Posted on 03/07/2005 9:05:51 PM PST by TexKat
Members of Alpha Task Force, 2nd Squadron, 11th Armored Cavalry Unit, hand out candy while providing security for the 155th Brigade Combat Team Psychological Operations team after conducting raids of multiple targets located in the city of Hashwah, Iraq, on March 5, 2005. U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 1st Class Brien Aho
Published: 3/8/2005:
HILLA, Iraq - An oil pipeline feeding Al-Dura refinery south of Baghdad was blown up Tuesday near Jorf al-Sakhr, 60 kilometres (35 miles) south of the capital, an Iraqi oil official said.
"Unknown assailants placed explosives on the 'strategic' pipeline," said Muayyed al-Shemmari, a local oil official.
The blast occurred at 1 pm (1000 GMT) and firemen were called to the scene, Shemmari said.
It was not immediately clear how the rupture would affect the Dura refinery, which feeds a neighboring power plant that supplies electricity to Baghdad.
In recent months insurgents have intensified their attacks on Iraq's oil infrastructure, targeting crucial pipeline sections and vehicle convoys carrying fuel.
03/08/2005 13:41 GMT
AFP and Turkish Press
Good morning Gucho, all
Iraqi policemen and an Italian soldier discuss in Nasiriyah. A senior Iraqi official was gunned down in Baghdad after a day of attacks waged by insurgents against the country's security services that left at least 27 people dead.(AFP/Essam al-Sudani)
Senior Iraqi official slain, 15 headless corpses found
BAGHDAD (AFP) - Al-Qaeda militants gunned down a senior Iraqi offical and soldiers discovered 15 beheaded bodies as the furore over the US shooting of an Italian intelligence agent threatened to carve a deep rift between Washington and Rome.
The US military's conduct in Iraq was under scrutiny over the shooting of the Italian and a Bulgarian soldier in a separate incident, and a video of soldiers abusing at least one wounded prisoner.
On the policial front, a senior Shiite official said the country's new government lineup would be unveiled after the first freely elected parliament in half a century convenes on March 16.
The deputy director of the Iraqi interior ministry's naturalisation department, Ghazi Mohammed Issa, was killed in broad daylight outside his Baghdad home by masked gunmen in a car, ministry official Sabah Kadhim said.
The assassination was claimed in a statement posted on the Internet by Al-Qaeda's group in Iraq, headed by Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It was impossible to verify its accuracy.
More than 1,300 police and national guards have been killed by rebels since the fall of Saddam in April 2003.
Meanwhile, the Iraqi army said it found 15 beheaded corpses, both men and women, on an old military base near Latifiyah, south of Baghdad.
The corpses were found during an army raid on the old Hatin army base, now believed to be used by insurgents, said Captain Mohammed Abdul Hussein al-Saedi.
The soldiers launched the operation after reports some Shiite pilgrims on their way to the holy cities of Karbala and Najaf had disappeared near Latifiyah, around 40 kilometres (30 miles) from Baghdad, where rebels frequently launch attacks.
In Rome, Italian Foreign Minister Gianfranco Fini demanded answers over the differences in US and Italian versions of the killing of intelligence agent Nicola Calipari and wounding of freed journalist Guiliana Sgrena Friday by US soldiers at a Baghdad checkpoint.
Fini dismissed Washington's view that the incident could be blamed on miscommunication and said the United States must "identify and punish" the soldiers who opened fire on the Italian convoy.
An experienced operator in Iraq, Calipari had made "all the necessary contacts" with US authorities in Baghdad, he said.
"We ask for truth and justice," Fini said, although he rejected allegations that the US soldiers had deliberately targeted the Italian convoy taking Sgrena to the airport, newly free after a month-long hostage ordeal.
US President George W. Bush has promised a full investigation into the incident, which has rekindled Italian public opposition to the war in Iraq and calls for a withdrawal of Italy's 3,000-strong military contingent from the country.
Another ally, Bulgaria with 450 soldiers, is also demanding answers from the US government over the accidental killing of one its soldiers in central Iraq in incident that involved a US soldier.
The US military was also under the spotlight over the release of a video of soldiers in Ramadi abusing at least one wounded prisoner in Iraq and showing disrespect to dead Iraqis as well as Iraqi civilians.
A timeline for Iraq's next government came into into clearer focus Tuesday as senior Shiite politicians from the winning United Iraqi Alliance said the next cabinet will not be announced until after the first session of the 275-member national assembly.
"I do not think the names of those that will occupy the ministries will be announced before the meeting of the national assembly," said Sheikh Humam Hamoudi.
In Ramadi, the provincial capital of Al-Anbar province, new Iraqi commandos raided a hospital Tuesday "to investigate possible insurgent activity taking place on the premises," said a US military statement.
Clashes between rebels and insurgents left three people killed and four wounded, a hospital doctor said.
An oil pipeline feeding Baghdad's Dura oil refinery was blown up in Jorf al-Sakhr, 60 kilometres (46 miles) south of the capital, said state oil official Muayaad al-Shemmari.
