President Bush Announces Major Combat
Operations in Iraq Have Ended Remarks by
the President from the USS Abraham Lincoln At Sea Off
the Coast of San Diego, California
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all very much. Admiral
Kelly, Captain Card, officers and sailors of the USS
Abraham Lincoln, my fellow Americans: Major combat
operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq,
the United States and our allies have prevailed.
(Applause.) And now our coalition is engaged in securing
and reconstructing that country.
In this battle, we
have fought for the cause of liberty, and for the peace
of the world. Our nation and our coalition are proud of
this accomplishment -- yet, it is you, the members of
the United States military, who achieved it. Your
courage, your willingness to face danger for your
country and for each other, made this day possible.
Because of you, our nation is more secure. Because of
you, the tyrant has fallen, and Iraq is free.
(Applause.)
Operation Iraqi Freedom was carried out with a
combination of precision and speed and boldness the
enemy did not expect, and the world had not seen before.
From distant bases or ships at sea, we sent planes and
missiles that could destroy an enemy division, or strike
a single bunker. Marines and soldiers charged to Baghdad
across 350 miles of hostile ground, in one of the
swiftest advances of heavy arms in history. You have
shown the world the skill and the might of the American
Armed Forces.
This nation thanks all the members of our coalition
who joined in a noble cause. We thank the Armed Forces
of the United Kingdom, Australia, and Poland, who shared
in the hardships of war. We thank all the citizens of
Iraq who welcomed our troops and joined in the
liberation of their own country. And tonight, I have a
special word for Secretary Rumsfeld, for General Franks,
and for all the men and women who wear the uniform of
the United States: America is grateful for a job well
done. (Applause.)
The character of our military through history -- the
daring of Normandy, the fierce courage of Iwo Jima, the
decency and idealism that turned enemies into allies --
is fully present in this generation. When Iraqi
civilians looked into the faces of our servicemen and
women, they saw strength and kindness and goodwill. When
I look at the members of the United States military, I
see the best of our country, and I'm honored to be your
Commander-in-Chief. (Applause.)
In the images of falling statues, we have witnessed
the arrival of a new era. For a hundred of years of war,
culminating in the nuclear age, military technology was
designed and deployed to inflict casualties on an
ever-growing scale. In defeating Nazi Germany and
Imperial Japan, Allied forces destroyed entire cities,
while enemy leaders who started the conflict were safe
until the final days. Military power was used to end a
regime by breaking a nation.
Today, we have the
greater power to free a nation by breaking a dangerous
and aggressive regime. With new tactics and precision
weapons, we can achieve military objectives without
directing violence against civilians. No device of man
can remove the tragedy from war; yet it is a great moral
advance when the guilty have far more to fear from war
than the innocent. (Applause.)
In the images of celebrating Iraqis, we have also
seen the ageless appeal of human freedom. Decades of
lies and intimidation could not make the Iraqi people
love their oppressors or desire their own enslavement.
Men and women in every culture need liberty like they
need food and water and air. Everywhere that freedom
arrives, humanity rejoices; and everywhere that freedom
stirs, let tyrants fear. (Applause.)
We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We're bringing
order to parts of that country that remain dangerous.
We're pursuing and finding leaders of the old regime,
who will be held to account for their crimes. We've
begun the search for hidden chemical and biological
weapons and already know of hundreds of sites that will
be investigated. We're helping to rebuild Iraq, where
the dictator built palaces for himself, instead of
hospitals and schools. And we will stand with the new
leaders of Iraq as they establish a government of, by,
and for the Iraqi people. (Applause.)
The transition from dictatorship to democracy will
take time, but it is worth every effort. Our coalition
will stay until our work is done. Then we will leave,
and we will leave behind a free Iraq. (Applause.)
The battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror
that began on September the 11, 2001 -- and still goes
on. That terrible morning, 19 evil men -- the shock
troops of a hateful ideology -- gave America and the
civilized world a glimpse of their ambitions. They
imagined, in the words of one terrorist, that September
the 11th would be the "beginning of the end of America."
By seeking to turn our cities into killing fields,
terrorists and their allies believed that they could
destroy this nation's resolve, and force our retreat
from the world. They have failed. (Applause.)
In the battle of Afghanistan, we destroyed the
Taliban, many terrorists, and the camps where they
trained. We continue to help the Afghan people lay
roads, restore hospitals, and educate all of their
children. Yet we also have dangerous work to complete.
As I speak, a Special Operations task force, led by the
82nd Airborne, is on the trail of the terrorists and
those who seek to undermine the free government of
Afghanistan. America and our coalition will finish what
we have begun. (Applause.)
