Free Republic

For generations, U.S. service men and women and government civilians have spent the holiday season far from loved ones, so that all Americans can celebrate the peace, prosperity and liberty that our armed forces have fought to protect. Today, you continue to keep steadfast watch across the globe, from bases on land, planes overhead, and aboard ships at sea; from distant, remote locations, and within our own borders. During this holiday season, the United States is asking much of you -- and you are responding with a strong sense of duty, a willingness to give up personal comfort for the...

Myers Receives Eisenhower Award, Says Stakes High in War By Tech. Sgt. Russell Petcoff, USAFSpecial to American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Nov. 26, 2003 – Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers accepted the Business Executives for National Security Eisenhower Award on behalf of the men and women of America's armed forces. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told the organization that though he was accepting the award, service members earned it. "This award makes me feel like 'Hot Rod' Hundley, the Lakers basketball player back in the '60s, when he said to Elgin Baylor, 'What a night,...

Service Members Involved in 'Noble Cause,' Chairman Says By Jim GaramoneAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Nov. 11, 2003 – American service members are involved in a "noble cause" in protecting the United States from the threat of terrorism, Joint Chiefs Chairman Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said today. Myers gave round-robin interviews to the television networks' Veterans Day morning shows. He said that terrorists, specifically al Qaeda, have vowed to do away with the American way of life. He said American service members are a "new generation of heroes" who are taking the fight to the terrorists in...

Myers Asks Americans to Remain Committed to Terror War By Jim GaramoneAmerican Forces Press Service SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 20, 2003 – In these challenging times, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff asked Americans to remain intellectually involved in thinking of the war on terrorism. Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers spoke to the World Affairs Council here Oct. 19 about the threat of terrorism, about operations in Iraq and about the situation in Korea. Myers asked the group to examine the threat facing America and its allies. "Determine what you think is at stake, and come to...

Number of Troops in Iraq to be 'Event Driven,' Chairman Says By Jim GaramoneAmerican Forces Press Service SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., Oct. 20, 2003 – The decision on how many American troops will be needed in Iraq will be "event driven" and will not be made in some "mindless way," Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said Oct. 19. In an interview, Myers said reports of a DoD plan to cut U.S. troop levels in Iraq to 50,000 by the middle of 2005 are not true. The chairman said U.S. Central Command chief...

Thursday October 02, 2003 Families chip in for flak jackets 02.10.2003 - By ANDREW GUMBEL in Los Angeles United States soldiers in Iraq are so short of up-to-date flak jackets - often the difference between survivable injury and death in combat - that their families back home have begun buying them out of their own pocket. Campaigners for military families opposed to the continuing occupation angrily denounced the lack of adequate protection yesterday, calling it "outrageous" and part of a pattern of general failure to provide adequate supplies to the troops almost five months after the formal end of the...

Myers Says Terrorism May Be Greatest Threat U.S. Has Faced By Jim GaramoneAmerican Forces Press Service ALEXANDRIA, Va., Sept. 25, 2003 – Terrorism may be the greatest threat the United States has ever faced, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers told the Defense Combating Terrorism Conference here recently. Patience, commitment and a will to win are needed to fight the war on terror, he said. The first thing people need to understand is that the war on terrorism is really a war, he added. "It's difficult, because the sacrifices in this war...

  United States Department of DefensePress AdvisoryOn the web: http://www.defenselink.mil/advisories/2003/pa20030915-0381.htmlMedia contact: media@defenselink.mil or +1 (703) 697-5131 Public contact: http://www.dod.mil/faq/comment.html or +1 (703) 428-0711 No.113-03 September 15, 2003 Gen. Myers Departs for Mexico and Europe Gen. Richard B. Myers, U.S. Air Force, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, departed Andrews Air Force Base, Md., on Monday, Sept. 15, 2003, for Mexico and Europe.  During this trip he will travel to Mexico, Bosnia, Kosovo, Hungary and Poland.  The trip is an opportunity to attend Mexican Independence Day events.  Myers will visit U.S. troops in Europe and meet with counterparts in Hungary...

’d like to take a moment on this very important day in our history to pause and reflect on where we are two years later. First of all, we must understand what this is all about. We are a nation at war, and the stakes could not be higher. You may have to go back to the Civil War to find a time when the values that we hold so dear have been threatened as they’re threatened today. Some years ago Osama bin Laden said he wanted to reduce the United States — and, by implication, the rest of...