Five soldiers were killed overnight in Iskandariya when a coffin attached to a car's rooftop exploded near their checkpoint, the Iraqi army said.
Four women with suicide belts were also arrested in Iskandariyah and confessed to working for the militant group, the Islamic Army in Iraq, it added.
On the hostage front, a Jordanian businessman was released on Monday, his brother told AFP in Amman, after his captors agreed to a 100,000 dollar ransom, half of what was initially demanded.
Ibrahim Maharmeh was seized Friday by unknown kidnappers in the upmarket Mansur neighbourhood of Baghdad.
An arms cache found in Mosul. Al-Qaeda militants gunned down a senior Iraqi offical and soldiers discovered 15 beheaded bodies as the furore over the US shooting of an Italian intelligence agent threatened to carve a deep rift between Washington and Rome.(AFP/US Army-HO)
Iraqi police look through a cache of 600 munitions discovered in the Bahar district, about 500 metres from the Holy Shrine of Imam Ali, in the city of Najaf, Iraq on Tuesday, March 8, 2005. (AP Photo/Alaa al-Marjani)
ChaldoAssyrians See Face of Evil on TV
by Gordon Lake
His name is First Lieutenant Shuqair al-Farishi of the Badrani tribe. He was a police officer in Mosul. He also raped and murdered Christians while on duty.
Shuqair al-Farishi is seated next to fellow police officer Hussein Sheikhu. Both are being interrogated by a judge accusing them of being terrorists. The two men are confessing their crimes on video which was broadcast on Al-Iraqiya TV in Iraq.
The judge asks Hussein “who else did you kill?”, “I killed those Christians” he replied. Judge: who were they? Hussein: Aiman Ishu and Boutros. Judge: Why? Hussein: They were collaborators.
The broadcasts are a response to video releases by the insurgency. The thought was the propaganda advantage could be taken from the insurgency by showing captured terrorists who seem so confident in beheading videos, now appearing weak and scared in captivity.
And it seems to be working. According to some in Mosul who are frequent Paltalk users (audio chat rooms on the internet) “Mosul is a different city since the broadcasts began. People are less scared to turn in insurgents” says naabo_1 (screen name), “and more trusting of the police as legitimate now and not as members of the insurgency.”
The broadcasts are powerful, both in the confessions and in the interrogations. At one point the judge asks Shuqair, who had already admitted he worked for an Iraqi and a Syrian, “who gave you the money?”, Shuqair seemed unsure and the judge responded “are you stupid or are you just pretending?”.
The judge asked Hussein “how many people did you and your filthy terrorist squad kill?” Hussein: 36, including the girls, sir. Judge: with the girls? Hussein: yes sir. Judge: how many girls? Hussein: 10 sir. Judge: you killed 10 girls? You raped and killed them? Hussein: Yes, we raped and killed them. Judge: were they unmarried, or what? Hussein: Unmarried, but there were also some married ones. They were university students.
Hussein explained that of the 36 people he killed, most were police, National Guards and collaborators. He had killed no Americans, just Iraqis.
Shuqair and Hussein appeared scared but calmly told of the rapes and murders. The judge was not calm, at one point saying “may Allah grind your ribs”.
Even the concept of that didn’t seem like justice enough.
Related External Video Al-Iraqiya broadcast
David Madrid - The Arizona Republic
Mar. 5, 2005 12:00 AM
There are munitions aplenty in Iraq, and the dangerous and almost daily work done there by three Luke Air Force Base explosive ordnance-disposal (EOD) specialists has earned each a Bronze Star.
Master Sgt. Theodore Cravener, Master Sgt. Timothy Berry and Staff Sgt. Russell Szczepaniec were awarded the medals for their work while stationed at Baghdad International Airport.
The men dealt with all manner of explosives: car bombs, roadside bombs, unexploded ordnance, grenades and captured enemy ammunition caches, some of which were booby-trapped.
At times they were attacked while doing their jobs, whether it was rocket-propelled grenades, mortar rounds or small-arms fire. They were always escorted by Army security forces, who protected them, just as the EOD guys protected the soldiers from explosives.
There was plenty of excitement, they say.
All three worked in the same areas, though on different two-man teams.
Berry, 48, from Denver, says there really wasn't a normal day in Iraq.
"You could go all day long and not get called out until midnight, or you could be running all day long from 6 in the morning until 2 o'clock the next morning," he says. "You're basically every other day on a primary shift for 24 hours. You go out and work with the Army patrols and take care of anything they find out there."
The sophistication of the explosive devices ran the gamut from the most basic to radio-controlled or cellphone-controlled bombs.
The explosive experts didn't worry just about disarming explosive devices or being attacked while working, they also had to guard against tactics used by the insurgents, who would set up dummy or real bombs just to observe how the bomb technicians did their job.
"They're pretty smart about it," says Cravener, 39, from Ford City, Pa. "They have a mission, too."