From Pakistan to the Philippines to the Horn of
Africa, we are hunting down al Qaeda killers. Nineteen
months ago, I pledged that the terrorists would not
escape the patient justice of the United States. And as
of tonight, nearly one-half of al Qaeda's senior
operatives have been captured or killed. (Applause.)
The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the
campaign against terror. We've removed an ally of al
Qaeda, and cut off a source of terrorist funding. And
this much is certain: No terrorist network will gain
weapons of mass destruction from the Iraqi regime,
because the regime is no more. (Applause.)
In these 19 months that changed the world, our
actions have been focused and deliberate and
proportionate to the offense. We have not forgotten the
victims of September the 11th -- the last phone calls,
the cold murder of children, the searches in the rubble.
With those attacks, the terrorists and their supporters
declared war on the United States. And war is what they
got. (Applause.)
Our war against terror is proceeding according to
principles that I have made clear to all: Any person
involved in committing or planning terrorist attacks
against the American people becomes an enemy of this
country, and a target of American justice. (Applause.)
Any person, organization, or government that
supports, protects, or harbors terrorists is complicit
in the murder of the innocent, and equally guilty of
terrorist crimes.
Any outlaw regime that has ties to terrorist groups
and seeks or possesses weapons of mass destruction is a
grave danger to the civilized world -- and will be
confronted. (Applause.)
And anyone in the world, including the Arab world,
who works and sacrifices for freedom has a loyal friend
in the United States of America. (Applause.)
Our commitment to liberty is America's tradition --
declared at our founding; affirmed in Franklin
Roosevelt's Four Freedoms; asserted in the Truman
Doctrine and in Ronald Reagan's challenge to an evil
empire. We are committed to freedom in Afghanistan, in
Iraq, and in a peaceful Palestine. The advance of
freedom is the surest strategy to undermine the appeal
of terror in the world. Where freedom takes hold, hatred
gives way to hope. When freedom takes hold, men and
women turn to the peaceful pursuit of a better life.
American values and American interests lead in the same
direction: We stand for human liberty. (Applause.)
The United States upholds these principles of
security and freedom in many ways -- with all the tools
of diplomacy, law enforcement, intelligence, and
finance. We're working with a broad coalition of nations
that understand the threat and our shared responsibility
to meet it. The use of force has been -- and remains --
our last resort. Yet all can know, friend and foe alike,
that our nation has a mission: We will answer threats to
our security, and we will defend the peace. (Applause.)
Our mission continues. Al Qaeda is wounded, not
destroyed. The scattered cells of the terrorist network
still operate in many nations, and we know from daily
intelligence that they continue to plot against free
people. The proliferation of deadly weapons remains a
serious danger. The enemies of freedom are not idle, and
neither are we. Our government has taken unprecedented
measures to defend the homeland. And we will continue to
hunt down the enemy before he can strike. (Applause.)
The war on terror is not over; yet it is not endless.
We do not know the day of final victory, but we have
seen the turning of the tide. No act of the terrorists
will change our purpose, or weaken our resolve, or alter
their fate. Their cause is lost. Free nations will press
on to victory. (Applause.)
Other nations in history have fought in foreign lands
and remained to occupy and exploit. Americans, following
a battle, want nothing more than to return home. And
that is your direction tonight. (Applause.) After
service in the Afghan -- and Iraqi theaters of war --
after 100,000 miles, on the longest carrier deployment
in recent history, you are homeward bound. (Applause.)
Some of you will see new family members for the first
time -- 150 babies were born while their fathers were on
the Lincoln. Your families are proud of you, and your
nation will welcome you. (Applause.)
We are mindful, as well, that some good men and women
are not making the journey home. One of those who fell,
Corporal Jason Mileo, spoke to his parents five days
before his death. Jason's father said, "He called us
from the center of Baghdad, not to brag, but to tell us
he loved us. Our son was a soldier."
Every name, every life is a loss to our military, to
our nation, and to the loved ones who grieve. There's no
homecoming for these families. Yet we pray, in God's
time, their reunion will come.
Those we lost were last seen on duty. Their final act
on this Earth was to fight a great evil and bring
liberty to others. All of you -- all in this generation
of our military -- have taken up the highest calling of
history. You're defending your country, and protecting
the innocent from harm. And wherever you go, you carry a
message of hope -- a message that is ancient and ever
new. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, "To the
captives, 'come out,' -- and to those in darkness, 'be
free.'"
Thank you for serving our country and our cause. May
God bless you all, and may God continue to bless
America. (Applause.)
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