Remarks by the President at the United States Air Force Academy Graduation Ceremony (Transcript )

White House Website ^ | June 2, 2004 | President Bush

[CO06]

730 days 'til I graduate...It's the little things in life.

[mondoman]

In the years immediately after World War II ended, our nation faced more adversity and danger with the rise of imperial communism. In 1947, communist forces were pressing a civil war in Greece, and threatening Turkey. More than two years after the Nazi surrender, there was still starvation in Germany, reconstruction seemed to be faltering, and the Marshall Plan had not yet begun. In 1948, Berlin was blockaded on the orders of Josef Stalin. In 1949, the Soviet Union exploded a nuclear weapon, and communists in China won their revolution.

All of this took place in the first four years of the Cold War. If that generation of Americans had lost its nerve, there would have been no "long twilight struggle," only a long twilight. But the United States and our allies kept faith with captive peoples, and stayed true to the vision of a democratic Europe. And that perseverance gave all the world a lesson in the power of liberty. (Applause.)

We are now about three years into the war against terrorism. We have overcome great challenges, we face many today, and there are more ahead. This is no time for impatience and self-defeating pessimism. These times demand the kind of courage and confidence that Americans have shown before. Our enemy can only succeed if we lose our will and faith in our own values. And ladies and gentlemen, our will is strong. We know our duty. By keeping our word, and holding firm to our values, this generation will show the world the power of liberty once again.

This is the message that needs to be repeated loud and often.

[Shazolene]

Actually, the people of Iraq did protest against terrorism, see Iraq the Model (iraqthemodel@blogspot.com, I believe). There were 25,000 people out there. Yes, at risk of their lives. The media, of course, did not report it.

[kjvail]

An infintessimally small number of the world's 1.2 + billion practicing Muslims are engaged in violent activity. We don't run our American foreign policy based on bigotry.

No, apparently we run it based on a head-in-the-sand politically-correct fantasies like the existance of 'moderate' Islam. There's no such thing! Islam, the doctrine itself is fundamentally evil.

I don't recall us running around saying 'oh Communism is a wonderful belief system we just don't like the radical Communists' (well, perhaps some Democrats did and still do say that). We won that battle of idealogies when Reagan stood up and called it was it was - an evil empire.

It is possible that there maybe as many committed Muslims in the ME as there were committed Communists in the USSR - Islam is all about mandatory observances and many countries in the ME have 'religious police' that will arrest those that don't at least give lip services to these observances. However that only illustrates the intrinstic evil of the doctrine of Islam it doesn't excuse it. Islam must be discredited and placed into the ash heap of history along side Communism and Fascism.

[Barlowmaker]

Actually, the people of Iraq did protest against terrorism, see Iraq the Model (iraqthemodel@blogspot.com, I believe). There were 25,000 people out there. Yes, at risk of their lives. The media, of course, did not report it.

That's crucially important to note. Thank you.

[ken in texas]

And today you should be at 728. See how fast time flies? :-)

[CO06]

It's the little things. :)
Goin' home tomorrow for 3 weeks of leave!