The men were in Iraq for four months and responded to almost 300 calls on unexploded ordnance and more than 100 calls on improvised explosive devices throughout an 85-square-mile sector of Baghdad. They say they enjoyed working in Iraq because they got to do what they have trained for their entire careers.
"That (operation) over there validated the whole thing we do, for the most part," Cravener says.
They also realized the stakes they were playing for.
"This time, the penalty is not a buzzer anymore or a flashbulb," Berry says.
"It's a unique situation, too," Cravener adds. "When we roll up to the incident site, we're in charge. The security guys answer to us. Anything that needs to be moved or done in that whole area, we're responsible for, and we're responsible for the safety of anyone there from the device itself."
While the EOD guys take care of the explosives, the GIs watch their backs and protect them from attacks.
Szczepaniec, 27, from Sobieski, Wis., says that a robot used to disarm devices was virtually destroyed by two artillery rounds lying on the center of a road. The robot is being repaired, though.
Artillery rounds are the main source of explosives the insurgents use in Iraq, because they are readily available, Cavener says. They would place a small amount of plastic explosives in a hole in the artillery round and use a blasting cap to detonate it.
The insurgents also like to place explosives under different things, such as dead animals or tires.
Berry says the soldiers took very good care of the EOD men. He says the GIs would find things that nobody else would have noticed, such as a depression in the ground or a wire sticking out of the ground.
The largest bomb Cravener dealt with was a 2,000-pound U.S. Navy bomb that hadn't detonated when it landed in Iraq. It was a dud.
Szczepaniec had to handle about a thousand pounds of explosives placed in a Suburban to be used as a car bomb. The vehicle was packed with a naval mine and "a bunch of homemade explosives," he says.
"It was on a farm, a car-bomb factory," Szczepaniec says. "It was kind of out in the middle of nowhere."
Rather than risk their lives to save a bomb-maker's house, the EOD troops blew up the bomb, leveling the house in the process.
"There were bomb people who just built bombs and handed them out to other people," Szczepaniec says. "There were a lot of similarities in a lot of the bombs."
"I went out to three calls in one day where they were all set up the exact same way, including a vehicle bomb," Berry adds.
After the U.S. attack on Fallujah, many of those in the rebel stronghold fled, and it is estimated that about 150 of the insurgents ended up near Baghdad. The EOD guys soon noticed that the type of explosives they encountered and the way they were set up had changed.
There were plenty of hoax bombs as well. Sometimes they were designed to trick a convoy into moving to the side of the road where the real bomb was waiting. Kids put out hoaxes just to get candy from the troops.
Despite that, the EOD teams took every situation seriously.
"You don't want to hook yourself into 'Well, I've seen 10 hoaxes like this,' because the 11th one could actually be the real thing," Szczepaniec says.
The three Luke EOD sergeants were surprised to receive their Bronze Stars.
The Foreign Face of Iraqi Terrorism For months, a behind-the-scenes, seldom-mentioned debate has raged in the West, over the origins of the "foreign fighters" attacking the U.S., coalition, and local anti-jihadist forces in Iraq. Some, including Saudi dissidents like Ali al-Ahmed of the Saudi Institute and myself, have suspected Iraq's dangerous southern neighbor, the kingdom of Saudi Arabia, of being the main source.
Our evidence often seemed thin. We cited the repeated calls by hundreds of Saudi clerics for volunteers to go north of the unpatrolled border to kill themselves and others. We circulated translations and photographs of Saudi "martyrs" whose biographies appeared in the kingdom's print media and on websites.
But official opacity was maintained in the West. In mainstream media and government statements, the jihadist killers were never identified, beyond noting that they were foreign.
Now we have real evidence, and the verdict still points south of the Iraqi border.
The Global Research in International Affairs Center in Israel, a highly reputable and reliable think-tank, has published a paper titled "Arab volunteers killed in Iraq: an Analysis," available at e-prism.org. Authored by Dr. Reuven Paz, the paper analyzes the origins of 154 Arab jihadists killed in Iraq in the last six months, whose names have been posted on Islamist websites.
The sample does not account for all jihadists in Iraq, but provides a useful and eye-opening profile of them. Saudi Arabia accounted for 94 jihadists, or 61 percent of the sample, followed by Syria with 16 (10 percent), Iraq itself with only 13 (8 percent), and Kuwait with 11 (7 percent.) The rest included small numbers from Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Algeria, Morocco (of which one was a resident in Spain), Yemen, Tunisia, the Palestinian territories (only 1), Dubai, and Sudan. The Sudanese was living in Saudi Arabia before he went to die in Iraq.
The names of most of the dead appeared on the websites after the battle of Falluja, and they were all supporters of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and al Qaeda.
Of the 94 Saudis, 61 originated in the region of Najd, known as the heartland of the Wahhabis. The total of 154 included 33 suicide terrorists, of whom 23 were Saudis (with 10 from Najd). Given that Najdis make up 43.5 percent of Saudi suicide bombers in Iraq, and 65 percent of all Saudi jihadists on the list, Paz concludes that the "Wahhabi doctrines of Najd--the heart of Wahhabism--remain highly effective."
