[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 43, Number 34 (Monday, August 27, 2007)]
[Pages 1107-1114]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks at the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Convention in Kansas 
City, Missouri

August 22, 2007

    Thank you all. Please be seated. It's good to be with you again. I 
understand you haven't had much of a problem attracting speakers. 
[Laughter]
    I thank you for inviting me. I can understand why people want to 
come here. See, it's an honor to stand with the men and women of the 
Veterans of Foreign Wars. The VFW is one of our Nation's finest 
organizations. You belong to an elite group of Americans. You belong to 
a group of people who have defended America overseas. You have fought in 
places from Normandy to Iwo Jima to Pusan to Khe Sahn to Kuwait to 
Somalia, Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq. You brought security to the 
American people. You brought hope to millions across the world.
    As members of this proud organization, you are advocates for the 
rights of our military veterans, a model of community service, and a 
strong and important voice for a strong national defense. I thank you 
for your service. I thank you for what you've done for the United States 
of America.
    I stand before you as a wartime President. I wish I didn't have to 
say that, but an enemy that attacked us on September the 11th, 2001, 
declared war on the United States of America. And war is what we're 
engaged in. The struggle has been called a clash of civilizations. In 
truth, it's a struggle for civilization. We fight for a free way of life 
against a new barbarism, an ideology whose followers have killed 
thousands on American soil and seek to kill again on even a greater 
scale.
    We fight for the possibility that decent men and women across the 
broader Middle East can realize their destiny and raise up societies 
based on freedom and justice and personal dignity. And as long as I'm 
Commander in Chief, we will fight to win. I'm confident that we will 
prevail. I'm confident we'll prevail because we have the greatest force 
for human liberation the world has ever known, the men and women of the 
United States Armed Forces.
    For those of you who wear the uniform, nothing makes me more proud 
to say that I am your Commander in Chief. Thank you for volunteering in 
the service of the United States of America.
    Now I know some people doubt the universal appeal of liberty or 
worry that the Middle East isn't ready for it. Others believe that 
America's presence is destabilizing and that if the United States would 
just leave a place

[[Page 1108]]

like Iraq, those who kill our troops or target civilians would no longer 
threaten us. Today I'm going to address these arguments. I'm going to 
describe why helping the young democracies of the Middle East stand up 
to violent Islamic extremists is the only realistic path to a safer 
world for the American people. I'm going to try to provide some 
historical perspective to show there is a precedent for the hard and 
necessary work we're doing and why I have such confidence in the fact 
that we'll be successful.
    Before I do so, I want to thank the national commander-in-chief of 
the VFW and his wife, Nancy. It's been a joy to work with Gary and the 
staff. As Gary said, ``We don't necessarily agree a hundred percent of 
the time.'' I remember the old Lieutenant Governor of Texas, a Democrat, 
and I was a Republican Governor. He said, ``Governor, if we agreed 100 
percent of the time, one of us wouldn't be necessary.'' [Laughter]
    But here's what we do agree on: We agree our veterans deserve the 
full support of the United States Government. We agree that those who--
[applause]. That's why in this budget I submitted there's $87 billion 
for the veterans. It's the highest level of support ever for the 
veterans in American history. We agree that health care for our veterans 
is a top priority, and that's why we've increased health care spending 
for our veterans by 83 percent since I was sworn in as your President. 
We agree that a troop coming out of Iraq or Afghanistan deserves the 
best health care, not only as an active duty citizen but as a military 
guy, but as--also as a veteran--and you're going to get the best health 
care we can possibly provide. We agree our homeless vets ought to have 
shelter, and that's what we're providing. In other words, we agree the 
veterans deserve the full support of our Government, and that's what 
you're going to get as George W. Bush as your President.
    I want to thank Bob Wallace, the executive director. He spends a lot 
of time in the Oval Office. I'm always checking the silverware drawer. 
[Laughter] He's going to be bringing in George Lisicki here soon. He's 
going to be the national commander-in-chief for my next year in office. 
And I'm looking forward to working with George, and I'm looking forward 
to working with Wallace, and I'm looking forward to hearing from you. 
They're going to find an openminded President dedicated to doing what's 
right.
    I appreciate the fact--[applause]. I appreciate Linda Meader, the 
national president of the Ladies Auxiliary--she brought old Dave with 
her--Virginia Carman, the incoming president.
    I want to thank Deputy Secretary of the Veterans Affairs Gordon 
Mansfield for joining us today. I appreciate the United States Senator 
from the State of Missouri, strong supporter of the military and strong 
supporter of the veterans, Kit Bond. Two Members of the Congress have 
kindly showed up today. I'm proud they're both here: Congressman Emanuel 
Cleaver--no finer man, no more decent a fellow than Emanuel Cleaver--is 
with us and a great Congressman from right around the corner here, 
Congressman Sam Graves. Thank you all for coming.
    Lieutenant General Jack Stultz, commanding general, U.S. Army 
Reserve Command, is with us today. General, thanks for coming. 
Lieutenant General Bill Caldwell, commanding general, Fort Leavenworth, 
Kansas, is with us today as well. General Caldwell, thank you for your 
service.
    Thank you all for letting me come by. I want to open today's speech 
with a story that begins on a sunny morning, when thousands of Americans 
were murdered in a surprise attack and our Nation was propelled into a 
conflict that would take us to every corner of the globe.
    The enemy who attacked us despises freedom and harbors resentment at 
the slights he believes America and the Western nations have inflicted 
on his people. He fights to establish his rule over an entire region. 
And over time, he turns to a strategy of suicide attacks destined to 
create so much carnage that the American people will tire of the 
violence and give up the fight.
    If this story sounds familiar, it is, except for one thing. The 
enemy I have just described is not Al Qaida, and the attack is not 9/11, 
and the empire is not the radical caliphate envisioned by Usama bin 
Laden. Instead, what I've described is the war machine of

