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.
Ice Cream... of course :-)
Howdy my friend :-)
I was referring to the tone of Dubya's speech. In essence, he was saying "chin up," to the country. And this country needed to hear it.
But I, too, was very, very touched when he spoke of the parents who miss terribly their loved ones lost in the war.
Talk about leadership! WOW!
So did I,instantly.
VIDEO LINK:
realclearpolitics provides a link to the President's speech tonight:
http://realclearpolitics.com/
MUST READ:
IRAQ VOTE LEAVES DEMS LOOLING LIKE THE LOSERS
By Mark Steyn
December 18, 2005
Well, that old Iraqi quagmire just keeps getting worse and worse, if only for the Democratic Party. What was the straw they were clutching at back in January? Oh, yeah, sure, gazillions of Kurds and Shiites might have gone to the polls, but where were the Sunni? As some of us said at the time, the Sunni'll come out tomorrow. And so they did. On Thursday, they voted in record numbers, leaving Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democrats frantically scrambling for another disaffected Iraqi minority group they could use as proof that the whole crazy neocon war-for-oil scam was a bust.
Unfortunately, there don't seem to be any disaffected Iraqi minority groups left. Oh, wait, there's Ahmed at 37 Sword of the Infidel Slayer Gardens in Ramadi. Apparently, he's still rejecting the new constitution. Maybe, if we're lucky, he's got a brother who's mildly irked. Whoops, sorry, they just went off to vote, too.
You can read the rest of the article at
http://www.suntimes.com/output/steyn/cst-edt-steyn18.html
Night all!
You ought to try our custard - packet on its way to you on Monday
This is nothing knew to this nation, we have shed more blood for the freedom of total strangers than we have for our own.
This Nation was founded under God, and we have been, and are doing,. God's work when we come to the defense of the oppressed
(But I still don't see any need to watch them on TV. ;)
Good night, all!
I will use it on our News Years Pie :-)
Good Night and God Bless!
Great article - thanks!
“We stay with you in this hour; eto fore she received call from her husband. She awaits him in her heart and love she has for him, etero military obligation are his priority;
etero fore her life of being lonely inetero is her life. She gives all her love to above and to him and infore for His Majesty.
“Moj kuzyn” ete her cousin came back safely from England, and is going back to live in England.”
BTW, I sent out a packet to you on Friday, I couldn't tell you what's in it, because I must have burned, and sent out, 100+ DVD's last week
Thank you dear one person "MJY1288"
Thank you for that I look forward to receiving it, maybe a delay the post is all over the shop at present.
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