Paz emphasizes that "the support for violent Jihad in Iraq against the Americans was encouraged by the Saudi Islamic establishment." But he also offers some interesting observations:
"Jihadi volunteers constitute a significant portion of the Sunni insurgents," suggesting that referring to the terrorists as if they represented Sunnis in general, or were merely guerrillas opposed to a foreign invader, is inaccurate. "Another element to note is the relatively small number of Iraqis involved in the fighting on behalf of the Zarqawi group." "Particularly striking . . . is the absence of Egyptians among foreign Arab volunteers [in] Iraq, even though Egypt is the largest Arab country, with millions of sympathizers of Islamist groups." Paz notes that Egyptians were previously prominent as fighters in Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Chechnya. He ascribes the failure of Egyptians to enlist in the Iraqi jihad to a combination of the decline of Islamist influence in Egypt, effective Egyptian government action against jihadism, and orders from the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt not to participate physically in the Iraqi jihad.
The predominance of Saudis in Iraqi terrorism also goes a long way toward explaining the other fact that Western media and government have been reluctant to admit: the role of Wahhabism as an inciter of violence against Shias. Wahhabis hate Shias even more than Christians and Jews, because, as Saudi schools (including those like the Islamic Saudi Academy in the United States) teach, Christians and Jews have their own religions that are openly opposed to Islam, but Shias want to "change Islam," which the Wahhabis consider the personal property of the Saudi rulers. Few in the West seemed to notice earlier this week when 2,000 people assembled in Hilla, near Baghdad, to protest a car bombing that killed at least 125. The demonstrators chanted "No to terrorism! No to Baathism and Wahhabism!"
Paz concludes his study with words difficult to surpass for their clarity and relevance: "The intensive involvement of Saudi volunteers for Jihad in Iraq is . . . the result of the Saudi government's doublespeak, whereby it is willing to fight terrorism, but only if directly affected by it on its own soil. Saudi Arabia is either deliberately ignoring, or incapable and too weak, to engage in open and brave opposition to Jihadi terrorism outside of the Kingdom . . . Their blind eyes in the face of the Saudi Islamic establishment's support of the Jihad in Iraq may pose a greater threat in the future, as the hundreds of volunteers return home."
Only one thing needs to be added: it's time to close Saudi Arabia's northern border, silence the jihadist preachers, and cut off the financing of international Wahhabism.
By Stephen Schwartz
Weekly Standard
Stephen Schwartz, an author and journalist, is author of The Two Faces of Islam: The House of Sa'ud from Tradition to Terror. A vociferous critic of Wahhabism, Schwartz is a frequent contributor to National Review, The Weekly Standard, and other publications.
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BAGHDAD, Iraq -- The bloody handprints found Monday all over the shiny equipment at Al Ameen, the newly opened electrical substation in eastern Baghdad, were not a cause for alarm. In fact, by letting Iraqis in the poor neighborhood around the station ritually sacrifice sheep there, the American engineers who financed the project may be showing that they are willing to try just about anything to get electricity flowing reliably in Iraq.
The project also shows that the effort to improve the electrical supply in Iraq is finally concentrating on individual neighborhoods, blocks and streets after nearly two years of focusing, with mixed success, on enormous power plants and the high-tension cables that form the backbone of the nation's electrical grid.
The project, the first major substation completed since the invasion in 2003, is a distribution center that will siphon energy from the national grid and spread it around districts like Sadr City, where aging and overloaded equipment constantly breaks down. The station, put into operation with $60 million of American money, will also help cushion the effects of sabotage, letting electricity flow through alternative routes to consumers if part of the network fails.
Generally speaking, Baghdad residents receive electricity for only about three hours at a time. But even that rough schedule is punctuated by frequent blackouts.
Officials at the Electricity Ministry, who signed the papers on Monday that gave them official control of Al Ameen, have long complained that reconstruction has been skewed toward the big power plants and transmission lines, at the expense of the humble network that actually brings electricity into Iraqi homes.
"The power plants, the transmission lines without the substations, it means nothing," said Qais Madalla, a director general at the ministry. Thomas Waters, a civilian with the United States Army Corps of Engineers, which managed the project, agreed, saying, "You can't just keep bumping up the generation without a stable distribution system."
So the reconstruction effort, Mr. Waters said, has turned to the substations in hopes of shoring up the frustratingly unstable network in Baghdad. All the pieces for Al Ameen had actually been delivered to the site by a French and Austrian consortium of companies in 2000 as part of the United Nations oil-for-food program, he said. Much of the construction had also been completed when the Americans and their allies invaded Iraq in April 2003.
But looting of the site followed the invasion. The following year, when the Americans decided to finance the project's completion, they discovered that the consortium would not send any engineers to oversee the work, citing security concerns. The Corps of Engineers contracted the work to Kellogg, Brown & Root, the Halliburton subsidiary, which hired an Iraqi company, F.C.M., to do much of the work.
And there has been a lot of it. The substation is a sprawling network of towers and huge buildings spread over the equivalent of many city blocks, and it has an immense potential for power distribution - roughly 1,000 megawatts, engineers say.
