[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 27 (Monday, July 9, 2007)]
[Pages 905-909]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks on Independence Day in Martinsburg, West Virginia

July 4, 2007

    Thank you all. Thanks for the warm welcome. Happy Fourth of July. 
I'm thrilled to be here in Martinsburg. This is the fourth Independence 
Day that I have spent in the great State of West Virginia since I've 
been your President. I appreciate General Tackett's introduction. Thank 
you, sir. You read it just like I wrote it. [Laughter]
    I love coming to your State because it's a State full of decent, 
hard-working, patriotic Americans. And I can't think of a better way to 
celebrate the Fourth of July than to spend it with some of what we call 
the Mountain State's bravest and most dedicated citizens, the men and 
women of the West Virginia Air National Guard.
    I am proud to stand with the 167th Airlift Wing. I like your slogan: 
``Mountaineer pride, worldwide.'' I'm also honored to be with West 
Virginia's great military families. Some of you have your loved ones 
deployed overseas on this Fourth of July. I know that. And I know it may 
be hard to enjoy the fireworks and the picnics and the other 
celebrations while they're away on dangerous duty in a faraway land. And 
so I've come today to express our affection--the affection of the United 
States of America for the military families who stand strong in the face 
of the difficult struggle we face to secure the United States of 
America. We're blessed to have our military families in the United 
States, and I'm blessed to be here with you. Thanks for letting me come 
by.
    Speaking about Laura--speaking about families, Laura sends her love. 
She would be with me, but I told her to fire up the grill. [Laughter] 
Don't tell her I said that. [Laughter]
    I thank Brigadier General Terry Butler, commander, West Virginia Air 
National Guard, and his wife, Susan. I want to thank Eric Vollmecke--
he's the 167th Wing Commander--and his wife, Sigrid.
    I appreciate being here today with a really fine United States 
Congresswoman, Shelley Moore Capito, and her husband, Charlie. You don't 
have to worry about her supporting the military. When we've got somebody 
in harm's way, she understands what I understand, that that military 
person and his or her family deserve the very strongest support from the 
Federal Government at all times.
    I enjoyed reciting the Pledge of Allegiance with some of the 
children from our military families. I thought they handled their tasks 
quite well. I appreciate Major Dave Reynolds, chaplain, for giving the 
blessing. I thank the 249th Army Band of the West Virginia Army National 
Guard for playing here today. But most importantly, thank you all for 
coming. Thanks for being here.
    The Fourth of July is a day for celebration and a day for gratitude. 
Across America, our citizens are going to come together for parades and 
pyrotechnic displays and readings from our Declaration of Independence. 
It's a grand celebration. It's a great day to be an American.
    And when we carry on these festivities, it's important you know 
we're carrying on a grand tradition. This isn't the first time our 
country has celebrated the Fourth of July. As a matter of fact, I would 
like to read a couple of paragraphs from a 1777 newspaper. And here's 
what it said on the first anniversary of the declaration, as it 
described the scene in Philadelphia: ``The Fourth of July was celebrated 
with joy and festivity, fine

[[Page 906]]

