For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
August 31, 2004
Remarks by the President of the American Legion
At the 86th Annual National Convention
Gaylord Opryland Hotel
Nashville, Tennessee
10:00 A.M. CDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Thanks for having me. And thank
you for the warm welcome. Thank you all. (Applause.) I'm honored to
be here at your 86th national convention. There's another convention
going on in New York you might have heard about. (Laughter.) Tomorrow
they're going to choose a presidential nominee. I think I got the
inside track. (Laughter I'm taking nothing for granted, however.
(Applause.) I'm taking nothing for granted, so Laura headed to New
York this morning to make my case. But I do want you to know she sends
her very best regards. (Applause.)
I also want to let you know that America's veterans are the heart
and soul of this nation. When freedom was under threat, you risked
your lives in places like Omaha Beach and Okinawa, Keshan, Kandahar and
Baghdad. Because you served, Americans live in freedom. I'm proud to
stand before you as your Commander-in-Chief and look in the eye and
say, America is grateful for your service. (Applause.)
And America is grateful for the service of Senator John McCain.
(Applause.) He gave a great speech last night in New York. He's a
great American. (Applause.) He's a great American who gave his nation
some of the most difficult and distinguished service in the history of
our military. He fought for America, he suffered for America, he
returned for honor, and his service continues today. I'm proud to have
John McCain with us and standing by my side. (Applause.)
I have enjoyed working with the National Commander, John Brieden.
Maybe we got along so well because we both speak the same language.
(Laughter.) Texan. (Laughter.) But he served this August body with
class and dignity, and I'm proud of your service, John. Thank you,
sir. (Applause.)
And I was pleased to be introduced by Katherine Morris, as well.
She, too, speaks Texan. (Laughter.) I want to thank her for her
leadership as the American Legion Auxiliary National President. I'm
pleased to be here with my friend, Tony Principi, the Secretary of
Veterans Affairs. I want to thank Les Brownlee who is with us, the
Acting Secretary of the Army. I appreciate the Mayor of this great
city of Nashville joining us. Mr. Mayor, thank you for coming. I
appreciate Congressman Cooper from the state of Tennessee for joining
us.
Most of all, I want to thank the Legion members who have been so
gracious in your hospitality. Thank you and the Auxiliary members for
welcoming me.
Since your founding, the American Legion has always been faithful
to God and to country. (Applause.) You served our nation in uniform,
and you still serve today. When Hurricane Charlie hit Florida a few
weeks ago, American Legion posts gathered food and helped neighbors in
need. (Applause.) In moments of crisis, Americans know Legionnaires
always come through. (Applause.)
Members of the American Legion and the Auxiliary are also serving
your neighbors every day, volunteering in veterans hospitals,
sponsoring scout troops and youth baseball, and collecting scholarship
money for deserving students. You've started a scholarship fund for
the children of troops killed since September the 11th, 2001, in the
war on terror. Our country owes these families so much, and I thank
you for showing the gratitude and the good heart of the United States
of America. (Applause.)
The most important gift you give our country is the example you set
for the men and women of our Armed Forces. In Afghanistan and Iraq and
other fronts in the war on terror, today's servicemen and women are
carrying on your legacy of selfless service and courage under fire. I
know you share America's pride in them. They are serving our country
with pride, and they are bringing honor to the uniform. (Applause.)
Our fighting men and women are serving America under a proud flag,
and that flag should be cherished and protected. (Applause.) When
John and your National Adjutant General Bob have come by the Oval
Office, they always remind me about the Citizens Flag Alliance. I
appreciate your leadership in that important alliance. (Applause.)
Like you, I support a constitutional amendment to protect the flag from
desecration. (Applause.) I think John McCain put it best when he said,
American blood has been shed all over the world for the American flag,
and I believe it deserves respect. (Applause.)
Our nation's veterans have made serving America the highest
priority of your lives. And that is why I have made serving our
nation's veterans one of the highest priorities of my administration.
To make sure my administration fulfills the commitment I have made to
America's veterans, I selected one really fine man in Tony Principi. I
am proud of the job that our Secretary is doing. (Applause.)
Thanks in large part to Tony's leadership, my administration has a
solid record of accomplishment for our veterans. When my 2005 budget
request is approved by Congress, we will have increased overall funding
for our nation's veterans by almost $20 billion, or 40 percent since
2001. (Applause.) We have increased funding for our veterans more in
four years than the previous administration did in eight years.
(Applause.) We have increased VA medical care funding by 41 percent
over the last four years. We're bringing care to more veterans more
quickly. Since 2001, we have enrolled 2.5 million more veterans in
health care services. We have increased out-patient visits from 44
million to 54 million. We've increased the number of prescriptions
filled from 98 million to 116 million. We've reduced the backlog of
disability claims by about a third. We will reduce it even further.