"This is a huge substation," said Howard Holland, Kellogg's project manager for Al Ameen. "You might expect to find something like this near New York City, but you wouldn't expect to find it in Baghdad."
Relying heavily on Iraqis simplified the work and lowered security and other overhead costs, Mr. Waters said.
Khalid Baderkhan, a Kurdish electromechanical engineer who is F.C.M.'s managing director, was careful to hire local residents for much of the labor and explain the importance of the substation to clerics in the local mosques. He was rewarded when the clerics, using the amplified sound systems of their minarets, asked the people of the neighborhood not to disturb the work.
After the station was connected to the grid, Mr. Baderkhan even let local residents kill the sheep, spreading pools of blood at the entrances to important buildings and smearing blood on the big transformers with their hands. The dried blood was still there on Monday.
"Not me," Mr. Baderkhan mumbled, rolling his eyes, when asked if he thought the sacrifices would help. "I don't believe. I have to pretend."
But the bow to local custom was another way of gaining acceptance in the neighborhood, he said, standing beneath the buzzing, 400,000-volt high-tension lines that bring power into the station.
Over all, said Faris Naum, an engineer with F.C.M., the station as it is operating now can in theory distribute about a quarter of the 4,000 megawatts of electricity now being generated in Iraq.
It should also help keep older stations from failing.
"All of the stations are already heavily overloaded, and they are obsolete," Mr. Naum said. When those stations fail, he said, they can cause a crash of the system that blacks out all of Baghdad.
By James Glanz
New York Times
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Tuesday, March 08, 2005:
ROME - Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi voiced satisfaction on Tuesday with the announcement of an American inquiry into the fatal shooting of an Italian secret service officer in Iraq.
"Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has voiced the Italian government's satisfaction with this inquiry," a government statement said.
The US government had accepted the request by the Italian prime minister to have Italian representatives involved in the inquiry which is expected to take three to four weeks, the text added.
US General George Casey, commander of multinational forces in Iraq, announced Tuesday in Washington a joint investigation by US and Italian authorities into the fatal shooting of Italian secret service agent Nicola Calipari and the wounding of Italian journalist Giuliana Sgrena.
US troops fired on the car carrying Sgrena and Calipari, on Friday near Baghdad airport, just after Sgrena was released following a month-long abduction.
03/08/2005 18:53 GMT
Tue Mar 8, 2005 10:01 AM ET:
By Sayed Salahuddin
KABUL (Reuters) - Fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar issued a rare statement Tuesday saying his fighters will increase attacks on government and foreign forces in Afghanistan once the harsh Afghan winter gave way to spring.
The statement, issued through a spokesman, was a riposte to U.S. Major General Eric T. Olson that Taliban attacks had "decreased dramatically" and Omar was no longer able to exercise control over the insurgents.
"This is part of America's psychological war aimed at demoralizing the Taliban and creating rifts among them," Omar said in a statement read by spokesman Abdul Latif Hakimi to a Reuters correspondent in Kabul.
"I have support not only from Muslims in Afghanistan, but from around the world," said Omar, who once declared himself to be a "Commander of the Faithful," a title used by companions of Prophet Mohammad.
Remnants of Omar's hard-line Islamist militia have kept up an insurgency since being driven from power in late 2001 for giving shelter to al Qaeda and its leader, Osama bin Laden, following the Sept. 11 suicide airliner attacks in the United States.
Hakimi also telephoned another Reuters reporter claiming the Taliban was responsible for the killing of a British man in Kabul Monday night, but security sources in the Afghan capital doubted the veracity of the claim, saying it appeared opportunist and the Taliban had often made false claims in the past.
Hakimi said Omar had told his deputy, Mullah Obaidullah to initiate an attack that would send a clear signal to the Americans that the Taliban command could order a strike whenever it chose.
Olson said he expected President Hamid Karzai to announce an offer of amnesty to Taliban rank-and-file soon and said some 30 medium-level Taliban had recently surrendered to U.S.-led forces.
Karzai has said his government is in contact with Taliban members and the amnesty offer will not extend to Mullah Omar or up to 150 of his most hardened followers.
Omar's statement said those who had surrendered were bandits and added that no "true Muslim will surrender to the infidels."
He vowed a fresh campaign of violence once spring arrives. "You will see increase in our attacks after the end of winter."
© Reuters 2005
President George W. Bush speaks about the War on Terror while at the National Defense University at Fort Lesley J. McNair in Washington, March 8, 2005. Bush demanded Syria pull troops out of Lebanon before Lebanese parliamentary elections in May and give way to a democracy movement providing hope in the broader Middle East. Photo by Larry Downing/Reuters
WASHINGTON — President Bush said Tuesday that democracy is beginning to spread across the Middle East. Following is a transcript of his remarks at the National Defense University, a center for professional military education.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Thank you all. Please be seated.
It is great to be back to this fine university. Many great military leaders of the 20th century, from Dwight Eisenhower to Colin Powell, studied on this campus.
