
    First, we are using every available tool to dismantle, disrupt, and 
destroy terrorists and their organizations. With all the skill of our 
law enforcement, all the stealth of our special forces, and all the 
global reach of our air power, we will strike the terrorists before they 
can strike our people. The best way to protect America is to stay on the 
offensive.
    Secondly, we are denying terrorists places of sanctuary or support. 
The power of terrorists is multiplied when they have safe havens to 
gather and train recruits. Terrorist havens are found within states that 
have difficulty controlling areas of their own territory. So we're 
helping Governments like the Philippines and Kenya to enforce anti-
terrorist laws, through information sharing and joint training.
    Terrorists also find support and safe haven within outlaw regimes. 
So I have set a clear doctrine that the sponsors of terror will be held 
equally accountable for the acts of terrorists. Regimes in Iraq and 
Afghanistan learned that providing support and sanctuary to terrorists 
carries with it enormous costs, while Libya has discovered that 
abandoning the pursuit of weapons of mass murder has opened a better 
path to relations with the free world.
    Terrorists find their ultimate support and sanctuary when they gain 
control of governments and countries. We saw the terrible harm that 
terrorists did by taking effective control over the Government of 
Afghanistan, a terrorist victory that led directly to the attacks of 
September the 11th. And terrorists have similar designs on Iraq, on 
Pakistan, on Saudi Arabia, and many other regional governments they 
regard as illegitimate. We can only imagine the scale of terrorist 
crimes were they to gain control of states with weapons of mass murder 
or vast oil revenues. So we will not retreat. We will prevent the 
emergence of terrorist-controlled states.
    Third, we are using all the elements of our national power to deny 
terrorists the chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons they seek. 
Because this global threat requires a global response, we are working to 
strengthen international institutions charged with opposing 
proliferation. We are working with regional powers and international 
partners to confront the threats of North Korea and Iran. We have joined 
with 14 other nations in the Proliferation Security Initiative to 
interdict--on sea, on land, or in the air--shipments of weapons of mass 
destruction, components to build those weapons, and the means to deliver 
them. Our country must never allow mass murderers to gain hold of 
weapons of mass destruction. We will lead the world and keep unrelenting 
pressure on the enemy.
    Fourth and finally, we are denying the terrorists the ideological 
victories they seek by working for freedom and reform in the

[[Page 1002]]