We have cut the average time it takes to process disability claims by
70 days. We're getting the job done for our veterans. (Applause.)
We have focused resources on veterans who need it most, those with
service-related disabilities and low incomes and special needs. We've
established a new scheduling system to make certain that veterans
seeking care for a service connected condition are the first in line.
For more than a century federal law prohibited disabled veterans
from receiving both their military retired pay and their VA disability
compensation. Combat injured and severely disabled veterans deserve
better. I was the first President in over a hundred years to sign
concurrent receipt legislation. (Applause.)
My administration has launched a $35-million program to provide
housing and health care and other support services to homeless
veterans. No veteran who served in the blazing heat or bitter cold of
foreign lands should have to live without shelter, exposed to the
elements, in the very country whose freedom they fought for.
(Applause.)
We are modernizing VA health centers and building new ones,
especially in the South and West where increasing numbers of our
veterans live. Since 2001, we have opened 194 new community-based
clinics nationwide. (Applause.) Through the CARES initiative we're
providing $1 billion, and have requested another half-billion for next
year to modernize VA facilities and to provide better care for veterans
in areas where the need is growing. When it comes to providing
first-class care for our veterans, we are getting the job done.
(Applause.)
Our nation's debt extends not just to the veterans who serve, but
to the families who supported them in war and depend on them today. So
last December, I signed the Veterans Benefits Act, authorizing $1
billion in new and expanded benefits for disabled veterans, surviving
spouses, and their children. (Applause.)
We meet today at a time of war for our country, a war we did not
start, yet one that we will win. (Applause.) If America shows
weakness or uncertainty in this decade, the world will drift toward
tragedy. This will not happen on my watch. (Applause.)
The world changed on that terrible September morning, and since
that day, we have changed the world. Before September the 11th, 2001,
Afghanistan served as the home base of al Qaeda, which trained and
deployed thousands of killers to set up terror cells around the world,
including our own country. Because we acted, Afghanistan is a rising
democracy. I don't know whether you know this or not, but over 10
million Afghan citizens have registered to vote in the October --
coming October presidential elections. (Applause.) Because we acted,
many young girls now go to school for the first time. Because we
acted, Afghanistan is an ally in the war on terror. Because we acted,
America and the world are safer. (Applause.)
Before September the 11th, Libya was spending millions to acquire
weapons of mass destruction. Today, because America and our allies
sent a clear and easy to understand message, the leader of Libya has
abandoned his pursuit of weapons of mass destruction, and America and
the world are safer. (Applause.)
Before September the 11th, the ruler of Iraq was a sworn enemy of
America. He was defying the world. He was firing weapons at American
pilots who were enforcing the world's sanctions. He had pursued and he
had used weapons of mass destruction. He harbored -- (applause) -- he
had harbored terrorists. He invaded his neighbors. He subsidized the
families of suicide bombers. He and his henchmen murdered tens of
thousands of his own citizens. He was a source of instability in the
world's most volatile region. Saddam Hussein was a threat.
After September the 11th, one of the lessons this country must
always remember is that we must take threats seriously before they
fully materialize. (Applause.) So I went to the United States
Congress, and members of both political parties, including my opponent,
looked at the intelligence and looked at the background and came to the
same conclusion, Saddam Hussein was a threat.
Before a President every commits troops, we must try all other
alternatives to deal with threats. And so I went to the United
Nations. I said to the free world, Saddam Hussein is a threat. They
looked at the same intelligence and came to the same conclusion with a
15-to-nothing vote in U.N. Security Council. They said, disclose,
disarm, or face serious consequences. The world had spoken.
But as he had for over a decade. Saddam Hussein defied the demands
of the free world. He ignored the demands of the United Nations. As a
matter of fact, when we sent inspectors -- or when the U.N. sent
inspectors into Iraq, he systematically deceived the inspectors. So I
had a choice to make: Do I forget the lessons of September the 11th
and take the word of a madman, or do I take action to defend our
country. Given that choice, I will defend America every time.
(Applause.)
Even though -- even though we did not find the stockpiles that we
thought we would find, Saddam Hussein had the capability of making
weapons of mass destruction, and he could have passed that capability
on to the enemy, and that was a risk we could not afford to take after
September the 11th. Knowing what I know today, I would have taken the
same action. America and the world are safer with Saddam Hussein
sitting in a prison cell. (Applause.)
We will continue to work with friends and allies around the world
to aggressively pursue the terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan and
elsewhere. You cannot talk sense to these people. You cannot
negotiate with them. You cannot hope for the best. We must
aggressively pursue them around the world so we do not have to face
them here at home. (Applause.)
In this different kind of war, we may never sit down at a peace
table. But make no mistake about it, we are winning, and we will win.
