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 just finished making two apple pies right before the speech started, I had just enough time to load a DVD and copy the speech
Why yes, yes I think you have! LOL!!!
Thanks DrDeb - I love him, too!
</I> Shades of FDR.</I>When an American soldier is killed or wounded I am certain that President Bush feels deep grief. I listened to quite a few of FDRs speeches during the war and I did not get the impression that he was deeply touched by our losses. I think that in his mind we were just expendable peons.
I hate it when I have to use dial up
Good night hope to catch you again this week.
You need some English custard to go with them LOL
I just sent an E-mail to the White House from the website congratulating President Bush on his speech and requesting that he come before the American people more often.
If anyone wants to send an E-mail, just a reminder: You need to go to www.whitehouse.gov as the other two sites (.org and .com) are stupid parody sites.
Oh that's nice you sent a letter and got a response.
I often joke that my wife can make toast like no other :-)
What do you serve with the apple pie or do you just eat it as it is?
Thank you both for your suggestions. Freepers are the best. I was a lurker for years, and only finally registered and started posting because this very son told me I couldn't really lay claim to being a "Freeper" unless I registered and participated. It's kind of like what he's doing right now--his second deployment and he wants to stay. Again, we're so proud of him.
In his speech the President admitted making mistakes and acknowledged that some of the critics of his policies are sincere in their objections showing that he is an honest man and not a phoney. I am impressed by this.
What a great honor for your son! I can understand you being excited!
I just checked the Pentagon site. I have watched the President address the troops on there in the past. Nothing new has been posted since Friday. Try it tomorrow.
http://pentagonchannel.feedroom.com/iframeset.jsp?ord=6770
That's wonderful! What a thrill for you to see your son with VP Cheney. I sincerely hope someone finds the picture for you.
We should form a club and bring our framed letters from the President! ;*)
Another thought contact the TV network you saw it on they might be able to do a still for you.
Me too Tommix2, Dubya won over a whole bunch of fence sitting patriots tonight
Me too, Wolfstar. Just reading a few of their comments on the live thread was enough to make me physically ill.
I'm going to put in my DITTOS that this was a MAGNIFICENT speech from a GREAT leader!
YAYYYYY!!! Thanks, snugs :)
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