broader Middle East. Fighting terror is not just a matter of killing or 
capturing terrorists. To stop the flow of recruits into terrorist 
movement, young people in the region must see a real and hopeful 
alternative, a society that rewards their talent and turns their 
energies to constructive purpose. And here the vision of freedom has 
great advantages. Terrorists incite young men and women to strap bombs 
on their bodies and dedicate their deaths to the death of others. Free 
societies inspire young men and women to work and achieve and dedicate 
their lives to the life of their country. And in the long run, I have 
great faith that the appeal of freedom and life is stronger than the 
lure of hatred and death.
    Freedom's advance in the Middle East will have another very 
practical effect. The terrorist movement feeds on the appearance of 
inevitability. It claims to rise on the currents of history, using past 
America withdrawals from Somalia and Beirut to sustain this myth and to 
gain new followers. The success of free and stable governments in 
Afghanistan and Iraq and elsewhere will shatter the myth and discredit 
the radicals. And as the entire region sees the promise of freedom in 
its midst, the terrorist ideology will become more and more irrelevant, 
until that day when it is viewed with contempt or ignored altogether.
    For decades, free nations tolerated oppression in the Middle East 
for the sake of stability. In practice, this approach brought little 
stability and much oppression. So I have changed this policy. In the 
short term, we will work with every government in the Middle East 
dedicated to destroying the terrorist networks. In the longer term, we 
will expect a higher standard of reform and democracy from our friends 
in the region. Democracy and reform will make those nations stronger and 
more stable and make the world more secure by undermining terrorism at 
it source. Democratic institutions in the Middle East will not grow 
overnight. In America, they grew over generations. Yet the nations of 
the Middle East will find, as we have found, the only path to true 
progress is the path of freedom and justice and democracy.
    America is pursuing our forward strategy for freedom in the broader 
Middle East in many ways. Voices in that region are increasingly 
demanding reform and democratic change. So we are working with 
courageous leaders like President Karzai of Afghanistan, who is ushering 
in a new era of freedom for the Afghan people. We're taking aside 
reformers who are standing for human rights and political freedom, often 
at great personal risk. We're encouraging economic opportunity and the 
rule of law and government reform and the expansion of liberty 
throughout the region.
    And we're working toward the goal of a Palestinian state living side 
by side with Israel in peace. Prime Minister Sharon's plan to remove all 
settlements from Gaza and several from the West Bank is a courageous 
step toward peace. His decision provides an historic moment of 
opportunity to begin building a future Palestinian state. This 
initiative can stimulate progress toward peace by setting the parties 
back on the roadmap, the most reliable guide to ending the occupation 
that began in 1967. This success will require reform-minded Palestinians 
to step forward and lead and meet their roadmap obligations. And the 
United States of America stands ready to help those dedicated to peace, 
those willing to fight violence, find a new state so we can realize 
peace in the greater Middle East.
    Some who call themselves realists question whether the spread of 
democracy in the Middle East should be any concern of ours. But the 
realists in this case have lost contact with a fundamental reality. 
America has always been less secure when freedom is in retreat. America 
is always more secure when freedom is on the march.
    All our commitments in the Middle East--all of the four commitments 
of our strategy--are now being tested in Iraq. We have removed a state 
sponsor of terror with a history of using weapons of mass destruction. 
And the whole world is better off with Saddam Hussein sitting in a 
prison cell. We now face Al Qaida associates like the terrorist Zarqawi, 
who seek to hijack the future of that nation. We are fighting enemies 
who want us to retreat and leave Iraq to tyranny so they can claim an 
ideological victory over America. They would use that victory to gather 
new strength and take their violence directly to

[[Page 1003]]

America and to our friends. Yet our coalition is determined, and the 
Iraqi people have made clear: Iraq will remain in the camp of free 
nations.
    The Iraqi people are moving forward in clear, steady steps, with our 
support, to achieve democracy. Iraq now has a designated Prime Minister, 
Ayad al-Alwai, a respected Iraqi patriot once targeted by Saddam 
Hussein's assassins. I spoke with the Prime Minister yesterday. He 
recognized the sacrifice of brave Americans who have given their lives 
in Iraq, and he pledged that his country would be a friend and ally of 
America in peace.
    Along with a President and two Deputy Presidents, Prime Minister al-
Alwai will lead a government of 33 ministers, which take office 
immediately and begin preparing for the transfer of full sovereignty by 
June the 30th. America and Great Britain are now working with the United 
Nations Security Council and Iraq's new leaders on a resolution that 
will endorse the sovereign government of Iraq and urge other nations to 
actively support it.
    The Iraqi people are looking to us for help, and we will provide it. 
Many fine civilian professionals are now working in that country, 
helping Iraqis to rebuild their infrastructure and build the 
institutions of a free country. Along with the United Nations, we will 
help Iraq's new government to prepare for national elections by January 
2005. This free election is what the terrorists in the country fear 
most. Free elections are exactly what they are going to see.
    Our military is performing with skill and courage, and our Nation is 
proud of the United States military. Many brave Iraqis have stepped 
forward to fight for their own freedom, and we are working closely with 
them to disband and destroy the illegal militia, to defeat the 
terrorists, and to secure the safe arrival of Iraqi democracy. We're 
stepping up our efforts to train effective Iraqi security forces that 
will eventually defend the liberty of their own country.
    At every stage of this process, before and after the transition to 
Iraqi sovereignty, the enemy is likely to be active and brutal. They 
know the stakes as well as we do. But our coalition is prepared, our 
will is strong, and neither Iraq's new leadership nor the United States 
will be intimidated by thugs and assassins.
    As we fight the war on terror in Iraq and on other fronts, we must 
keep in mind the nature of the enemy. No act of America explains 
terrorist violence, and no concession of America could appease it. The 
terrorists who attacked our country on September the 11th, 2001, were 
not protesting our policies. They were protesting our existence. Some 
say that by fighting the terrorists abroad since September the 11th, we 
only stir up a hornet's nest, but the terrorists who struck that day 
were stirred up already. If America were not fighting terrorists in Iraq 
and Afghanistan and elsewhere, what would these thousands of killers do, 
suddenly begin leading productive lives of service and charity? 
[Laughter] Would the terrorists who beheaded an American on camera just 
be quiet, peaceful citizens if America had not liberated Iraq? We are 
dealing here with killers who have made the death of Americans the 
calling of their lives. And America has made a decision about these 
terrorists: Instead of waiting for them to strike again in our midst, we 
will take this fight to the enemy.
    I am confident of our cause in Iraq, but the struggle we have 
entered will not end with success in Iraq. Overcoming terrorism and 
bringing greater freedom to the nations of the Middle East is the work 
of decades. To prevail, America will need the swift and able transformed 
military you will help to build and lead. America will need a generation 
of Arab linguists and experts on Middle Eastern history and culture. 
America will need improved intelligence capabilities to track threats 
and expose the plans of unseen enemies.
    Above all, America will need perseverance. This conflict will take 
many turns, with setbacks on the course to victory. Through it all, our 
confidence comes from one unshakable belief: We believe, in Ronald 
Reagan's words, that ``the future belongs to the free.'' And we've seen 
the appeal of liberty with our own eyes. We have seen freedom firmly 
established in former enemies like Japan and Germany. We have seen 
freedom arrive on waves of unstoppable progress