And today, the National Defense University is training a new generation of leaders who will serve and defend this nation in a new century.
Americans are grateful for your devotion to duty and so is your commander in chief.
(APPLAUSE)
I am honored that two influential and important members of the United States Congress have joined us. First, Senator Joe Lieberman, a strong defender of freedom.
Thank you for coming, Senator.
(APPLAUSE)
And the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Congressman Duncan Hunter.
Proud you're here, Duncan. Thank you for coming.
(APPLAUSE)
In the midst of what we hope will be the final snow blizzard of 2005, I'm honored you two men slushed here to this event.
I appreciate very much Lieutenant General Michael Dunn (ph) and his wife Pam for greeting me and for serving our nation.
I want to thank all the National Defense University students for being here.
I appreciate the staff for joining us.
I want to thank the members of the diplomatic corps who have come today.
It is an honor to see you all again.
I want to thank my fellow Americans for caring about the subject of peace. And that's what I'm here to discuss.
We meet at a time of great consequence for the security of our nation, a time when the defense of freedom requires the advance of freedom, a time with echoes in our history.
Twice in six decades a sudden attack on the United States launched our country into a global conflict and began a period of serious reflection on America's place in the world.
The bombing of Pearl Harbor taught America that unopposed tyranny, even on faraway continents, could draw our country into a struggle for our own survival. And our reflection on that lesson led us to help build peaceful democracies in the ruins of tyranny, to unite free nations in the NATO alliance, and to establish a firm commitment to peace in the Pacific that continues to this day.
The attacks of September 11, 2001, also revealed the outlines of a new world.
In one way that assault was the culmination of decades of escalating violence: from the killing of U.S. Marines in Beirut, to the bombing at the World Trade Center, to the attacks on American embassies in Africa, to the attacks on the USS Cole.
In another way, September the 11th provided a warning of future dangers, of terror networks aided by outlaw regimes and ideologies that incite the murder of the innocent, and biological and chemical and nuclear weapons that multiply destructive power.
Like an earlier generation, America is answering new dangers with firm resolve. No matter how long it takes, no matter how difficult the task, we will fight the enemy and lift the shadow of fear and lead free nations to victory.
(APPLAUSE)
Like an earlier generation, America's pursuing a clear strategy with our allies to achieve victory.
Our immediate strategy is to eliminate terrorist threats abroad so we do not have to face them here at home.
The theory here is straightforward: Terrorists are less likely to endanger our security if they're worried about their own security.
When terrorists spend their day struggling to avoid death or capture they are less capable of arming and training to commit new attacks.
We will keep the terrorists on the run until they have nowhere left to hide.
In three and a half years, the United States and our allies have waged a campaign of global scale, from the mountains of Afghanistan to the border regions of Pakistan, to the Horn of Africa, to the islands of the Philippines, to the plains of north-central Iraq.
The Al Qaida terror network that attacked our country -- it still has leaders, but many of its top commanders have been removed. There are still governments that sponsor and harbor terrorists, but their number has declined. There's still regimes seeking weapons of mass destruction, but no longer without attention and without consequence.
Our country is still the target of terrorists who want to kill many and intimidate us all. We will stay on the offensive against them until the fight is won.
(APPLAUSE)
Members of our military are undertaking difficult missions in some of the most dangerous and desolate parts of the world. These volunteers know the risks they face and they know the cause they serve.
As one Marine sergeant put it, "I never want my children to experience what we saw in New York, at the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania." He said, "If we can eliminate whatever threat we can on foreign soil, I would rather do it there than have it come home to us."
In this vital cause, some of our men and women in uniform have fallen. Some have returned home with terrible injuries.
And all who sacrifice will have the permanent gratitude of the United States of America.
(APPLAUSE)
In this war on terror America is not alone. Many governments have awakened to the dangers we share and have begun to take serious action.
Global terror requires a global response and America is more secure today because dozens of other countries have stepped up to the fight.
We're more secure because Pakistani forces captured more than 100 extremists across the country last year, including operatives who were plotting attacks against the United States.
We're more secure because Britain arrested an Al Qaida operative who had provided detailed casing reports on American targets to senior Al Qaida leaders.
We're more secure because German authorities arrested extremists who were planning attacks against U.S. and coalition targets in Iraq.
We're more secure because the Philippines' new anti-terrorism task force has helped capture more than a dozen terrorist suspects, including seven members of Al Qaida and affiliated networks.
We're more secure because Poland is leading a 15-nation multinational division in Iraq and forces from 23 countries have given their lives in the struggle against terrorists and insurgents in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Our allies in the war on terror are making tough decisions and are taking risks and they're losing lives. These countries have proven themselves trusted friends and reliable allies.
So I urge the Congress to pass the solidarity initiative I have proposed to stand by the countries that are standing by us in the war on terror.
(APPLAUSE)
BUSH: Our strategy to keep the peace in the longer term is to help change the conditions that give rise to extremism and terror, especially in the broader Middle East.
