[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 42, Number 35 (Monday, September 4, 2006)]
[Pages 1537-1544]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the American Legion National Convention in Salt Lake City

August 31, 2006

    Thank you all very much. Please be seated. Thanks for the warm 
welcome. It's great to join you here in one of America's most beautiful 
cities. I appreciate your hospitality. I'm proud to stand before some of 
our country's finest patriots, our veterans and their families. And I'm 
pleased to call you my fellow Legionnaires--I suspect I may be the only 
one here, though, from Post 77, Houston, Texas. That's what I thought. 
[Laughter] If you're from Post 77, behave yourself here in Salt Lake. 
[Laughter]
    Laura did remind me the other night, though, that a few of my fellow 
members--at least I've joined a few of my fellow members in another 
illustrious organization, the ``Over 60 Club.'' [Laughter]
    For almost 90 years, Legionnaires have stood proudly ``for God and 
country.'' From big cities to small towns, the American Legion name 
brings to mind the best of our Nation--decency, generosity, and 
character. I thank you for a lifetime of service. I thank you for the 
positive contributions you make to our Nation, and I'm proud to join you 
today.
    First, I want to thank Tom Bock, the national commander, for his 
kind introduction and his strong leadership. I always am pleased to 
welcome the commander to the Oval Office to discuss common issues, and 
you've done a fine job leading this organization, Tom. I also want to 
thank your wife, Elaine, and I particularly want to pay respect to your 
son, Captain Bock of the United States Army, who's joined us today.
    I appreciate being here with Carol Van Kirk, the national president 
of the American Legion Auxiliary. And I want to thank all the Auxiliary 
members who are with us here today as well.
    I'm proud that the Governor of this great State, Jon Huntsman, and 
his wife, Mary Kaye, have joined us. Governor, thank you for your time. 
I'm also proud to be joined by two United States Senators who are strong 
supporters of the United States military, Senator Orrin Hatch and 
Senator Bob Bennett.
    Members of the congressional delegation from the State of Utah have 
joined us, Congressman Rob Bishop and Congressman Chris Cannon. Thank 
you both for coming. Proud you're here. I thank the State Senator John 
Valentine, who is the president of the Utah State Senate. I appreciate 
Speaker Greg Curtis. I want to thank all the State and local officials 
who have joined us here today. Most particularly, I want to thank you 
all for giving me a chance to come and speak to you. I particularly want 
to thank all the Gold Star families who have joined us today. May God 
bless you. May God bless you.
    As veterans, all of you stepped forward when America needed you 
most. From north Africa to Normandy, Iwo Jima to Inchon, from Khe Sanh 
to Kuwait, your courage and service have made it possible for 
generations to live in liberty. And we owe you more than just thanks; we 
owe you the support of the Federal Government. And so in my first 4 
years as President, we increased funding for veterans more than the 
previous administration did in 8 years. Since then, we've increased it 
even more. My budget for this year provides more than $80 billion for 
veterans--

[[Page 1538]]

