Austin Rotary Club Speech - We Will Not Give Up the Ground in Iraq

We Will Not Give Up the Ground in Iraq

Remarks to Austin Rotary Club

Thank you, Karen Atchley, for that gracious introduction. I'm honored to be here today.

These are truly historic times in our nation. We are facing challenges the likes of which we've never seen before. And in this time of crisis, we all must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.

I am still proud to stand for Texas values. I know President Bush is as well. I met with him this week, and I am here to tell you today that the President has made it clear, if anyone had a doubt, that he is absolutely determined to finish the job we started in Iraq.

We are only a few months away from the anniversary of the September 11th attacks. At this point in 2001, the terror cells were already functioning, and the agents of al Qaeda who carried out the hijackings were already operating in America and Germany. Yet despite all that we know from recent history, there are still those voices that ignore the lessons of the worst attack on American soil since Pearl Harbor.

In the aftermath of the attacks, did anyone expect that in less than three years, political opponents would be questioning the President's dedication to the war on terror? That attention-craving protestors would verbally assault Mayor Rudy Giuliani as a "murderer of 3000 people"? That serious-minded elected officials in Washington would actually suggest that the war against terror is "unwinnable"?

None of us could have imagined the change in attitude. But such are the times we live in, where far too many politicians put self-interest and political interest above the interests of our nation's security.

I am thankful, and I believe we should all be thankful, that a vile dictator like Saddam Hussein has been toppled. And I am thankful that we have a President who has the courage to stand on the world stage and unashamedly defend the principles of freedom and democracy. I am proud of everyone fighting this war against terror, from the most junior recruit to the commander in chief, and I believe they are all doing remarkable jobs under difficult circumstances.

We found horrible things in Iraq - torture cells, rape rooms, execution sites, and children's prisons. We found the legacy of fear and terror, the vestiges of years of unimaginable cruelty. We found more than three hundred thousand dead, buried in mass graves spread throughout Iraq, in nearly 100 reported sites - including one I witnessed last July. The graves are silent monuments of Saddam's ruthlessness, left behind for all to see. And even today, more than a million people are simply missing and unaccounted for - their fate unknown.

We have a duty as a powerful nation to take great care regarding what kind of world we leave for our children. And to those who oppose this war, I would say: Yes, peace is a good thing, but at what price is it purchased? By turning our backs on suffering and evil?

If the 20th Century has taught us anything, it is that we cannot allow violent dictators like Saddam Hussein, Pol Pot, Josef Stalin or Adolf Hitler to stand. If the enormous blessings we have received in America have taught us anything, it is that the moral conscience of our nation will not allow the land of the free to ignore the land of the persecuted.

We all must recognize that the world has changed since September 11th. In the future, our nation will as always seek peaceful avenues before resorting to the use of force - but we will not hesitate to act in self-defense when we see a threat on the horizon. We will no longer wait and sit on our hands while our enemies gather together to arm for war. In doing so, our inaction would inevitably lead to the sacrifice of innocent American lives.

We will not sacrifice those innocent lives. We will not concede an inch of ground. We will not allow another September 11th to befall this nation.

Some may ask: when does this war end? When will this conflict be resolved? I will tell you when it ends. It ends when there is no place on earth where terrorists can rest, train and devise their deadly schemes in peace - when there is no sanctuary for their vile ideology of hate.

We learned a few weeks ago of the death of Pat Tillman, an Army Ranger who died at the hands of the enemy in Afghanistan. While many Americans have a friend or loved one who has perished in the fight against terror, Pat Tillman was the first soldier to die abroad that nearly all of us knew by name.

We all knew about the sacrifices he made to take up arms against the enemy - leaving behind the NFL, a big contract, a young wife. But Pat Tillman never gave interviews about his decision, never promoted himself to the media or the people. And he did all that for a reason - he understood that what he left behind was ultimately no more significant than the sacrifices of every other man and woman who dons the uniform of an American soldier and is willing to lay down their life for this great country.

There are thousands of Pat Tillman's fighting abroad today, men and women who have left behind all they hold dear to battle an enemy that threatens the American people and our way of life.

Let me tell you about the small town of San Diego, Texas. The news came recently that Marine Lance Cpl. Ruben Valdez Jr., age 21, had perished in Iraq. Only last May, it was Lance's neighborhood friend, 22-year-old Army medic Jose Amancio Perez, who had died in Iraq. This small town of about 4,800 appears to be the smallest in the nation to have lost more than one GI in the war.

Earlier this year, Cpl. Valdez had the opportunity to stay at home. He had already served seven months in Iraq. But after marrying his childhood friend Amy, he chose to return. He told his mother that it was his duty.

"He was never afraid," his aunt told reporters. "He was very brave."

Then there is Pfc. Ray Joseph Hutchinson, who joined the Army in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, and was killed in Iraq last December. He told his parents that he wanted very much to come home to Houston for his grandmother's heart surgery, but that he did not want to bump another soldier already scheduled to leave Iraq for the states. His father told reporters: "As corny as it sounds, he knew freedom wasn't free."

My friends, as long as there are those among us who understand this simple truth, America will never lack for heroes.

These young souls fell in the line of duty, on the field of battle, and there is honor in their lives and deaths. What remains for us is the cause they served, the task of ensuring that the freedom they won is just and lasting. We will not walk away from their graves, and we will not give up the ground they won. And when our grandchildren see those graves, and asked why these brave men and women died, the answer must be without doubt: "For liberty, for justice, for America."

I believe that whenever a life is destroyed - by a terrorist, a brutal dictator, or some worse type of murderer - the responsibility falls to us, as a society, to respond. We cannot escape history. We cannot erase September 11th. As much as our hearts desire it, we cannot change the past. And we are forced to recognize that evil men will always exist, and they will do evil things.

Yet for those of us left behind in the aftermath, it is the communal response to an evil act that matters most of all. Our response must resound with dignity, assurance and absolute clarity. It must echo through every age, and every generation. We must recognize evil for what it is - and we must fight it. We must dedicate our lives to fighting it.

Ronald Reagan once said: "There is no security, no safety, in the appeasement of evil. It must be the core of Western policy that there can be no sanctuary for terror. And to sustain such a policy, free men and free nations must unite and work together."

So we will labor on together, each in our own way, confident in pursuit of our ultimate goal: We seek a just, free, and peaceful world - for ourselves, for our allies, and for all future generations.

Thank you, and may God bless you all.