Parts of that region have been caught for generations in the cycle of tyranny and despair and radicalism.
When a dictatorship controls the political life of a country, responsible opposition cannot develop and dissent is driven underground and toward the extreme.
And to draw attention away from their social and economic failures, dictators place blame on other countries and other races and stir the hatred that leads to violence.
This status quo of despotism and anger cannot be ignored or appeased, kept in a box or bought off.
Because we have witnessed how the violence in that region can easily reach across borders and oceans, the entire world has an urgent interest in the progress and hope and freedom in the broader Middle East.
The advance of hope in the Middle East requires new thinking in the region.
By now it should be clear that authoritarian rule is not the wave of the future, it is the last gasp of a discredited past.
It should be clear that free nations escape stagnation and grow stronger with time because they encourage the creativity and enterprise of their people.
It should be clear that economic progress requires political modernization, including honest representative government and the rule of law.
And it should be clear that no society can advance with only half of its talent and energy. And that demands the full participation of women.
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The advance of hope in the Middle East also requires new thinking in the capitals of great democracies, including Washington, D.C.
By now it should be clear that decades of excusing and accommodating tyranny in the pursuit of stability have only led to injustice and instability and tragedy.
It should be clear that the advance of democracy leads to peace because governments that respect the rights of their people also respect the rights of their neighbors.
It should be clear that the best antidote to radicalism and terror is the tolerance and hope kindled in free societies.
And our duty is now clear: For the sake of our long-term security, all free nations must stand with the forces of democracy and justice that have begun to transform the Middle East.
Encouraging democracy in that region is a generational commitment. It's also a difficult commitment, demanding patience and resolve when the headlines are good and when the headlines aren't so good.
Freedom has determined enemies who show no mercy for the innocent and no respect for the rules of warfare.
Many societies in the region struggle with poverty and illiteracy. Many rulers in the region have long-standing habits of control. Many people in the region have deeply ingrained habits of fear.
For all of these reasons, the chances of democratic progress in the broader Middle East have seemed frozen in place for decades. Yet at last, clearly and suddenly, the thaw has begun.
The people of Afghanistan have embraced free government after suffering under one of the most backward tyrannies on Earth.
The voters in Iraq defied threats of murder and have set their country on a path to full democracy.
The people of the Palestinian territories cast their ballots against violence and corruption of the past.
And any who doubt the appeal of freedom in the Middle East can look to Lebanon, where the Lebanese people are demanding a free and independent nation.
In the words of one Lebanese observer, "Democracy is knocking at the door of this country. And if it's successful in Lebanon, it is going to ring the doors of every Arab regime."
Across the Middle East, a critical mass of events is taking that region in a hopeful new direction. Historic changes have many causes, yet these changes have one factor in common. A businessmen in Beirut recently said, "We have removed the mask of fear. We're not afraid anymore."
Pervasive fear is the foundation of every dictatorial regime, the prop that holds up all power not based on consent. And when the regime of fear is broken and the people find their courage and find their voice, democracy is their goal and tyrants themselves have reason to fear.
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History is moving quickly and leaders in the Middle East have important choices to make.
The world community, including Russia and Germany and France and Saudi Arabia and the United States, has presented the Syrian government with one of those choices: to end its nearly 30-year occupation of Lebanon or become even more isolated from the world.
The Lebanese people have heard the speech by the Syrian president. They've seen these delaying tactics and half measures before.
The time has come for Syria to fully implement Security Council Resolution 1559. All Syrian military forces and intelligence personnel must withdraw before the Lebanese elections for those elections to be free and fair.
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The elections in Lebanon must be fully and carefully monitored by international observers.
The Lebanese people have the right to determine their future free from domination by a foreign power. The Lebanese people have the right to choose their own parliament this spring free of intimidation.
And that new government will have the help of the international community in building sound political, economic and military institutions so the great nation of Lebanon can move forward in security and freedom.
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Today I have a message for the people of Lebanon: All the world is witnessing your great movement of conscience. Lebanon's future belongs in your hands. And by your courage Lebanon's future will be in your hands.
The American people are on your side. Millions across the Earth are on your side. The momentum of freedom is on your side. And freedom will prevail in Lebanon.
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America and other nations are also aware that the recent terrorist attack in Tel Aviv was conducted by a radical Palestinian group headquartered in Damascus.
Syria as well as Iran has a long history of supporting terrorist groups determined to sow division and chaos in the Middle East. And there's every possibility they will try this strategy again.
The time has come for Syria and Iran to stop using murder as a tool of policy and to end all support for terrorism.
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In spite of attacks by extremists, the world is seeing hopeful progress in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. There's only one outcome that will end the tyranny, danger, violence and hopelessness and meet the aspirations of all people in the region.
We seek two democratic states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security.
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And that goal is within reach if all of the parties meet their responsibilities and if terrorism is brought to an end.
Arab states must end incitement in their own media, cut off public and private funding for terrorism, stop their support for extremist education, and establish normal relations with Israel.