that's a 75-percent increase since I took office. It's the highest level 
of support for veterans in American history.
    For many veterans, health care is a top priority, and it's a top 
priority of my administration. When Congress passes my 2007 budget, we 
will have increased the VA health care budget by 69 percent since 2001. 
We've extended treatment to a million additional veterans, including 
more than 300,000 men and women returning from Afghanistan and Iraq. 
We're building new VA facilities in places where veterans are retiring 
so that more veterans can get top-quality health care closer to their 
homes.
    I appreciate the Legion's strong history of care and compassion for 
your fellow veterans. Earlier this week, I traveled to Mississippi and 
Louisiana to mark the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. Veterans 
were hit hard by this storm, and American Legion posts all across the 
United States responded with vital relief. In an hour of suffering, you 
showed the good heart of our Nation, and you showed the world that 
America can always count on Legionnaires.
    I also appreciate the Legion's long history of supporting wise 
legislation in the Nation's Capital. Earlier this year, the Senate voted 
on a constitutional amendment to ban flag desecration--we came within a 
single vote of passing it. The administration looks forward to 
continuing working with the American Legion to make sure we get this 
important protection in the Constitution of the United States of 
America.
    Your organization supported another good piece of legislation called 
the Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act. This bill ensures that 
families of fallen service members will not have to endure protests 
during military funerals.
    My administration will also continue to work to locate the men and 
women in uniform whose fate is still undetermined, our prisoners of war 
and personnel missing in action. We will not forget these brave 
Americans. We must not rest until we've accounted for every soldier, 
sailor, airman, coast-guardsman, and marine. And we will always honor 
their courage.
    At this hour, a new generation of Americans in uniform is showing 
great courage in defending our freedom in the first war of the 21st 
century. I know that Legionnaires are following this war closely, 
especially those of you with family and friends who wear our uniform. 
The images that come back from the frontlines are striking and sometimes 
unsettling. When you see innocent civilians ripped apart by suicide 
bombs or families buried inside their homes, the world can seem engulfed 
in purposeless violence. The truth is, there is violence, but those who 
cause it have a clear purpose. When terrorists murder at the World Trade 
Center or car bombers strike in Baghdad or hijackers plot to blow up 
planes over the Atlantic or terrorist militias shoot rockets at Israeli 
towns, they are all pursuing the same objective--to turn back the 
advance of freedom and impose a dark vision of tyranny and terror across 
the world.
    The enemies of liberty come from different parts of the world, and 
they take inspiration from different sources. Some are radicalized 
followers of the Sunni tradition who swear allegiance to terrorist 
organizations like Al Qaida. Others are radicalized followers of the 
Shi'a tradition who join groups like Hizballah and take guidance from 
state sponsors like Syria and Iran. Still others are ``homegrown'' 
terrorists--fanatics who live quietly in free societies they dream to 
destroy. Despite their differences, these groups from--form the outlines 
of a single movement, a worldwide network of radicals that use terror to 
kill those who stand in the way of their totalitarian ideology. And the 
unifying feature of this movement, the link that spans sectarian 
divisions and local grievances, is the rigid conviction that free 
societies are a threat to their twisted view of Islam.
    The war we fight today is more than a military conflict; it is the 
decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century. On one side are those 
who believe in the values of freedom and moderation--the right of all 
people to speak and worship and live in liberty. And on the other side 
are those driven by the values of tyranny and extremism--the right of a 
self-appointed few to impose their fanatical views on all the rest. As 
veterans, you have seen this kind of enemy before. They're

[[Page 1539]]

successors to Fascists, to Nazis, to Communists, and other totalitarians 
of the 20th century. And history shows what the outcome will be: This 
war will be difficult; this war will be long; and this war will end in 
the defeat of the terrorists and totalitarians and a victory for the 
cause of freedom and liberty.
    We're now approaching the fifth anniversary of the day this war 
reached our shores. As the horror of that morning grows more distant, 
there is a tendency to believe that the threat is receding and this war 
is coming to a close. That feeling is natural and comforting--and wrong. 
As we recently saw, the enemy still wants to attack us. We're in a war 
we didn't ask for, but it's a war we must wage and a war we will win.
    In the coming days, I'll deliver a series of speeches describing the 
nature of our enemy in the war on terror, the insights we've gained 
about their aims and ambitions, the successes and setbacks we've 
experienced, and our strategy to prevail in this long war. Today I'll 
discuss a critical aspect of this war: the struggle between freedom and 
terror in the Middle East, including the battle in Iraq, which is the 
central front in our fight against terrorism.
    To understand the struggle unfolding in the Middle East, we need to 
look at the recent history of the region. For a half-century, America's 
primary goal in the Middle East was stability. This was understandable 
at the time; we were fighting the Soviet Union in the cold war, and it 
was important to support Middle Eastern governments that rejected 
communism. Yet over the decades, an undercurrent of danger was rising in 
the Middle East. Much of the region was mired in stagnation and despair. 
A generation of young people grew up with little hope to improve their 
lives, and many fell under the sway of radical extremism. The terrorist 
movement multiplied in strength, and resentment that had simmered for 
years boiled over into violence across the world.
    Extremists in Iran seized American hostages. Hizballah terrorists 
murdered American troops at the Marine barracks in Beirut and Khobar 
Towers in Saudi Arabia. Terrorists set off a truck bomb at the World 
Trade Center. Al Qaida blew up two U.S. Embassies in east Africa and 
bombed the USS Cole. Then came the nightmare of September the 11th, 
2001, when 19 hijackers killed nearly 3,000 men, women, and children.
    In the space of a single morning, it became clear that the calm we 
saw in the Middle East was only a mirage. We realized that years of 
pursuing stability to promote peace had left us with neither. Instead, 
the lack of freedom in the Middle East made the region an incubator for 
terrorist movements.
    The status quo in the Middle East before September the 11th was 
dangerous and unacceptable, so we're pursuing a new strategy. First, 
we're using every element of national power to confront Al Qaida, those 
who take inspiration from them, and other terrorists who use similar 
tactics. We have ended the days of treating terrorism simply as a law 
enforcement matter. We will stay on the offense. We will fight the 
terrorists overseas so we do not have to face them here at home.
    Second, we have made it clear to all nations: If you harbor 
terrorists, you are just as guilty as the terrorists. You're an enemy of 
the United States, and you will be held to account.
    And third, we've launched a bold new agenda to defeat the ideology 
of the enemy by supporting the forces of freedom in the Middle East and 
beyond. The freedom agenda is based upon our deepest ideals and our 
vital interests. Americans believe that every person of every religion 
on every continent has the right to determine his or her own destiny. We 
believe that freedom is a gift from an Almighty God, beyond any power on 
Earth to take away. And we also know, by history and by logic, that 
promoting democracy is the surest way to build security. Democracies 
don't attack each other or threaten the peace. Governments accountable 
to the voters focus on building roads and schools, not weapons of mass 
destruction. Young people who have a say in their future are less likely 
to search for meaning in extremism. Citizens who can join a peaceful 
political party are less likely to join a terrorist organization. 
Dissidents with the freedom to protest around the clock are less likely 
to blow themselves up during rush hour. And nations that commit to 
freedom for their people will not support terrorists--they will join us 
in defeating them.

