| Draft of Bush Iraq Report Speech : |
| Wednesday, September 12, 2007 |
{ 2007-09-11 } As Gen. David H. Petraeus and U.S. ambassador Ryan Crocker testify this week before Congress about the release of their Iraq progress report, an alleged draft of the upcoming speech by President George Bush has leaked to the media through the usual channels.
Below is the unedited text of the speech scheduled for delivery later this week.
THE PRESIDENT: My fellow Americans, a handful of you this week have listened in on what passes for Congressional hearings. You’ve endured the speeches of politicians who arrived with their minds set in concrete, as bulwarks against the truth. You have watched as one of our nation’s brave, devoted, valiant soldiers was ignored and described (in so many words) as a liar.
These broadcasts brought joy to the caves of al Qaeda, the halls of al-Jazeera, and to the streets of places where 9/11 is celebrated with dancing as the day America was devastated.
If you have watched or listened to these hearings, you can bear witness now that many so-called ‘representatives of the people’ have no clue what the people believe.
These sessions should have brought the nation together to focus on victory and to sound a warning to our enemies that we are united — committed to defend freedom and to defeat freedom’s opponents.
Instead we watched as career fund-raisers and clever lawyers used the opportunity to make moves on a political chessboard.
In Arlington National Cemetery, just a few miles from here, you can visit the Tomb of the Unknown Solider, where the unidentified body of a brave soul rests and receives daily visitors on pilgrimage to honor his sacrifice. On the side of the sarcophagus you can read this inscription:HERE RESTS INHONORED GLORYAN AMERICANSOLDIERKNOWN BUT TO GOD
The Tomb of the Unknowns symbolizes a nation from which millions have arisen to fight for freedom around the world at the cost of their own comfort, safety and even breath. These are folks who know there’s something more precious than this fleeting life. With eternity in their hearts, and pictures of loved ones in their wallets, they thrust themselves into the breach where evil had threatened to break out and overwhelm. They showed themselves willing to go the distance, even to go to a nameless grave, in order to preserve something with blood that can’t be bought with money, or negotiated with subtle speech.
You can search all of the cemeteries, public parks and national monuments across this land and never find a marble or bronze tribute to a soldier who fled the field of battle because his courage failed, his hope gave out, or political expediency drove him to retreat.
You’ll find no statues honoring those who succumbed to public pressure, steered a middle course to safety, sacrificed their honor in order to achieve unprincipled consensus.
There is no tomb of the unknown politician, because the politician’s stock-in-trade is to make himself known at all costs, even if it hurts the anonymous citizen whom he is called to represent…even if it steals the glory from the unknown soldier by yanking the rug on the doorstep of victory.
There are no such memorials because Americans are a people who pay tribute to valor, boldness, integrity and victory against all odds. We are a people who treasure the rough-and-ready attitude of men who train to kill in order to protect — men who conquer in order to restore, and who never claim an inch of subdued territory for themselves.
This week’s congressional hearings might lead you to believe that the important issues in this current conflict are body counts, troop counts and withdrawal dates.
For the United States military and the people in whose name they fight, the important issue is always and only victory.
But the cynics in Congress and their publicists in the news media have seemingly convinced us that this war is un-winnable and the best we can hope for is so-called ‘peace with honor’, which is synonymous with retreat. This mindset demonstrates a colossal ignorance of history.
Rarely have we engaged in a battle whose outcome was certain from the beginning. Often war has taken us to the brink, and stretched us beyond all known human limits. Yet, by the grace of God, we have prevailed.
And in this current battle in Iraq, part of the larger war on Islamic jihad, we shall prevail…not because it seems from today’s vantage point that we can, but because we must. The alternative is too bleak for words.
Two thousand one hundred and ninety days have slipped by since lower Manhattan slipped below the cloud of dust and smoke thrown up by the falling towers. The initial shock, outrage, grief and unity have begun to fade. As a result, we now face a threat worse than any individual attack. It’s called complacency. It’s the attitude that since nothing has happened to us here since 9/11, nothing will. It’s a suicide potion that politicians, pundits and pollsters dispense, and that far too many Americans have drunk.
If you think Iraq is just a trivial civil war that we have gone to referee, then ponder what your life will be like when the kind of people who blew up and crushed 3,000 Americans in a single morning have access to one of the world’s largest oil reserves.
If they could plan 9/11 from caves and primitive mountain training camps, what will they do when they possess a land of 25 million people with factories, farms, airports, barracks and huge numbers of munitions.
This is not an intramural scrimmage. This is the most important contest the world will ever see.
We must win.
That’s not a topic for debate, or a political position. It is the most compelling fact of our time: We must win.
My fellow politicians in Congress, as we enjoy the luxury of playing the electoral game, seeking power, influence and fame; please realize that we can do that only because our military has surrounded us with a blanket of protection. The terrorists who plant roadside bombs in Iraq are eager to see how those explosive devices work against Congressional limousines here in the streets of D.C.. Shall we let them?
This week, some in Congress have appeared on global TV and questioned the integrity of a four-star general, and told our enemies that the U.S. Commander in Chief has sent his lackey to Congress to lie for him.
Whose cause do you advance with those verbal tactics?
Which side rejoices to hear such words?
What great objective can be accomplished through such speech?
They say history is written by the victors. When you envision this page of history being recorded, thanks to a grant from the National History Foundation of the Islamic Republic of America, no doubt you can already hear the accolades.
Recent polls show that 64 percent of Americans oppose the war. Let me tell you, on behalf of Gen. David Petraeus and the men and women who fight under the banner of freedom, 100 percent of our troops oppose the war. Our troops would rather be home holding their babies, mowing their lawns, taking the boys to football practice, eating a home-cooked meal.
But war has been declared on us. In time of war you do what you hate to preserve what you love.
In time of war, the question is never, ‘How soon can we bring the troops home?’ The question is: ‘How can we win?’ The question is: ‘What will it take to crush the enemy to the point of absolute surrender or impotent insignificance?’
Our troops understand what they signed up for. It’s about time our politicians figured it out.
May God continue to bless America with clear minds, selfless love, and the freedom to exercise both.
George W. Bush
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posted by Sarge @ 8:43 AM   |
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