<http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/13/international/13prexy.html?th=&emc=th&pagewanted=print&position=>
The New York Times April 13, 2005 THE WHITE HOUSE Bush Praises Troops' Role in Helping to Free Iraq By RICHARD W. STEVENSON ORT HOOD, Tex., April 12 - President Bush saluted thousands of troops here on Tuesday for their work in moving Iraq from the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein to a freely elected government, saying developments there were a harbinger of expanding democracy throughout the Middle East and the world. "The establishment of a free Iraq at the heart of the Middle East will be a crushing defeat to the forces of tyranny and terror, and a watershed event in the global democratic revolution," Mr. Bush said. Speaking in brilliant sunshine before tens of thousands of flag-waving troops here in central Texas, Mr. Bush said the toppling of Mr. Hussein's statue in Baghdad two years ago would rank with the fall of the Berlin Wall "as one of the great moments in the history of liberty." He suggested that the United States and its allies were making substantial progress in training Iraqis to take on the job of securing their country, saying more than 150,000 had been trained and equipped, a force that outnumbers American troops in Iraq. He did not mention a timetable to begin reducing the American force, currently at 142,000. Military officials in Iraq said Tuesday during a visit by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld that the number of Americans would drop just below 138,000 by May, back to the level before the election. Pentagon officials have said they are beginning to plan a further possible reduction by early next year, perhaps to around 105,000. Mr. Bush said that once Iraqis were "defended and led by their own countrymen," then American troops "will come home with the honor they have earned." Speaking hours after Mr. Rumsfeld met with leaders in Iraq, Mr. Bush recounted his own recent conversations with the new president and assembly speaker, saying he had "assured them that the United States will continue to stand with the Iraqi people as they take control of their destiny and assume the blessings of self-government." Making a case that freedom is spreading, Mr. Bush invoked elections and other steps toward expressions of popular will in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. "A critical mass of events is taking that region in a new direction," Mr. Bush said, speaking to members of the First Cavalry, which came back a month ago from a year in Baghdad, and the Fourth Infantry Division, which came home a year ago and returns in the fall. "And as freedom spreads in the Middle East and beyond, the American people will be safer and the free world more secure." As he usually does on his visits to military bases, Mr. Bush later met behind closed doors with families of soldiers killed in Iraq. The White House said he spent more than three hours with 80 to 90 members of 33 families. During its year in Iraq, 165 members of the First Cavalry were killed and about 1,500 wounded, according to a public affairs officer for the division. The Fourth Infantry had 81 soldiers killed. "We honor their memory," Mr. Bush said in his public remarks. "We lift them up in prayer. Their sacrifices will always be remembered by a grateful nation." Speaking three days after the second anniversary of the fall of Baghdad, Mr. Bush recounted the military drive through Iraq and the variety of duties that have fallen to Americans in Iraq since then, from capturing Mr. Hussein to driving insurgents out of Falluja and teaching business skills to Iraqi entrepreneurs. His address, punctuated by the traditional military cheer of "hoo-ah," pulled together many themes he has set out over the past several years. He portrayed Iraq as "a central front in the war on terror," and said that by defeating terrorists there, "we do not have to face them where we live." He linked the war in Iraq to the broader theme he set out in his second Inaugural Address: focusing American foreign policy on ending tyranny and spreading freedom. -- ----------------- R. A. Hettinga <mailto: [EMAIL PROTECTED]> The Internet Bearer Underwriting Corporation <http://www.ibuc.com/> 44 Farquhar Street, Boston, MA 02131 USA "... however it may deserve respect for its usefulness and antiquity, [predicting the end of the world] has not been found agreeable to experience." -- Edward Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire' ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Take a look at donorschoose.org, an excellent charitable web site for anyone who cares about public education! http://us.click.yahoo.com/_OLuKD/8WnJAA/cUmLAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: osint@yahoogroups.com Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