[[Page 1540]]

    So America has committed its influence in the world to advancing 
freedom and democracy as the great alternatives to repression and 
radicalism. We will take the side of democratic leaders and reformers 
across the Middle East. We will support the voices of tolerance and 
moderation in the Muslim world. We stand with the mothers and fathers in 
every culture who want to see their children grow up in a caring and 
peaceful world. And by supporting the cause of freedom in a vital 
region, we'll make our children and our grandchildren more secure.
    Over the past 5 years, we've begun to see the results of our 
actions, and we have seen how our enemies respond to the advance of 
liberty. In Afghanistan, we saw a vicious tyranny that harbored the 
terrorists who planned the September the 11th attacks. Within weeks, 
American forces were in Afghanistan. Along with Afghan allies, we 
captured or killed hundreds of Al Qaida and Taliban fighters; we closed 
down their training camps; and we helped the people of Afghanistan 
replace the Taliban with a democratic government that answers to them.
    Our enemies saw the transformation in Afghanistan, and they've 
responded by trying to roll back all the progress. Al Qaida and the 
Taliban lost a coveted base in Afghanistan, and they know they will 
never reclaim it when democracy succeeds. And so they're trying to 
return to power by attacking Afghanistan's free institutions, and they 
will fail. Forces from 40 nations, including every member of NATO, are 
now serving alongside American troops to support the new Afghan 
Government. The days of the Taliban are over. The future of Afghanistan 
belongs to the people of Afghanistan, and the future of Afghanistan 
belongs to freedom.
    In Lebanon, we saw a sovereign nation occupied by the Syrian 
dictatorship. We also saw the courageous people of Lebanon take to the 
streets to demand their independence. So we worked to enforce a United 
Nations resolution that required Syria to end its occupation of the 
country. The Syrians withdrew their armed forces, and the Lebanese 
people elected a democratic government that began to reclaim their 
country.
    Our enemies saw the transformation in Lebanon and set out to 
destabilize the young democracy. Hizballah launched an unprovoked attack 
on Israel that undermined the democrat Government in Beirut. Yet their 
brazen action caused the world to unite in support for Lebanon's 
democracy. Secretary Rice worked with the Security Council to pass 
Resolution 1701, which will strengthen Lebanese forces as they take 
control of southern Lebanon--and stop Hizballah from acting as a state 
within a state.
    I appreciate the troops pledged by France and Italy and other allies 
for this important international deployment. Together we're going to 
make it clear to the world that foreign forces and terrorists have no 
place in a free and democratic Lebanon.
    This summer's crisis in Lebanon has made it clearer than ever that 
the world now faces a grave threat from the radical regime in Iran. The 
Iranian regime arms, funds, and advises Hizballah, which has killed more 
Americans than any terrorist network except Al Qaida. The Iranian regime 
interferes in Iraq by sponsoring terrorists and insurgents, empowering 
unlawful militias, and supplying components for improvised explosive 
devices. The Iranian regime denies basic human rights to millions of its 
people. And the Iranian regime is pursuing nuclear weapons in open 
defiance of its international obligations.
    We know the death and suffering that Iran's sponsorship of 
terrorists has brought, and we can imagine how much worse it would be if 
Iran were allowed to acquire nuclear weapons. Many nations are working 
together to solve this problem. The United Nations passed a resolution 
demanding that Iran suspend its nuclear enrichment activities. Today is 
the deadline for Iran's leaders to reply to the reasonable proposal the 
international community has made. If Iran's leaders accept this offer 
and abandon their nuclear weapons ambitions, they can set their country 
on a better course. Yet so far the Iranian regime has responded with 
further defiance and delay. It is time for Iran to make a choice. We've 
made our choice: We will continue to work closely with our allies to 
find a diplomatic solution, but there must be consequences for Iran's 
defiance, and we must not allow Iran to develop a nuclear weapon.