performances, a number of toasts, followed by a discharge of artillery 
and small arms''--don't do that today. [Laughter] ``And at night there 
was a grand exhibition of fireworks, and the city was beautifully 
illuminated.''
    This newspaper article from Philadelphia in 1777 went on to say: 
``Thus may that glorious and memorable day be celebrated through America 
by the sons of freedom, from age to age till time shall be no more.'' 
We're still celebrating and rightly so.
    Our first Independence Day celebration took place in a midst of a 
war, a bloody and difficult struggle that would not end for 6 more years 
before America finally secured her freedom. More than two decades 
[centuries]* later, it is hard to imagine the Revolutionary War coming 
out any other way, but at that time, America's victory was far from 
certain. In other words, when we celebrated the first Fourth of July 
celebration, our struggle for independence was far from certain. 
Citizens had to struggle for 6 more years to finally determine the 
outcome of the Revolutionary War.
    * White House correction.
    We were a small band of freedom-loving patriots taking on the most 
powerful empire in the world. And one of those patriots was the founder 
of Martinsburg, West Virginia, Major General Adam Stephen. Of course, it 
wasn't West Virginia then, but it was Martinsburg. [Laughter] He crossed 
the Delaware with Washington. He helped secure America's victory at the 
Battle of Trenton, and he later went--and later, when the liberty was 
won, delivered stirring remarks in the Virginia House of Delegates that 
helped secure ratification of our Constitution.
    On Independence Day, we give thanks. We give thanks for our 
Founders; we give thanks for all the brave citizen soldiers of our 
Continental Army who dropped their pitchforks and took up muskets to 
fight for our freedom and liberty and independence.
    You're the successors of those brave men. Those who wear the uniform 
are the successors of those who dropped their pitchforks and picked up 
their muskets to fight for liberty. Like those early patriots, you're 
fighting a new and unprecedented war, pledging your lives and honor to 
defend our freedom and way of life. In this war, the weapons have 
changed and so have our enemies, but one thing remains the same: The men 
and women of the Guard stand ready to put on the uniform and fight for 
America.
    In this war against radicals and extremists, in this war on terror, 
you're showing that the courage which won our independence more than two 
centuries ago is alive and well here in West Virginia. Since the attacks 
of September the 11th, 2001, every operational unit of the West Virginia 
National Guard has been deployed, and some are on their second and third 
deployments.
    One member of the 167th Airlift Wing, Master Sergeant Richard 
Howland, has been deployed seven times since the 9/11 attacks, and this 
good man just volunteered to go to Baghdad for an eighth deployment in 
September. Our fellow citizens should listen to what Richard has said, 
what this volunteer has said. He said, ``It is my patriotic duty to do 
whatever I can to help. It feels good that I'm keeping a lot of people 
safe.'' We're an incredible nation that has produced men like Richard 
Howland and you, who in the face of danger wear the uniform of the 
United States of America and step forward in freedom's defense. And I 
thank you for that.
    Since September the 11th, members of the West Virginia Air National 
Guard have earned seven Bronze Stars and four Purple Hearts. Two of 
those Purple Hearts were awarded to Staff Sergeants Brad Runkles and 
Derek Brown. They're here today. You're not related to them, are you? 
[Laughter]
    Brad and Derek are childhood friends. They grew up right here in 
Martinsburg, and they signed up together to serve in the West Virginia 
Guard. In 2004, they were driving together in the lead gun truck of a 
convoy in Iraq when their vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb. Brad and 
Derek made it out, but they suffered burns on their hands and faces. 
They recovered from their wounds, and in May of last year, they both 
reenlisted.
    Today is the day to celebrate courage in the face of adversity. I 
want you to hear what Derek says. He said, ``This war is something that 
has to be done, either over there or here. And I think it's best we 
fight it over there,'' he said. ``I'm proud to serve my country like