[[Page 1109]]

Imperial Japan in the 1940s, its surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, and 
its attempt to impose its empire throughout East Asia.
    Ultimately, the United States prevailed in World War II, and we have 
fought two more land wars in Asia. And many in this hall were veterans 
of those campaigns. Yet even the most optimistic among you probably 
would not have foreseen that the Japanese would transform themselves 
into one of America's strongest and most steadfast allies, or that the 
South Koreans would recover from enemy invasion to raise up one of the 
world's most powerful economies, or that Asia would pull itself out of 
poverty and hopelessness as it embraced markets and freedom.
    The lesson from Asia's development is that the heart's desire for 
liberty will not be denied. Once people even get a small taste of 
liberty, they're not going to rest until they're free. Today's dynamic 
and hopeful Asia--a region that brings us countless benefits--would not 
have been possible without America's presence and perseverance. And it 
would not have been possible without the veterans in this hall today, 
and I thank you for your service.
    There are many differences between the wars we fought in the Far 
East and the war on terror we're fighting today. But one important 
similarity is, at their core, they're ideological struggles. The 
militarists of Japan and the Communists in Korea and Vietnam were driven 
by a merciless vision for the proper ordering of humanity. They killed 
Americans because we stood in the way of their attempt to force their 
ideology on others.
    Today, the names and places have changed, but the fundamental 
character of the struggle has not changed. Like our enemies in the past, 
the terrorists who wage war in Iraq and Afghanistan and other places 
seek to spread a political vision of their own, a harsh plan for life 
that crushes freedom, tolerance, and dissent. Like our enemies in the 
past, they kill Americans because we stand in their way of imposing this 
ideology across a vital region of the world. This enemy is dangerous; 
this enemy is determined; and this enemy will be defeated.
    We're still in the early hours of the current ideological struggle, 
but we do know how the others ended, and that knowledge helps guide our 
efforts today. The ideals and interests that led America to help the 
Japanese turn defeat into democracy are the same that lead us to remain 
engaged in Afghanistan and Iraq.
    The defense strategy that refused to hand the South Koreans over to 
a totalitarian neighbor helped raise up a Asian Tiger that is the model 
for developing countries across the world, including the Middle East. 
The result of American sacrifice and perseverance in Asia is a freer, 
more prosperous, and stable continent, whose people want to live in 
peace with America, not attack America.
    At the outset of World War II, there were only two democracies in 
the Far East, Australia and New Zealand. Today, most of the nations in 
Asia are free, and its democracies reflect the diversity of the region. 
Some of these nations have constitutional monarchies, some have 
parliaments, and some have presidents. Some are Christian, some are 
Muslim, some are Hindu, and some are Buddhist. Yet for all the 
differences, the free nations of Asia all share one thing in common: 
Their governments derive their authority from the consent of the 
governed, and they desire to live in peace with their neighbors.
    Along the way to this freer and more hopeful Asia, there were a lot 
of doubters. Many times in the decades that followed World War II, 
American policy in Asia was dismissed as hopeless and naive. And when we 
listen to the criticism of the difficult work that our generation is 
undertaking in the Middle East today, we can hear the echoes of the same 
arguments made about the Far East years ago.
    In the aftermath of Japan's surrender, many thought it naive to help 
the Japanese transform themselves into a democracy. Then as now, the 
critics argued that some people were simply not fit for freedom.
    Some said Japanese culture was inherently incompatible with 
democracy. Joseph Grew, a former United States Ambassador to Japan who 
served as Harry Truman's Under Secretary of State, told the President 
flatly that--and I quote--``democracy in Japan would never work.'' He 
wasn't alone in that belief. A lot of Americans believed that, and