[[Page 1541]]

    In Iraq, we saw a dictator who harbored terrorists, fired at 
military planes, paid the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, 
invaded a neighbor, and pursued and used weapons of mass destruction. 
The United Nations passed more than a dozen resolutions demanding that 
Saddam Hussein fully and openly abandon his weapons of mass destruction. 
We gave him a last chance to comply, and when he refused, we enforced 
the just demands of the world. And now Saddam Hussein is in prison and 
on trial. Soon he will have the justice he denied to so many for so 
long. And with this tyrant gone from power, the United States, Iraq, the 
Middle East, and the world are better off.
    In 3 years since Saddam's fall, the Iraqi people have reclaimed the 
sovereignty of their country. They cast their ballots in free elections. 
They drafted and approved a democratic constitution and elected a 
constitutional democracy at the heart of the Middle East.
    Over the same period, Iraq has seen a rise of terrorist and 
insurgent movements that use brutal and indiscriminate violence to 
frustrate the desire of the Iraqi people for freedom and peace. Al Qaida 
terrorists, former elements of Saddam's regime, illegal militias, and 
unlawful armed groups are all working to undermine Iraq's new democracy. 
These groups have different long-term ambitions but the same immediate 
goals. They want to drive America and our coalition out of Iraq and the 
Middle East so they can stop the advance of freedom and impose their 
dark vision on the people of the Middle East.
    Our enemies in Iraq have employed ruthless tactics to achieve those 
goals. They've targeted American and coalition troops with ambushes and 
roadside bombs. They've taken hostage and beheaded civilians on camera. 
They've blown up Iraqi Army posts and assassinated government leaders. 
We've adapted to the tactics. And thanks to the skill and 
professionalism of Iraqi and American forces, many of these enemies have 
met their end. At every stop along the way, our enemies have failed to 
break the courage of the Iraqi people; they have failed to stop the rise 
of Iraqi democracy; and they will fail in breaking the will of the 
American people.
    Now these enemies have launched a new effort. They have embarked on 
a bloody campaign of sectarian violence which they hope will plunge Iraq 
into a civil war. The outbreak of sectarian violence was encouraged by 
the terrorist Zarqawi, Al Qaida's man in Iraq who called for an ``all-
out war'' on Iraqi Shi'a. The Shi'a community resisted the impulse to 
seek revenge for awhile. But after this February bombing of the Shi'a 
Golden Dome Mosque in Samarra, extremist groups mobilized and sectarian 
death squads formed on the streets of Baghdad and other areas. Our 
Ambassador reports that thousands of Iraqis were murdered in Baghdad 
last month, and large numbers of them were victims of sectarian 
violence.
    This cruelty and carnage has led some to question whether Iraq has 
descended into civil war. Our commanders and our diplomats on the ground 
in Iraq believe that's not the case. They report that only a small 
number of Iraqis are engaged in sectarian violence, while the 
overwhelming majority want peace and a normal life in a unified country. 
Iraqi leaders from all backgrounds remember the elections that brought 
them to power, in which 12 million Iraqis defied the car bombers and 
killers to proclaim, ``We want to be free.''
    Iraq's Government is working tirelessly to hold the nation together 
and to heal Iraq's divisions, not to exploit them. The Iraqi people have 
come a long way. They are not going to let their country fall apart or 
relapse into tyranny. As Prime Minister Maliki told the United States 
Congress, ``Iraqis have tasted freedom, and we will defend it 
absolutely.''
    America has a clear strategy to help the Iraqi people protect their 
new freedom and build a democracy that can govern itself and sustain 
itself and defend itself. On the political side, we're working closely 
with Prime Minister Maliki to strengthen Iraq's unity Government and 
develop--and to deliver better services to the Iraqi people. This is a 
crucial moment for the new Iraqi Government; its leaders understand the 
challenge. They believe that now is the time to hammer out compromises 
on Iraq's most contentious issues.
    I've been clear with each Iraqi leader I meet: America is a patient 
nation, and Iraq