(Applause.) We will win by staying on the offensive. We will win by
spreading liberty. We believe that liberty can transform nations from
tyranny into peaceful nations. And so we'll keep our commitments in
Afghanistan and Iraq. We will help them become peaceful and democratic
countries that are allies in the war on terror.
Those leaders -- countries are now governed by strong leaders who
believe in the aspirations of their people. We'll help them in the
political process. More importantly, we will train Afghan citizens and
Iraqi citizens so they can defend their own country against a few who
would stop the wishes of the many. Our military will complete this
mission as quickly as possible so our troops do not stay a day longer
than necessary. (Applause.)
We're doing the hard work of securing our country and spreading the
peace, and those commitments are made by the men and women of our
military. I've had the privilege of traveling to bases around our
country and around the world. I've met with those who defend our
security. I've seen their great decency and their unselfish courage.
I can assure you, ladies and gentlemen, the cause of freedom is in
really good hands. (Applause.)
And those who wear our uniform deserve the full support of the
government. For the past years my administration has strengthened our
military. We enacted the largest increases in defense spending since
Ronald Reagan served as the Commander-in-Chief. We've increased
military pay by nearly 21 percent. We provided for better housing, for
better training, for better maintenance.
Last September, when our troops were in combat in Afghanistan and
in Iraq, I proposed supplemental funding to support them in their
missions. The legislation provided funding for body armor and vital
equipment, hazard pay, health benefits, ammunition, fuel and spare
parts. It was important funding. We received great bipartisan support
for that funding. All but 12 United States senators voted to support
our troops in combat. My opponent chose to vote no on that vital
legislation. When asked, he said, well, I actually did vote for the
$87 billion, right before I voted against it. (Laughter.) When
further pressed, he said he was proud of his vote, and then he said it
was a complicated matter. There's nothing complicated about supporting
our troops in combat. (Applause.)
In the long run, in the long run, our security is not guaranteed by
force alone. We must work to change the conditions that give rise to
terror: poverty and hopelessness and resentment. A free and peaceful
Iraq and a free and peaceful Afghanistan will be powerful examples in
part of the world that is desperate for freedom.
By serving the ideal of liberty, we're bringing hope to others,
and we're making our country more secure. By serving the ideal of
liberty, we are making the world more peaceful. And by serving the
ideal of liberty, we're serving the deepest ideals of the American
soul. Freedom is not America's gift to the world' freedom is the
Almighty God's gift to each man and woman in this world. (Applause.)
We have more work to do to defend our freedom and to protect our
country. For decades, America's Armed Forces abroad have essentially
remained where the wars of the last century ended, in Europe and Asia.
Much of America's current force posture was designed to protect us and
our allies from Soviet aggression, a threat that no longer exists. And
that's why I announced a plan to transform our global force posture,
the numbers, types, locations, and capabilities of U.S. forces around
the world.
This new plan will help us fight and win the war on terror. This
new plan will help us deal with the threats of the 21st century. It
will strengthen our alliances while we build new partnerships to better
preserve the peace. It will reduce the stress on our troops and on our
military families. It was save the taxpayers money, as we consolidate
and close bases and facilities overseas no longer needed to face the
threats of our time and defend the peace and freedom of the world.
This plan was carefully crafted over more than three years in close
consultation with friends and allies around the world. We will have a
presence, but we'll have a smarter presence to promote the peace.
Within hours after I announced this plan, my opponent came out
against it, and that's his right to do so. After all, it's a
campaign. He's allowed to say what he believes. The only problem is
that he endorsed the idea just 17 days earlier. (Laughter and
applause.) On August the 1st, he said, "I think we can significantly
change the deployment of troops, not just in Iraq, but elsewhere in the
world -- the Korean Peninsula, perhaps, Europe, perhaps. There are
great possibilities open to us, but this administration has very little
imagination." Well, it takes a lot of imagination to come out against
a position you took just 17 days earlier. (Laughter.)
This world has changed a great deal since many -- many of you have
worn the nation's uniform. Today, our troops have the most advanced
technologies at their disposal; weapons are more lethal and precise
than any that were available for you. Yet, their success in the war on
terror is made possible by the same thing that made your success
possible: personal courage, dedication to duty, and love of our great
country. (Applause.)
As our troops serve today in Baghdad and Mosul and the Hindu Kush
Mountains and around the world, I know American veterans feel a special
pride in them. They're carrying on your legacy of sacrifice and
service. They're determined to see the mission through. America is
proud of them. America will stand with them.
I want to thank you -- (applause) -- I want to thank you -- thank
you for standing by our men and women in uniform. Thank you for your
idealism. Thank you for your example. Thank you for your dedication
to God and country. And thank you for having me here.
May God bless you, and may God continue to bless the United States
of America. Thank you all. (Applause.)
END 10:24 A.M. CDT
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