[[Page 1110]]

so did the Japanese--a lot of Japanese believed the same thing: 
Democracy simply wouldn't work.
    Other critics said that Americans were imposing their ideals on the 
Japanese. For example, Japan's Vice Prime Minister asserted that 
allowing Japanese women to vote would ``retard the progress of Japanese 
politics.'' It's interesting what General MacArthur wrote in his 
memoirs. He wrote, ``There was much criticism of my support for the 
enfranchisement of women. Many Americans, as well as many other so-
called experts, expressed the view that Japanese women were too steeped 
in the tradition of subservience to their husbands to act with any 
degree of political independence.'' That's what General MacArthur 
observed. In the end, Japanese women were given the vote; 39 women won 
parliamentary seats in Japan's first free election. Today, Japan's 
Minister of Defense is a woman, and just last month, a record number of 
women were elected to Japan's Upper House. Other critics argued that 
democracy--[applause].
    There are other critics, believe it or not, that argue that 
democracy could not succeed in Japan because the national religion, 
Shinto, was too fanatical and rooted in the Emperor. Senator Richard 
Russell denounced the Japanese faith and said that if we did not put the 
Emperor on trial, ``any steps we may take to create democracy are doomed 
to failure.'' The State Department's man in Tokyo put it bluntly: ``The 
Emperor system must disappear if Japan is ever really to be 
democratic.''
    Those who said Shinto was incompatible with democracy were mistaken. 
And fortunately, Americans and Japanese leaders recognized it at the 
time, because instead of suppressing the Shinto faith, American 
authorities worked with the Japanese to institute religious freedom for 
all faiths. Instead of abolishing the imperial throne, Americans and 
Japanese worked together to find a place for the Emperor in the 
democratic political system.
    And the result of all these steps was that every Japanese citizen 
gained freedom of religion, and the Emperor remained on his throne, and 
Japanese democracy grew stronger because it embraced a cherished part of 
Japanese culture. And today, in defiance of the critics and the doubters 
and the skeptics, Japan retains its religions and cultural traditions 
and stands as one of the world's greatest free societies.
    You know, the experts sometimes get it wrong. An interesting 
observation, one historian put it--he said, ``Had these erstwhile 
experts''--he was talking about people criticizing the efforts to help 
Japan realize the blessings of a free society--he said, ``Had these 
erstwhile experts had their way, the very notion of inducing a 
democratic revolution would have died of ridicule at an early stage.''
    Instead, I think it's important to look at what happened. A 
democratic Japan has brought peace and prosperity to its people. Its 
foreign trade and investment have helped jump-start the economies of 
others in the region. The alliance between our two nations is the 
linchpin for freedom and stability throughout the Pacific. And I want 
you to listen carefully to this final point: Japan has transformed from 
America's enemy in the ideological struggle of the 20th century to one 
of America's strongest allies in the ideological struggle of the 21st 
century.
    Critics also complained when America intervened to save South Korea 
from Communist invasion. Then as now, the critics argued that the war 
was futile, that we should never have sent our troops in, or they argued 
that America's intervention was divisive here at home.
    After the North Koreans crossed the 38th Parallel in 1950, President 
Harry Truman came to the defense of the South, and he found himself 
attacked from all sides. From the left, I.F. Stone wrote a book 
suggesting that the South Koreans were the real aggressors and that we 
had entered the war on a false pretext. From the right, Republicans 
vacillated. Initially, the leader of the Republican Party in the Senate 
endorsed Harry Truman's action, saying, ``I welcome the indication of a 
more definite policy.'' He went on to say, ``I strongly hope that having 
adopted it, the President may maintain it intact,'' then later said, 
``It was a mistake originally to go into Korea because it meant a land 
war.''