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those before me for the cause of freedom.'' America is proud to have 
citizens like Derek and Brad that we call neighbors and friends and 
defenders of the peace.
    And your service is needed. We need for people to volunteer to 
defend America, because in this war, we face dangerous enemies who have 
attacked us here at home. Oh, I know the passage of time has convinced 
some--maybe convinced some that danger doesn't exist. But that's not how 
I see it, and that's not how many of you see it. These people want to 
strike us again. We learned on September the 11th that in the age of 
terror, the best way to do our duty, which is to protect the American 
people, is to go on the offense and stay on the offense. And that's 
exactly what we've been doing against these radicals and extremists.
    It is best that we take the fight to where the enemy lives so we 
don't have to face them where we live. And so, since 9/11, that's 
precisely the strategy we have followed. In Afghanistan, where I know 
some of you have been deployed and some of you are deployed, we removed 
a regime that gave sanctuary and support to Al Qaida as they planned the 
9/11 attacks which killed nearly 3,000 citizens. They found safe haven. 
That's what they like. They like a place where they can plot and plan in 
relatively--in security, all aiming to come and harm the citizens of the 
greatest face for liberty in the world. Today, because we acted, the 
terrorist camps in Afghanistan have been shut down, 25 million people 
have been liberated, and the Afghan people have elected a Government 
that is fighting terrorists, instead of harboring terrorists.
    This enemy of ours--they have got an ideology. They believe in 
something. In other words, the attacks are just a tactic to enable them 
to spread their dark vision of the world. Perhaps one way to 
differentiate between our thoughts is, just think about religion. In the 
great country of the United States, we believe that you should be able 
to worship any way you see fit, that you're equally American regardless 
of your religious beliefs. They believe that if you don't worship the 
way they see it, then they're going to bring you harm.
    We believe in an Almighty; we believe in the freedom for people to 
worship that Almighty. They don't. They don't believe you should worship 
the way you choose. They believe the only way you should worship is the 
way they choose. And therefore, they will do anything they can to spread 
that ideology. And it's our charge, it's our calling to keep the 
pressure on these people, to defend America, and to spread an ideology 
of hope and an ideology of peace so that the kids who came up here to 
give the Pledge of Allegiance will be able to live in peace and 
security.
    There's more than one front in this war against these radicals and 
extremists. And obviously, the toughest threat of all is in Iraq. In 
that country, we removed a cruel dictator who harbored terrorists, paid 
the families of Palestinian suicide bombers, invaded his neighbors, 
defied the United Nations Security Council, pursued and used weapons of 
mass destruction. The world is better off without Saddam Hussein in 
power. And today, U.S. and coalition troops are standing with the 
Iraqis--troops and the nearly 12 million Iraqis who voted for a future 
of peace. We're opposing ruthless enemies who want to bring down Iraq's 
democracy and turn that nation into a terrorist safe haven.
    Earlier this year, I announced a new strategy in Iraq, under the 
leadership of General David Petraeus and new Ambassador Ryan Crocker. 
Our goal is to help the Iraqi Government protect their population so 
they can make progress toward reconciliation and build a free nation 
that respects the rights of its people and upholds the rule of law and 
is an ally against these extremists and terrorists and killers. And so 
we sent reinforcements to help the Iraqis secure their neighborhoods and 
go after the terrorists and insurgents and militias that are inciting 
sectarian violence and help get the capital under control.
    It's a tough fight, but I wouldn't have asked those troops to go 
into harm's way if the fight was not essential to the security of the 
United States of America. Many of the spectacular car bombings and 
killings you see are as a result of Al Qaida, the very same folks that 
attacked us on September the 11th. A major enemy in Iraq is the same 
enemy that dared attack the United States on that fateful day.

[[Page 908]]

