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
United States Government
May 1, 2003
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.)
END 6:27 P.M. PDT
The Future of Iraq | Justifications and Ramifications of the War | The War and the Wider World | A Violent Month | Events of the Past Year | Maps