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http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/03/20080310-7.html

For Immediate Release
Office of the Vice President
March 10, 2008

“Vice President’s Remarks at the Georgia State Republican Party’s President’s Day Dinner”
Hilton Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia

5:56 P.M. EST

SPEECH SNIPPET: “The most solemn duties we carry are those in the field of national security. And here, too, the nation and the world have seen the character and the resolve of our President. Only a few Presidents in history have been called upon to make so many urgent and serious decisions. He has faced them all with the kind of realism, fair-mindedness, and decency that Americans expect in their President. Guiding this nation through a time of peril is a tough job, and the right man is in it. He will never yield in defending the freedom and the security of the American people. (Applause.)

This country has gone six and a half years now without another catastrophic attack like 9/11. (Applause.) Nobody can guarantee that we won’t be hit again. The fact is the danger remains very real — and we know the terrorists are still out there, still determined to hit us. I look at it every day and see it in our intelligence briefs. They are fanatical in their hatred. They have tried many times to cause more violence and death in this country.

And so, in a heightened threat environment, with a “persistent and evolving” terrorist adversary, the absence of another 9/11 is not an accident. It’s an achievement. (Applause.) And that achievement is the product of some very hard work by Americans in intelligence, law enforcement, and the military — and some wise decisions by the President of the United States.

Not long ago, President Bush said that he “knew full well that if we were successful protecting the country that the lessons of September 11th would become dimmer and dimmer in some people’s minds.” Then he said, quote, “I just don’t have that luxury, nor do the people that work with me to protect America, because we have not forgotten the lessons of September 11th.”

One great lesson of 9/11 was that we had to stop treating terrorist attacks merely as law enforcement problems — where you find out what happened, arrest the bad guys, put them in jail, and move on. The world changed when a coordinated attack ended the lives of 3,000 innocent people at the World Trade Center, at the Pentagon, and on that field in Pennsylvania. As the President has made clear many times, we are dealing with a strategic threat to the United States. We are at war with an enemy that wants to cause mass death inside this country. And we must act systematically and decisively until this enemy is destroyed. (Applause.)

To wage this fight we have to marshal our resources to go after the terrorists, shut down their training camps, take down their networks, deny them sanctuary, disrupt their funding sources, and bring them to justice. We decided, as well, to go after the sponsors of terror, and to confront those who might provide these killers with more deadly capabilities. And because some of the early battlefields of the war have been right here in the United States, we have taken vital actions to defend the homeland against future attack.

To win a war like this you need good intelligence — the information that helps us figure out the movements of the enemy, the extent of their operation, the location of their cells, the plans they’re making, the methods they use, and the targets they intend to strike. Information of this kind is the hardest to obtain. But it’s worth the effort in terms of the plots that are averted and the lives that have been saved.

One of the ways we’ve prevented attacks and saved lives is by monitoring terrorist-related communications. Last year Congress passed major revisions to the foreign intelligence surveillance law, but those revisions expired last month. For Congress to let that happen was simply irresponsible, and it makes this nation more vulnerable to attack. (Applause.) Georgia Republicans are on the right side of this issue. Congress needs to follow their lead and to give our intelligence professionals the tools they need to protect the American people.

As we proceed on many fronts, we also recognize that the war on terror is more than a contest of arms and more than a test of will. It’s also a battle of ideas. To prevail in the long run, we have to remove the conditions that inspire the hatred that drove 19 men to get onto airplanes and come to kill us. And so President Bush made the decision: we wouldn’t just remove the Taliban and Saddam Hussein and let other dictators rise in their place. Instead, we would stand with the Iraqi and the Afghan people — as America did with other young democracies in earlier times — to help them chart their own destiny. If we keep our commitments, the free and democratic nations of Afghanistan and Iraq will become strategic partners, helping us to fight and win the war on terror.

There’s much more work to be done. The ideological struggle that’s playing out in the broader Middle East — the struggle against radical extremists who have declared war on us — will concern America for the remainder of our administration, and well into the future. And the men and women who have fought and sacrificed in this cause can be proud of their service for the rest of their lives. (Applause.) This state can be especially proud, because it’s home to many thousands of service members and some of our most important military bases. The good people of Georgia are always there with support and encouragement for the United States military. (Applause.)

Our lead commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, recently said the mission is “very, very hard. It’s going to remain very hard, and it’s going to take determination, persistence, additional resources, additional time and, occasionally, the sheer force of will.” Fortunately, we’ve got the best people in the fight — including General Petraeus himself. It’s been a year since the President sent him to carry out a new counterinsurgency strategy, backed up by a surge in American forces, to secure that country and to set the conditions for political reconciliation. And now we can see the effects: The new strategy is succeeding. The surge is working. The forces of freedom are winning in Iraq. (Applause.)

Our new strategy in Iraq has succeeded by careful planning, and by close attention to changing conditions on the battlefield. The same will be true of any drawdown in troops. On behalf of the President, I can assure you that the decision will be based on what is right for our security and what is best for the troops — without regard to polls, elite opinion, or flip-flops by politicians in Washington, D.C. (Applause.)

From the very morning that our nation was attacked on 9/11, the President of the United States has had to make immense decisions. Every day he faces responsibilities that others would pale before. I’ve been there with him. I’ve seen him make the tough calls — and then weather the criticism and take the hits. President Bush has been tough and courageous. He’s made the right decisions for the right reasons — and he always reflects the best values of the American people. I’ve been proud to stand by him and by the decisions he’s made. And I would support those same decisions again today, because they’ve helped to keep this country safe. (Applause.)

The important thing to remember, six and a half years after 9/11, is that the war on terror is still very real, that it won’t be won on the defensive, and that we have to proceed on many fronts at the same time. For those of us who work in offices and sit at desks in Washington, D.C., the sacrifices required are pretty small compared to those of Americans serving in the Iraqi desert, or the mountains of Afghanistan, or the public servants who work day and night, with little margin for error, to detect a secret enemy before it’s too late. In a time of war, we’re only more sharply aware that the freedoms we enjoy and the rights we exercise can never be taken for granted. We have them because there have always been Americans who stand up for them, defend them, and when necessary fight for them. (Applause.) And all of us have a duty to pass along to the next generation the free, strong, secure nation that was passed along to us.

My good friend George Shultz often tells the story from his years as Secretary of State under President Reagan. Every time a new American ambassador was confirmed for the position, Secretary Shultz would invite him or her to the State Department for a farewell visit. During these meetings George would tell the ambassadors that there was one more test they had to take. “Before you can leave,” he said, “I want you to go over to that globe and show me that you can identify your country.” (Laughter.) It’s important. Every time, the ambassador would turn the globe and point out where he was going to serve.

One day George had a visit from Mike Mansfield, the former senator from Montana. Mike had been serving for some years as our ambassador to Japan, and he was on his way back to Tokyo. Secretary Shultz told him about the test and said, “Mr. Ambassador, it’s your turn. Show me your country.” Mike Mansfield went over to the globe, put his hand on the United States and said, “This is my country.” (Applause.)

As Americans we have every right to be proud, and to be thankful, that this is our country. The world we live in can be complicated, messy, and dangerous. But for millions who suffer under tyranny, and those who live a daily struggle against hunger and disease, or who fight to maintain newly won freedom — there would be little hope without the active involvement and leadership of the United States of America. (Applause.)

More than a nation of influence, we’re a nation of character. Our purposes in this world are good and right. And in those decisive years, we are serving those purposes with confidence.”