Myers Praises Troops at Front Lines of War on Terrorism By Donna MilesAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Sept. 11, 2003 -- Two years after terrorist attacks thrust the United States into a war on terrorism worldwide, the military's top officer said today the Pentagon needs to make deployments and tour lengths more predictable for the men and women at the front lines of that war. "We haven't done a perfect job of this, and the families out there know that," Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers told Armed Forces Radio and Television Service at the Pentagon. "In some cases,...

Myers, Rumsfeld Eye to Eye on Internationalizing Iraq Mission By Kathleen T. Rhem American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Sept. 4, 2003 – U.S. military leaders have no reason to try to "go around" civilian defense leaders to make policy, because Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and other leaders take their generals' advice, the top American general said here today. Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, took to the airwaves today to refute a Washington Post article that contended he and Vice Chairman Marine Gen. Peter Pace conspired with Secretary of State Colin Powell...

ANKARA - Richard Myers, Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said the United States wanted to work with Turkey in Iraq, but Turkey will make its own decision on sending peacekeepers to Iraq. Myers, as well as the Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz, attended a reception late Thursday in Washington, hosted by the Turkish Armed Forces' attache. Turkey is one of the countries that Washington has requested to send troops to Iraq to help stabilization of the war-torn country. Government officials have signaled that a decision was unlikely to come in September and said Parliament could convene in...

<p>Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's trip to Colombia last week was preceded by visits made earlier this month by Joint Chiefs Chairman Richard B. Myersand U.S. Trade Representative Robert Zoellick. There are a number of reasons why the Bush administration may be assigning this level of importance to Colombia, but Jim Garamone, writing for the American Forces Press Service, put it most succinctly: "The narcoterrorists already have a smuggling pipeline into the United States, and it is no stretch to imagine other terror groups allying themselves with the narcoterrorists, said U.S. Embassy officials."</p>

<p>Donald Rumsfeld's recent visit to Colombia is a welcome signal of solidarity toward America's most reliable Latin American ally in the war on terror.</p> <p>"The Colombians are in every sense holding up their side of the partnership against narcoterrorism, and so we are always trying to find ways that we can be helpful," the Secretary of Defense said in an interview en route to Bogota. Perhaps even some holdouts in the State Department will now get the message.</p>

Myers Tells Vets U.S. Making 'Amazing Difference' in Iraq By Jim GaramoneAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, Aug. 26, 2003 - American service members are making "an amazing difference" in the lives of Iraqis, Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers said Aug. 25. Speaking at the annual Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in San Antonio, the nation's top military leader said the deaths of Saddam Hussein's sons Uday and Qusay sent a message to the Iraqi people that America is not going to let a similar regime back in power. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff told the...

<p>Venezuela's vice president criticized the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff on Wednesday for appearing to suggest that Venezuela did not have a firm anti-terrorist stance.</p> <p>Gen. Richard Myers, when asked Tuesday about allegations that Venezuela is permissive with Colombian rebels crossing into its territory, said, "It's not helpful when countries don't fully support the anti-terrorism fight.</p>

The United States will intensify its training of Colombian troops to bolster their campaign against leftist rebels, a senior Pentagon official said Tuesday.< Gen. Richard Myers, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, said it is in the United States' own interest -- and of other countries in the region -- to see the rebels defeated. ''Terrorism of any kind affects the stability and security of not only Colombia but also the entire Western Hemisphere,'' Myers said at a military airfield in Bogotá as he ended a two-day visit and headed for Nicaragua. Later Tuesday, in Managua, Myers...

Joint Chiefs Chairman Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers began a three-day visit to South and Central American Aug. 11 by highlighting the successes leaders here have achieved in the war on terrorism. While in Colombia the chairman will meet with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who celebrated a year in office Aug. 7. Uribe has aggressively sought to re-establish the government in rebel-held areas and has pursued three narcoterrorist factions. The chairman will also meet with Defense Minister Martha Lucia Ramerez and Gen. Jorge Mora, the Colombian Chief of Defense. The relationship between the United States and Colombia has changed....

Bush Renominates Myers, Pace for Second Terms on JCS By Jim GaramoneAmerican Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, June 20, 2003 – President Bush has nominated Air Force Gen. Richard Myers for a second two-year term as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Marine Corps Gen. Peter Pace to continue to serve as vice chairman. Both men have served in their positions since Oct. 1, 2001. The Senate must confirm both men. Myers was the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff prior to becoming chairman. Myers was nominated as chairman before Sept. 11, 2001. On the day...