For Immediate Release
Office of the Vice President
December 23, 2003
Remarks by the Vice President
McChord Air Force Base
Tacoma, Washington
December 22, 2003
12:00 P.M. PST
THE VICE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much, Colonel. And thank all
of you for coming out today. This is a great turn-out. I really
appreciate your willingness to come out. I wasn't sure we were going
to get in, that ceiling is a little low out there.
But I wanted to come by today, to thank all of you, to come back to
McChord -- this is the first time I've been back here since about 1992,
when I served as Secretary of Defense, in the old days, when I had real
power and influence. (Laughter.)
But I know you've done some tremendous work here, the 62nd and the
446th Air Lift Wing. You guys have performed some fantastic missions
in connection with our operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. I know,
among other things, you dropped the 173rd into Northern Iraq.
(Applause.) That was a tremendous piece of work. And we greatly
appreciate the thousands and thousands of hours that you've flown, the
tremendous missions that you've performed all over the world, but
especially in connection with those two operations.
I also note the presence here today of some of our friends from 1st
Corps, over at Fort Lewis. (Applause.) And I'm glad to see that this
is a joint operation. It means a great deal to us. But you've done
some great work, as well, too. Fort Lewis has become, really, the
transformation center for the United States Army. (Applause.) And I
know we've got the Stryker Brigade deployed now to Iraq. (Applause.)
And we've got more coming. And we tremendously appreciate what you're
doing. You're doing some great work there, as well, too.
Let me just say a word or two, if I can, about where we are in
terms of our ongoing operations. We've had a reminder just within the
last 24 hours, that the United States still faces serious threats.
We've seen the threat level escalated to level orange. And we've done
that because we've seen some reporting that leads us to believe it's
necessary. It's a reminder to all Americans that, in fact, we are
faced with a very serious long-term threat to the United States, that
we've made major progress against these guys, but they're still out
there. They're still doing everything they can to acquire ever
deadlier weapons to use against us.
We need to remain vigilant. We need to remain very aggressively
engaged, and we're doing everything we can to take down those
terrorists that in the past have launched attacks against the United
States, as well as those organizations and states out there that have
supported them.
In a sense, 9/11 changed everything for us. 9/11 forced us to
think in new ways about threats to the United States, about our
vulnerabilities, about who our enemies were, about what kind of
military strategy we needed in order to defend ourselves. And we've
been actively and aggressively involved in doing that now for more than
two years. It's a combination of strategy that involves not only going
after the individuals who perpetrate terrorist attacks -- we've done
that before. But we've got to go far beyond that. We've got to take
down the financial networks that support them. We've got to mount
military operations whenever that's necessary and appropriate, in order
to take out the bad guys before we can launch further attacks against
the United States.
And as President Bush decided that very first night after 9/11, we
also have to go after terror-sponsoring states, and that those who
provide safe harbor and sanctuary for terrorists to launch attacks
against the United States will be deemed just as guilty as the
terrorists themselves for the attacks that have been launched.
That's why we went into Afghanistan. That's why we went into
Iraq. And that's why it's been so absolutely essential for us to
conduct those activities and exercises. And we always have to
remember, we do everything we can to defend ourselves here at home, to
build the strongest possible defenses. But if we're 99 percent
successful, the 1 percent that gets through can still kill you.
Defense isn't enough. We also have to go on offense. And that's what
you're all about. (Applause.)
Our objective has to be to destroy the terrorists before they can
launch more attacks against us here in the United States, here at
home. (Applause.) Now, you all have done a superb job. I can't say
enough by way of thanks. The President knows I'm here today. I talked
to him this morning. We did a morning brief together, and he asked me
to be sure and on his behalf, bring you his greetings, the
Commander-in-Chief, George W. Bush. (Applause.)
Now, this is the holiday season. We've got a tremendous amount to
be thankful for and to be grateful for as Americans. We are blessed to
be part of this great country of ours. All of you, more than anybody
else, are out there day in and day out, putting your necks on the line
to make certain that those of us back here at home are safe and
continuing to be free.
I especially want to thank your families. I know we've got a lot
of families here today. You carry as much of the burden as anybody
else. (Applause.) We couldn't do it without all of you. And it means
a great deal to all of us.
So today, let me just say, on behalf of the President, on behalf of
the entire nation, what it means for us, what you do every day, the
heavy lifting that's involved, the long hours, the dangerous missions,
the time away from home, it's what our freedom is all about. So thank
you very, very much for what you do for all of us.
Thank you. (Applause.)
END 12:08 P.M. PST
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