Israel must freeze settlement activity, help the Palestinians build a thriving economy and ensure that a new Palestinian state is truly viable with contiguous territory on the West Bank.
Palestinian leaders must fight corruption, encourage free enterprise, rest true authority with the people and actively confront terrorist groups.
The bombing in Tel Aviv is a reminder that the fight against terrorists is critical to the search for peace and for Palestinian statehood.
In an interview last week, Palestinian President Abbas strongly condemned the terrorist attack in Tel Aviv declaring, quote, "ending violence and security chaos is, first and foremost, a Palestinian interest."
He went on to say, "We cannot build the foundations of a state without the rule of law and public order."
President Abbas is correct, and so the United States will help the Palestinian Authority build the security services that current peace and future statehood require, security forces which are effective, responsive to civilian control, and dedicated to fighting terror and upholding the rule of law.
We will coordinate with the government of Israel, with neighbors such as Egypt and Jordan, and with other donors to ensure that Palestinians get the training and equipment they need.
The United States is determined to help the parties remove obstacles to progress and move forward in practical ways so we can seize this moment for peace in the Holy Land.
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In other parts of the Middle East, we're seeing small but welcome steps. Saudi Arabia's recent municipal elections were the beginning of reform that may allow greater participation in the future.
Egypt has now the prospect of competitive, multi-party elections for president in September.
Like all free elections, these require freedom of assembly, multiple candidates, free access by those candidates to the media and the right to form political parties. Each country in the Middle East will take a different path of reform and every nation that starts on that journey can know that America will walk at its side.
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Progress in the Middle East is threatened by weapons of mass destruction and their proliferation. Today Great Britain, France and Germany are involved in a difficult negotiation with Iran aimed at stopping its nuclear weapons program.
We want our allies to succeed, because we share the view that Iran's acquisition of nuclear weapons would be destabilizing and threatening to all of Iran's neighbors.
The Iranian regime should listen to the concerns of the world and listen to the voice of the Iranian people who long for their liberty and want their country to be a respected member of the international community.
We look forward to the day when Iran joins in the hopeful changes taking place across the region. We look forward to the day when the Iranian people are free.
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Iran and other nations have an example in Iraq. The recent elections have begun a process of debate and coalition-building unique in Iraqi history and inspiring to see.
Iraq's leaders are forming a government that will oversee the next and critical stage in Iraq's political transition: the writing of a permanent constitution.
This process must take place without external influence. The shape of Iraq's democracy must be determined by the Iraqis themselves.
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Iraq's democracy, in the long run, must also be defended by Iraqis themselves.
Our goal is to help Iraqi security forces move toward self- reliance. And they're making daily progress.
Iraqi forces were the main providers of security at about 5,000 polling places in the January elections. Our coalition is providing equipment and training to the new Iraqi military, yet they bring a spirit all of their own.
Last month, when soldiers of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment were on combat patrol north of Baghdad, one of their Humvees fell into a canal and Iraqi troops came to the rescue, plunging into the water again and again until the last American was recovered.
The Army colonel in charge of the unit said, "When I saw those Iraqis in the water fighting to save their American brothers, I saw a glimpse of the future of this country."
One Iraqi soldier commented, "These people have come 10,000 miles to help my country. They've left their families and their children. If we can give them something back, just a little, we can show our thanks."
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America is proud to defend freedom in Iraq. And America is proud to stand with the brave Iraqis as they defend their own freedom.
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Three and a half years ago, the United States mourned our dead, gathered our resolve and accepted a mission. We made a decision to stop threats to the American people before they arrive on our shores and we have acted on that decision.
We're also determined to seek and support the growth of democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world.
This objective will not be achieved easily or all at once or primarily by force of arms. We know that freedom by definition must be chosen and that the democratic institutions of other nations will not look like our own.
Yet we also know that our security increasingly depends on the hope and progress of other nations now simmering in despair and resentment.
And that hope and progress is found only in the advance of freedom.
This advance is a consistent theme of American strategy, from the 14 Points, to the Four Freedoms, to the Marshall Plan, to the Reagan doctrine.
Yet the success of this approach does not depend on grand strategy alone. We are confident that the desire for freedom, even when repressed for generations, is present in every human heart.
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And that desire can emerge with sudden power to change the course of history.
Americans, of all people, should not be surprised by freedom's power. A nation founded on the universal claim of individual rights should not be surprised when other people claim those rights.
Those who place their hope in freedom may be attacked and challenged, but they will not ultimately be disappointed, because freedom is the design of humanity and freedom is the direction of history.
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In our time, America has been attacked, America has been challenged. Yet the uncertainty and sorrow and sacrifice of these years have not been in vain.
Millions have gained their liberty and millions more have gained the hope of liberty that will not be denied. The trumpet of freedom has been sounded and that trumpet never calls retreat.
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Before history is written in books, it is written in courage: the courage of honorable soldiers, the courage of oppressed peoples, the courage of free nations in difficult tasks.
Our generation is fortunate to live in a time of courage, and we are proud to serve in freedom's cause.
May God bless you all.
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Thank you all
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