[[Page 1004]]

to nations in Latin America and Asia and Africa and Eastern Europe. Now 
freedom is stirring in the Middle East, and no one should bet against 
it.
    In the years immediately after World War II ended, our Nation faced 
more adversity and danger with the rise of imperial communism. In 1947, 
Communist forces were pressing a civil war in Greece and threatening 
Turkey. More than 2 years after the Nazi surrender, there was still 
starvation in Germany. Reconstruction seemed to be faltering, and the 
Marshall plan had not yet begun. In 1948, Berlin was blockaded on the 
orders of Josef Stalin. In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded a nuclear 
weapon, and Communists in China won their revolution.
    All of this took place in the first 4 years of the cold war. If that 
generation of Americans had lost its nerve, there would have been no 
``long twilight struggle,'' only a long twilight. But the United States 
and our allies kept faith with captive people and stayed true to the 
vision of a democratic Europe, and that perseverance gave all the world 
a lesson in the power of liberty.
    We are now about 3 years into the war against terrorism. We have 
overcome great challenges. We face many today, and there are more ahead. 
This is no time for impatience and self-defeating pessimism. These times 
demand the kind of courage and confidence that Americans have shown 
before. Our enemy can only succeed if we lose our will and faith in our 
own values. And ladies and gentlemen, our will is strong. We know our 
duty. By keeping our word and holding firm to our values, this 
generation will show the world the power of liberty once again.
    For 4 years, you have trained and studied and worked for this 
moment. And now it has come. You are the ones who will defeat the 
enemies of freedom. Your country is depending on your courage and your 
dedication to duty. The eyes of the world are upon you. You leave this 
place at a historic time, and you enter this struggle ahead with the 
full confidence of your Commander in Chief. I thank each of you for 
accepting the hardships and high honor of service in the United States 
military. And I congratulate every member of the Rickenbacker Class of 
2004.
    May God bless you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:17 a.m. at Falcon Stadium. In his 
remarks, he referred to Gen. John P. Jumper, USAF, Air Force Chief of 
Staff; Lt. Gen. John W. Rosa, Jr., USAF, Superintendent of the U.S. Air 
Force Academy; Usama bin Laden, leader of the Al Qaida terrorist 
organization; President Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan; Prime Minister 
Ariel Sharon of Israel; former President Saddam Hussein of Iraq; senior 
Al Qaida associate Abu Musab Al Zarqawi; Prime Minister Ayad al-Alawi, 
President Ghazi Ujayl al-Yawr, Deputy President Ibrahim al-Jafari, and 
Deputy President Rowsch Shaways of the Iraqi interim government.