Posted on 12/18/2005 4:48:35 PM PST by Wolfstar
PRESIDENTIAL NEWS OF THE DAY As is their custom when in Washington on a weekend, the President and First Lady attended St. Johns Episcopal Church this morning. The President will address the nation this evening from the Oval Office. In the meantime, Vice President Dick Cheney made a surprise visit to Iraq on the first leg of his Middle Eastern trip.
QUOTE OF THE DAY: From the Vice President's remarks to the troops at Al-Asad Air Base, Al-Asad, Iraq, Sunday, December 18, 2005. (Click here to read the entire transcript.)
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Well, I'm not Jessica Simpson. (Laughter.) But I'm glad to be here, and I thank you for that warm welcome; General Johnson, for the kind words. And I want to say good afternoon to all my fellow Americans. I happened to be in the neighborhood, so I thought I'd drop by.It's a privilege to be here, to stand on the ground of the world's newest democracy -- to be with so many men and women who helped make this history. I wanted to pay this visit during the holidays to express appreciation to all of you and to every American serving in this part of the world. With Christmas and Hanukkah arriving next week, I know your thoughts naturally turn to home. And your fellow Americans are thinking of you more than ever. I'm pleased to bring you the good wishes of the entire country, and personal greetings from our Commander-in-Chief, President George W. Bush. (Applause.)
From Marines going into combat and dominating the battle space, to the precision strikes of the Air Force, to the Army brigades holding and operating across wide terrain, to Navy corpsmen risking their lives to help the wounded, and to Seabees all over the country, day and night, preparing runways, fixing water pumps, and doing a hundred other tasks, Americans serving in Iraq have been absolutely superb.
They've made clear, as well, their ultimate ambition: to acquire weapons of mass destruction, to destroy Israel, to intimidate all Western countries, to cause mass death in the United States. The terrorists' war against America began long before 9/11. And during those years, they were the ones on the offensive. They grew bolder in their belief that if they killed Americans, they could change American policy. In Beiruit in 1983, terrorists killed 241 of our servicemen. Thereafter, the U.S. withdrew from Beiruit. In Mogadishu in 1993, terrorists killed 19 Americans; thereafter, the U.S. withdrew from Somalia. Over time the terrorists concluded that they could strike America without paying a price because they did -- repeatedly: the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York in 1993; the murders at the Saudi National Guard training facility in Riyadh in 1995; the attack on Khobar Towers in 1996; the attack on our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998; the attack on the USS Cole in 2000.
Ultimately, of course, they attacked the homeland on 9/11 and took the lives of 3,000 people aboard passenger jets, and at the World Trade Center, and at the Pentagon.
Now terrorists are making a stand here in Iraq, trying to force the United States to abandon our friends, and permit the overthrow of this new Middle Eastern democracy. Zarqawi has sworn his allegiance to bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda. And recently we got our hands on a message from bin Laden's deputy, Zawahiri, sent to Zarqawi. The letter makes clear that Iraq is part of a larger plan of imposing Islamic radicalism across the broader Middle East, making Iraq a terrorist haven and a staging ground for attacks against other nations. Zawahiri also expresses the view that America can made to run again. But we're giving him an education. We're in this fight to win. These colors don't run.
I think sometimes it's hard for the President to hear OUR voices over the negative ones. The other side is so loud and vicious. And they have a willing MSM to get their message out for them. Other than sending e-mails, which I have no idea if the President ever gets to see, I don't know how to let him know that we support him.
The media won't give him time every few months. They only grudgingly give him time once or twice a year.
I heard the speech on radio, and Dubya always sounds better when you can see him on TV, BUT...I was cheering. This speech was spectacular. Shades of FDR. This is a rally the troops speech, and it was magnificant. This was a statesman's speech. It was a speech from a president who will protect his country no matter what the libs do.
My hubby had shoulder surgery in August and again about 10 days ago. Not major surgery for rotator cuff but just some bone spurs. His pain has been constant. We sure wonder about the pain problem also.
Yes, it packed a lot into a brief 20 minutes or so. Very well done, and it should reach all but the hardest of hearts.
Superb point, ilovew. I think you are absolutely right.
My standard practice as well. ;*)
If my President isn't speaking - no reason to have TV on!
His doctor thinks he has some kind of disk problem. That is why he is having the MRI tomorrow. I can not understand why I am in so much pain now since I had the surgery back in August. I had some bone spurs, too, which he removed. Maybe I have more. I just wish it would go away! I am sure my husband feels the same way with his injury. He is too busy to be in so much pain.
They are desperate to discredit him, not just for short term electoral gains, but because they fear his going down in history as a truly great president.
I agree, great points
***Sometimes you just want to hug him so hard!!***
YES! He deserves a hug. He's a hero.
I went or tried to go to that other site but I could not. Either it is offline or no one can get in tonight. Oh well. Don't guess I needed to see what the other side thought of the speech.
That letter i received from the President was in response to a hand written leetter I sent to him. He read it but he would not have read an email.
It's definitely worth a try. I really want to let him know that we DO still support him and we understand the mission in Iraq. It breaks my heart to think that he might hear more angry and negative messages than upbeat, positive ones.
If any of you find a picture of Vice-President Cheney addressing the troops at Al-Asad, with at least two troops directly behind him and to the right of him in the picture, PLEASE will you ping me. We briefly saw it on TV this evening, but desperately want a still to copy. We saw our son. I can't tell you what that meant. He got to shake Cheney's hand--and hasn't told us anything else yet. We are so excited.
Very true. We can have 3 times the number of people there in support of the President, the military, the Iraqis, the war.....but you never hear about that. Only the vicious, loud nutjobs! Truely pathetic.
I just checked Yahoo and the WH website. I'll look again for just ones of the VP in Iraq.
there has to be a site somewhere that has a video of his speech!
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