[[Page 1542]]

can count on our partnership as long as the new Government continues to 
make the hard decisions necessary to advance a unified, democratic, and 
peaceful Iraq. Prime Minister Maliki has shown courage in laying out an 
agenda to do just that, and he can count on an ally, the United States 
of America, to help him promote this agenda.
    On the security side, we're refining our tactics to meet the threats 
on the ground. I've given our commanders in Iraq all the flexibility 
they need to make adjustments necessary to stay on the offense and 
defeat the enemies of freedom. We've deployed Special Operation forces 
to kill or capture terrorists operating in Iraq. Zarqawi found out what 
they can do. We continue to train Iraqi police forces to defend their 
own nation. We've handed over security responsibility for a southern 
province to Iraqi forces. Five of Iraq's 10 Army divisions are now 
taking the lead in their areas of operation. The Iraqi security forces 
are determined. They're becoming more capable, and together, we will 
defeat the enemies of a free Iraq.
    Recently, we also launched a major new campaign to end the security 
crisis in Baghdad. Side by side, Iraqi and American forces are 
conducting operations in the city's most violent areas to disrupt Al 
Qaida, to capture enemy fighters, crack down on IED makers, and break up 
the death squads. These forces are helping Iraq's national police force 
undergo retraining to better enforce law in Baghdad. And these forces 
are supporting the Iraqi Government as it provides reconstruction 
assistance.
    The Baghdad Security Plan is still in its early stages. We cannot 
expect immediate success. Yet the initial results are encouraging. 
According to one military report, a Sunni man in a diverse Baghdad 
neighborhood said this about the Shi'a soldiers on patrol: ``Their image 
has changed. Now you feel they're there to protect you.'' Over the 
coming weeks and months, the operation will expand throughout Baghdad 
until Iraq's democratic Government is in full control of its capital. 
The work is difficult and dangerous, but the Iraqi Government and their 
forces are determined to reclaim their country. And the United States is 
determined to help them succeed.
    Here at home, we have a choice to make about Iraq. Some politicians 
look at our efforts in Iraq and see a diversion from the war on terror. 
That would come as news to Usama bin Laden, who proclaimed that the 
``third world war is raging'' in Iraq. It would come as news to the 
number two man of Al Qaida, Zawahiri, who has called the struggle in 
Iraq, quote, ``The place for the greatest battle.'' It would come as 
news to the terrorists from Syria, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Sudan, Libya, 
and Yemen and other countries, who have come to Iraq to fight the rise 
of democracy.
    It's hard to believe that these terrorists would make long journeys 
across dangerous borders, endure heavy fighting, or blow themselves up 
in the streets of Baghdad for a so-called diversion. Some Americans 
didn't support my decision to remove Saddam Hussein; many are frustrated 
with the level of violence. But we should all agree that the battle for 
Iraq is now central to the ideological struggle of the 21st century. We 
will not allow the terrorists to dictate the future of this century--so 
we will defeat them in Iraq.
    Still, there are some in our country who insist that the best option 
in Iraq is to pull out, regardless of the situation on the ground. Many 
of these folks are sincere and they're patriotic, but they could be--
they could not be more wrong. If America were to pull out before Iraq 
can defend itself, the consequences would be absolutely predictable and 
absolutely disastrous. We would be handing Iraq over to our worst 
enemies--Saddam's former henchmen, armed groups with ties to Iran, and 
Al Qaida terrorists from all over the world who would suddenly have a 
base of operations far more valuable than Afghanistan under the Taliban. 
They would have a new sanctuary to recruit and train terrorists at the 
heart of the Middle East, with huge oil riches to fund their ambitions. 
And we know exactly where those ambitions lead. If we give up the fight 
in the streets of Baghdad, we will face the terrorists in the streets of 
our own cities.
    We can decide to stop fighting the terrorists in Iraq and other 
parts of the world, but they will not decide to stop fighting us. 
General John Abizaid, our top commander in the Middle East region, 
recently put it this way:

[[Page 1543]]