    Al Qaida hasn't given up its objectives inside Iraq, and that is to 
cause enough chaos and confusion so America would leave, and they would 
be able to establish their safe haven from which to do two things: to 
further spread their ideology and to plan and plot attacks against the 
United States. If we were to quit Iraq before the job is done, the 
terrorists we are fighting would not declare victory and lay down their 
arms; they would follow us here, home. If we were to allow them to gain 
control of Iraq, they would have control of a nation with massive oil 
reserves, which they could use to fund new attacks and exhort economic 
blackmail on those who didn't kowtow to their wishes. However difficult 
the fight is in Iraq, we must win it. We must succeed for our own sake. 
For the security of our citizens, we must support our troops, we must 
support the Iraqi Government, and we must defeat Al Qaida in Iraq.
    Victory in this struggle will require more patience, more courage, 
and more sacrifice. And we've lost some good men and women in this 
fight. And so on this Fourth of July, we pause to remember the fallen 
and the grieving families they have left behind. We hold them in our 
hearts; we lift them up in our prayers; and we pledge to honor their 
memory by finishing the work for which they have given their life.
    Here at Martinsburg Air National Guard Base, you're living in a 
wonderful and caring community. Over the course of this struggle, you've 
looked out for each other, and you've given strength to each other in 
difficult moments. One of the community leaders making a difference on 
this base is Joy Enders. A couple of you heard of her.
    In case you haven't ever heard of Joy, she's the president of the 
167th Airlift Wing Family Readiness Group. She and other members of the 
group make it their mission to care for the families of our deployed 
guards men and women. Before one recent deployment, they took pictures 
of all the deploying airmen and created iron-on transfers to place on 
pillowcases for the children of the deploying troops. It's a simple act, 
but it's an act of love and compassion that gave the children a sense 
that their moms and dads were nearby, even though they were deployed a 
thousand miles away.
    Our military families miss their moms and dads and husbands and 
wives and sons and daughters. And they look forward to welcoming their 
loved ones home. And we all long for the day when there are far fewer 
service men and women in Iraq. The time will come when Iraq has a 
stable, self-sustaining government that is an ally against these 
extremists and killers. That time will come when the Iraqi people will 
not need the help of 159,000 American troops in their country. Yet 
withdrawing our troops prematurely based on politics, not on the advice 
and recommendation of our military commanders, would not be in our 
national interest. It would hand the enemy a victory and put America's 
security at risk, and that's something we're not going to do.
    Our troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other fronts in the war on 
terror are serving in a cause that is vital and just. And on this Fourth 
of July, I ask every American to find a way to thank the men and women 
who are defending our freedom and the families that support them. There 
are many ways to show your gratitude. There are many ways for our fellow 
citizens to say thanks to the men and women who wear the uniform and 
their families. You can send a care package. You can reach out to a 
military family in your neighborhood with a mom or dad on the 
frontlines. You could ask somebody, ``What can I do to help you? What do 
you need?'' You can carpool. You can be on a bended knee and pray for a 
soldier and their families.
    To help find ways to help, the Department of Defense has set up a 
web site. I would hope our fellow citizens all across the United States 
would call up americasupportsyou.mil. At this web site, 
americasupportsyou.mil, you can learn about efforts in your own 
community as to how you can support our troops.
    As we celebrate our independence on this Fourth, we can have 
confidence in the enduring principles of our founding. The words of the 
declaration hold a promise for all mankind, and those ideals continue to 
inspire millions across the world.
    Recently, Laura and I traveled to Prague, the Czech Republic, where 
I spoke to a conference of dissidents and democratic activists from 17 
nations on 5 continents. I was proud to represent our country at that 
historic

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meeting. I was proud to tell those brave souls that America stands with 
them in their struggle for liberty because we believe in the 
universality of liberty. I personally believe that freedom is a gift 
from an Almighty to every man, woman, and child on the face of the 
Earth.
    I looked out in that audience, and I saw men and women who believe 
in the power of freedom to transform their countries and to remake the 
world. And I saw that those who live in tyranny and yearn for freedom 
still place their hopes in the United States of America.
    For the past 6\1/2\ years, it's been a privilege to be the President 
of such a good and decent nation that inspires and holds out hope for 
people all across the world. It's an awesome experience and a humbling 
experience to hold a powerful office like President. That brings with it 
the great honor of being the Commander in Chief of the finest military 
the world has ever known. Because of the service of our military men and 
women, because our Nation has got a military full of the bravest and 
most decent people that I've ever met, America remains a beacon of hope 
for all around the world; America remains the place where peace has the 
best chance to be encouraged. We're doing the hard work now so 
generations of American kids can grow up in peace. It's necessary work; 
it's important work; and I thank you for your sacrifices.
    May God bless you, and may God bless America.

Note: The President spoke at 9:21 a.m. in the West Virginia Air National 
Guard 167th Airlift Wing C-5 Maintenance Hangar. In his remarks, he 
referred to Maj. Gen. Allen E. Tackett, USA, Adjutant General, West 
Virginia National Guard.