[[Page 1111]]

    Throughout the war, the Republicans really never had a clear 
position. They never could decide whether they wanted the United States 
to withdraw from the war in Korea or expand the war to the Chinese 
mainland. Others complained that our troops weren't getting the support 
from the Government. One Republican Senator said the effort was just 
``bluff and bluster.'' He rejected calls to come together in a time of 
war on the grounds that, ``We will not allow the cloak of national unity 
to be wrapped around horrible blunders.''
    Many in the press agreed. One columnist in the Washington Post said, 
``The fact is that the conduct of the Korean war has been shot through 
with errors great and small.'' A colleague wrote that, ``Korea is an 
open wound. It's bleeding, and there's no cure for it in sight.'' He 
said that the American people could not understand ``why Americans are 
doing about 95 percent of the fighting in Korea.''
    Many of these criticisms were offered as reasons for abandoning our 
commitments in Korea. And while it's true the Korean war had its share 
of challenges, the United States never broke its word.
    Today, we see the result of a sacrifice of people in this room in 
the stark contrast of life on the Korean Peninsula. Without Americans' 
intervention during the war and our willingness to stick with the South 
Koreans after the war, millions of South Koreans would now be living 
under a brutal and repressive regime. The Soviets and Chinese Communists 
would have learned the lesson that aggression pays. The world would be 
facing a more dangerous situation. The world would be less peaceful.
    Instead, South Korea is a strong, democratic ally of the United 
States of America. South Korean troops are serving side by side with 
American forces in Afghanistan and in Iraq. And America can count on the 
free people of South Korea to be lasting partners in the ideological 
struggle we're facing in the beginning of the 21st century.
    For those of you who served in Korea, thank you for your sacrifice, 
and thank you for your service.
    Finally, there's Vietnam. This is a complex and painful subject for 
many Americans. The tragedy of Vietnam is too large to be contained in 
one speech. So I'm going to limit myself to one argument that has 
particular significance today. Then as now, people argued the real 
problem was America's presence and that if we would just withdraw, the 
killing would end.
    The argument that America's presence in Indochina was dangerous had 
a long pedigree. In 1955, long before the United States had entered the 
war, Graham Greene wrote a novel called ``The Quiet American.'' It was 
set in Saigon, and the main character was a young Government agent named 
Alden Pyle. He was a symbol of American purpose and patriotism and 
dangerous naivete. Another character describes Alden this way: ``I never 
knew a man who had better motives for all the trouble he caused.''
    After America entered the Vietnam war, the Graham Greene argument 
gathered some steam. As a matter of fact, many argued that if we pulled 
out, there would be no consequences for the Vietnamese people.
    In 1972, one antiwar Senator put it this way: ``What earthly 
difference does it make to nomadic tribes or uneducated subsistence 
farmers in Vietnam or Cambodia or Laos whether they have a military 
dictator, a royal prince, or a socialist commissar in some distant 
capital that they've never seen and may never heard of?'' A columnist 
for the New York Times wrote in a similar vein in 1975, just as Cambodia 
and Vietnam were falling to the Communists: ``It's difficult to 
imagine,'' he said, ``how their lives could be anything but better with 
the Americans gone.'' A headline on that story, dated Phnom Penh, summed 
up the argument: ``Indochina Without Americans: For Most a Better 
Life.''
    The world would learn just how costly these misimpressions would be. 
In Cambodia, the Khmer Rouge began a murderous rule in which hundreds of 
thousands of Cambodians died by starvation and torture and execution. In 
Vietnam, former allies of the United States and government workers and 
intellectuals and businessmen were sent off to prison camps, where tens 
of thousands perished. Hundreds of thousands more fled the country on 
rickety boats, many of them going to their graves in the South China 
Sea.

