[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 44, Number 37 (Monday, September 22, 2008)]
[Page 1218]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Remarks Following a Meeting With Multi-National Force--Iraq Former 
Commander General David H. Petraeus

September 17, 2008

    The President. The United States is fortunate to have great men and 
women who volunteer to serve in a time of danger. I have been incredibly 
impressed by the sacrifice of our troops who have been put in harm's 
way, and I've been incredibly impressed by the level of leadership for 
those troops.
    General David Petraeus was asked to do a very difficult job, and he 
did it with distinction and honor. He was a part of the planning for the 
surge. He implemented the surge, along with a lot of other brave people, 
and the United States and the world is better off because of it.
    And now the General has agreed to be commander of CENTCOM, which 
oversees the very important part of the world, the Middle East. And I 
want to thank you for taking on that assignment, General.
    Recently, we saw how important it is, with the attack on our Embassy 
in Yemen. There were some security forces that lost their lives there, 
and we send our condolences to their families. This attack is a reminder 
that we are at war with extremists who will murder innocent people to 
achieve their ideological objectives. One objectives of these extremists 
is they kill; is to try to cause the United States to lose our nerve and 
to withdraw from regions of the world. And our message is, is that we 
want to help governments survive the extremists. We want people to live 
normal lives. We want mothers to be able to raise their sons and 
daughters in a peaceful environment so they can realize the hopes and 
dreams of a better world.
    And I want to thank our diplomats who stand in harm's way. I thank 
our military who stands in harm's way. And I want to thank General 
Petraeus and his family for being so dedicated to our great country.
    General.
    General Petraeus. Thanks, Mr. President. Great to be home, sir. And 
it was a great privilege to serve there with our young men and women.
    The President. God bless you. Thank you.

Note: The President spoke at 11:53 a.m. in the Oval Office at the White 
House. The Office of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish 
language transcript of these remarks.