``If we leave, they will follow us.'' And he is right. The security of 
the civilized world depends on victory in the war on terror, and that 
depends on victory in Iraq. So the United States of America will not 
leave until victory is achieved.
    Victory in Iraq will be difficult, and it will require more 
sacrifice. The fighting there can be as fierce as it was at Omaha Beach 
or Guadalcanal. And victory is as important as it was in those earlier 
battles. Victory in Iraq will result in a democracy that is a friend of 
America and an ally in the war on terror. Victory in Iraq will be a 
crushing defeat to our enemies who have staked so much on the battle 
there. Victory in Iraq will honor the sacrifice of the brave Americans 
who have given their lives. And victory in Iraq would be a powerful 
triumph in the ideological struggle of the 21st century. From Damascus 
to Tehran, people will look to a democratic Iraq as inspiration that 
freedom can succeed in the Middle East and as evidence that the side of 
freedom is the winning side. This is a pivotal moment for the Middle 
East. The world is watching. And in Iraq and beyond, the forces of 
freedom will prevail.
    For all the debate, American policy in the Middle East comes down to 
a straightforward choice. We can allow the Middle East to continue on 
its course--on the course it was headed before September the 11th, and a 
generation from now, our children will face a region dominated by 
terrorist states and radical dictators armed with nuclear weapons. Or we 
can stop that from happening by rallying the world to confront the 
ideology of hate, and give the people of the Middle East a future of 
hope. And that is the choice America has made.
    We see a day when people across the Middle East have governments 
that honor their dignity, unleash their creativity, and count their 
votes. We see a day when leaders across the Middle East reject terror 
and protect freedom. We see a day when the nations of the Middle East 
are allies in the cause of peace. The path to that day will be uphill 
and uneven, but we can be confident of the outcome because we know that 
the direction of history leads toward freedom.
    In the early years of our Republic, Thomas Jefferson said that we 
cannot expect to move ``from despotism to liberty in a featherbed.'' 
That's been true in every time and place. No one understands that like 
you, our veterans, understand that. With the distance of history, it can 
be easy to look back at the wars of the 20th century and see a straight 
path to victory. You know better than that. You waged the hard battles; 
you suffered the wounds; you lost friends and brothers. You were there 
for dark times and the moments of uncertainty, and you know that freedom 
is always worth the sacrifice.
    You also know what it takes to win. For all that is new about this 
war, one thing has not changed: Victory still depends on the courage and 
the patience and the resolve of the American people. Above all, it 
depends on patriots who are willing to fight for freedom. Our Nation is 
blessed to have these men and women in abundance. Our military forces 
make this Nation strong; they make this Nation safe; and they make this 
Nation proud.
    We thank them and their families for their sacrifice. We will 
remember all those who have given their lives in this struggle. And I 
vow that we will give our men and women in uniform all the resources 
they need to accomplish their missions.
    One brave American we remember is Marine Corporal Adam Galvez from 
here in Salt Lake City. Yesterday Adam's mom and dad laid their son to 
rest. We're honored by their presence with us today. About a month ago, 
Adam was wounded by a suicide bomb in Iraq's Anbar Province. When he 
regained consciousness, he found he was buried alive, so he dug himself 
out of the rubble. And then he ran through gunfire to get a shovel to 
dig out his fellow marines. As soon as he recovered from his injuries, 
Adam volunteered to go back to the frontlines. And 11 days ago, he was 
killed when a roadside bomb hit his convoy.
    Here is what Adam's mom and dad said about the cause for which their 
son gave his life: ``Though many are debating the justification of this 
war, Adam believed in his country--Adam's belief in his country did not 
waver, even to the point of the ultimate sacrifice. It's our hope and 
our prayer that people share the same conviction and dedication to our 
troops and fellow Americans.''

[[Page 1544]]

    Our Nation will always remember the selflessness and sacrifice of 
Americans like Adam Galvez. We will honor their lives by completing the 
good and noble work they have started. And we can be confident that one 
day, veterans of the war on terror will gather at American Legion halls 
across the country and say the same things you say: ``We made our Nation 
safer; we made a region more peaceful; and we left behind a better world 
for our children and our grandchildren.''
    Thanks for having me. May God bless our veterans. May God bless our 
troops. And may God continue to bless the United States of America.

Note: The President spoke at 9:08 a.m. at the Salt Palace Convention 
Center. In his remarks, he referred to U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay 
Khalilzad; Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of Iraq; Usama bin Laden, 
leader of the Al Qaida terrorist organization; Ayman Al-Zawahiri, 
founder of the Egyptian Islamic Jihad and senior Al Qaida associate; and 
Gen. John P. Abizaid, USA, combatant commander, U.S. Central Command.