[[Page 1112]]

    Three decades later, there is a legitimate debate about how we got 
into the Vietnam war and how we left. There's no debate in my mind that 
the veterans from Vietnam deserve the high praise of the United States 
of America. Whatever your position is on that debate, one unmistakable 
legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by 
millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary 
new terms like ``boat people,'' ``reeducation camps,'' and ``killing 
fields.''
    There was another price to our withdrawal from Vietnam, and we can 
hear it in the words of the enemy we face in today's struggle--those who 
came to our soil and killed thousands of citizens on September the 11th, 
2001. In an interview with a Pakistani newspaper after the 9/11 attacks, 
Usama bin Laden declared that ``the American people had risen against 
their Government's war in Vietnam, and they must do the same today.''
    His number-two man, Zawahiri, has also invoked Vietnam. In a letter 
to Al Qaida's chief of operations in Iraq, Zawahiri pointed to ``the 
aftermath of the collapse of the American power in Vietnam and how they 
ran and left their agents.''
    Zawahiri later returned to this theme, declaring that the Americans 
``know better than others that there is no hope in victory. The Vietnam 
specter is closing every outlet.'' Here at home, some can argue our 
withdrawal from Vietnam carried no price to American credibility, but 
the terrorists see it differently.
    We must remember the words of the enemy. We must listen to what they 
say. Bin Laden has declared that ``the war [in Iraq] is for you or us to 
win. If we win it, it means your disgrace and defeat forever.'' Iraq is 
one of several fronts in the war on terror, but it's the central front. 
It's the central front for the enemy that attacked us and wants to 
attack us again, and it's the central front for the United States. And 
to withdraw without getting the job done would be devastating.
    If we were to abandon the Iraqi people, the terrorists would be 
emboldened and use their victory to gain new recruits. As we saw on 
September the 11th, a terrorist safe haven on the other side of the 
world can bring death and destruction to the streets of our own cities. 
Unlike in Vietnam, if we withdraw before the job is done, this enemy 
will follow us home. And that is why, for the security of the United 
States of America, we must defeat them overseas so we do not face them 
in the United States of America.
    Recently, two men who were on the opposite sides of the debate over 
the Vietnam war came together to write an article. One was a member of 
President Nixon's foreign policy team and the other was a fierce critic 
of the Nixon administration's policies. Together they wrote that the 
consequences of an American defeat in Iraq would be disastrous.
    Here's what they said: ``Defeat would produce an explosion of 
euphoria among all the forces of Islamic extremism, throwing the entire 
Middle East into even greater upheaval. The likely human and strategic 
costs are appalling to contemplate. Perhaps that is why so much of the 
current debate seeks to ignore these consequences.'' I believe these men 
are right.
    In Iraq, our moral obligations and our strategic interests are one. 
So we pursue the extremists wherever we find them, and we stand with the 
Iraqis at this difficult hour, because the shadow of terror will never 
be lifted from our world and the American people will never be safe 
until the people of the Middle East know the freedom that our Creator 
meant for all.
    I recognize that history cannot predict the future with absolute 
certainty. I understand that. But history does remind us that there are 
lessons applicable to our time. And we can learn something from history. 
In Asia, we saw freedom triumph over violent ideologies after the 
sacrifice of tens of thousands of American lives--and that freedom has 
yielded peace for generations.
    The American military graveyards across Europe attest to the 
terrible human cost in the fight against nazism. They also attest to the 
triumph of a continent that today is whole, free, and at peace. The 
advance of freedom in these lands should give us confidence that the 
hard work we are doing in the Middle East can have the same results 
we've seen in Asia and elsewhere--if we show the same perseverance and 
the same sense of purpose.

[[Page 1113]]

    In a world where the terrorists are willing to act on their twisted 
beliefs with sickening acts of barbarism, we must put faith in the 
timeless truths about human nature that have made us free.
    Across the Middle East, millions of ordinary citizens are tired of 
war; they're tired of dictatorship and corruption; they're tired of 
despair. They want societies where they're treated with dignity and 
respect, where their children have the hope for a better life. They want 
nations where their faiths are honored and they can worship in freedom.
    And that is why millions of Iraqis and Afghans turned out to the 
polls--millions turned out to the polls. And that's why their leaders 
have stepped forward at the risk of assassination. And that's why tens 
of thousands are joining the security forces of their nations. These men 
and women are taking great risks to build a free and peaceful Middle 
East, and for the sake of our own security, we must not abandon them.
    There is one group of people who understand the stakes, understand 
as well as any expert, anybody in America--those are the men and women 
who wear the uniform. Through nearly 6 years of war, they have performed 
magnificently. Day after day, hour after hour, they keep the pressure on 
the enemy that would do our citizens harm. They've overthrown two of the 
most brutal tyrannies of the world and liberated more than 50 million 
citizens.
    In Iraq, our troops are taking the fight to the extremists and 
radicals and murderers all throughout the country. Our troops have 
killed or captured an average of more than 1,500 Al Qaida terrorists and 
other extremists every month since January of this year. We're in the 
fight. Today, our troops are carrying out a surge that is helping bring 
former Sunni insurgents into the fight against the extremists and 
radicals, into the fight against Al Qaida, into the fight against the 
enemy that would do us harm. They're clearing out the terrorists out of 
population centers; they're giving families in liberated Iraqi cities a 
look at a decent and hopeful life.
    Our troops are seeing this progress that is being made on the 
ground. And as they take the initiative from the enemy, they have a 
question: Will their elected leaders in Washington pull the rug out from 
under them just as they're gaining momentum and changing the dynamic on 
the ground in Iraq? Here's--my answer is clear: We'll support our 
troops; we'll support our commanders; and we will give them everything 
they need to succeed.
    Despite the mistakes that have been made, despite the problems we 
have encountered, seeing the Iraqis through as they build their 
democracy is critical to keeping the American people safe from the 
terrorists who want to attack us. It is critical work to lay the 
foundation for peace that veterans have done before you all.
    A free Iraq is not going to be perfect. A free Iraq will not make 
decisions as quickly as the country did under the dictatorship. Many are 
frustrated by the pace of progress in Baghdad, and I can understand 
this. As I noted yesterday, the Iraqi Government is distributing oil 
revenues across its Provinces despite not having an oil revenue law on 
its books, that the Parliament has passed about 60 pieces of 
legislation.
    Prime Minister Maliki is a good guy, a good man with a difficult 
job, and I support him. And it's not up to the politicians in 
Washington, DC, to say whether he will remain in his position--that is 
up to the Iraqi people, who now live in a democracy and not a 
dictatorship. A free Iraq is not going to transform the Middle East 
overnight. But a free Iraq will be a massive defeat for Al Qaida; it 
will be an example that provides hope for millions throughout the Middle 
East; it will be a friend of the United States; and it's going to be an 
important ally in the ideological struggle of the 21st century.
    Prevailing in this struggle is essential to our future as a nation. 
And the question now that comes before us is this: Will today's 
generation of Americans resist the allure of retreat, and will we do in 
the Middle East what the veterans in this room did in Asia?
    The journey is not going to be easy, as the veterans fully 
understand. At the outset of the war in the Pacific, there were those 
who argued that freedom had seen its day and that the future belonged to 
the hard men in Tokyo. A year and a half before the attack on Pearl 
Harbor, Japan's Foreign Minister

[[Page 1114]]

gave a hint of things to come during an interview with a New York 
newspaper. He said, ``In the battle between democracy and 
totalitarianism, the latter adversary will without question win and will 
control the world. The era of democracy is finished, the democratic 
system bankrupt.''
    In fact, the war machines of Imperial Japan would be brought down--
brought down by good folks who only months before had been students and 
farmers and bank clerks and factory hands. Some are in the room today. 
Others here have been inspired by their fathers and grandfathers and 
uncles and cousins.
    That generation of Americans taught the tyrants a telling lesson: 
There is no power like the power of freedom and no soldier as strong as 
a soldier who fights for a free future for his children. And when 
America's work on the battlefield was done, the victorious children of 
democracy would help our defeated enemies rebuild and bring the taste of 
freedom to millions.
    We can do the same for the Middle East. Today, the violent Islamic 
extremists who fight us in Iraq are as certain of their cause as the 
Nazis or the Imperial Japanese or the Soviet Communists were of theirs. 
They are destined for the same fate.
    The greatest weapon in the arsenal of democracy is the desire for 
liberty written into the human heart by our Creator. So long as we 
remain true to our ideals, we will defeat the extremists in Iraq and 
Afghanistan. We will help those countries' people stand up functioning 
democracies in the heart of the broader Middle East. And when that hard 
work is done and the critics of today recede from memory, the cause of 
freedom will be stronger, a vital region will be brighter, and the 
American people will be safer.
    Thank you, and God bless.

Note: The President spoke at 9:46 a.m. at the Kansas City Convention and 
Entertainment Center. In his remarks, he referred to Gary Kurpius, 
outgoing commander-in-chief, and George J. Lisicki, incoming commander-
in-chief, Veterans of Foreign Wars; Robert E. Wallace, executive 
director, Veterans of Foreign Wars Washington Office; Usama bin Laden, 
leader of the Al Qaida terrorist organization; Minister of Defense 
Yuriko Koike of Japan; and Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki of Iraq.