Radio Address by the President to the Nation

[PfcHammer]

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/usnw/20040410/pl_usnw/radio_address_by_the_president_to_the_nation101_xml


To: National Desk


Contact: White House Press Office, 202-456-2580


WASHINGTON, April 10 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The following is a transcript of the President's weekly radio address to the nation:


THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. This week in Iraq (news - web sites), our coalition forces have faced challenges, and taken the fight to the enemy. And our offensive will continue in the weeks ahead.


As the June 30th date for Iraqi sovereignty draws near, a small faction is attempting to derail Iraqi democracy and seize power. In some cities, Saddam supporters and terrorists have struck against coalition forces. In other areas, attacks were incited by a radical named Muqtada-al-Sadr, who is wanted for the murder of a respected Shiite cleric. Al-Sadr has called for violence against coalition troops, and his band of thugs have terrorized Iraqi police and ordinary citizens.


Coalition forces are conducting a multi-city offensive. In Fallujah, Marines of Operation Vigilant Resolve are taking control of the city, block by block. Further south, troops of Operation Resolute Sword have taken the initiative from al-Sadr's militia. Our coalition's quick reaction forces are finding and engaging the enemy. Prisoners are being taken, and intelligence is being gathered. Our decisive actions will continue until these enemies of democracy are dealt with.


Some have suggested that we should respond to the recent attacks by delaying Iraqi sovereignty. This is precisely what our enemies want. They want to dictate the course of events in Iraq and to prevent the Iraqi people from having a true voice in their future. They want America and our coalition to falter in our commitments before a watching world. In these ambitions, the enemies of freedom will fail. Iraqi sovereignty will arrive on June 30th.


In March, the Iraqi Governing Council signed a document that protects the rights of the Iraqi people, offers the timetable for elections, and paves the way for a permanent constitution. At this moment, United Nations (news - web sites) Special Envoy Lakhdar Brahimi is conducting intensive consultations with a wide range of Iraqis on the structure of the interim government that will assume control on July the 1st. We welcome this U.N. engagement.


The transition to sovereignty will mark the beginning of a new government, and the end of the coalition's administrative duties. But the coalition's commitment to Iraq will continue. We will establish a new American embassy to protect our nation's interests. We will continue helping the Iraqi people reconstruct their economy, undermined by decades of dictatorship and corruption. And our coalition forces will remain committed to the security of Iraq.


Iraq's elections for a permanent government are scheduled to be held near the end of 2005, and the elected government can count on coalition assistance. We will stand with the Iraqi people as long as necessary, to ensure that their young democracy is stable and secure and successful.


As we have done before, America is fighting on the side of liberty -- liberty in Iraq, and liberty in the Middle East. This objective serves the interests of that region, of the United States and of all freedom-loving countries. As the greater Middle East increasingly becomes a place where freedom flourishes, the lives of millions in that region will be bettered, and the American people and the entire world will be more secure.


From the first days of the war on terror, I said our nation would face periods of struggle and testing. As the June 30th transition approaches, we will continue to see a test of wills between the enemies of freedom and its defenders. We will win this test of wills, and overcome every challenge, because the cause of freedom and security is worth our struggle.


This weekend, many of the men and women who serve that cause in uniform will celebrate Easter and Passover far from home. In this season that celebrates hope and freedom, our nation remembers in prayer the good and the brave people of our military. They are the best of America, and America is firmly behind them.


Thank you for listening.


END







http://www.usnewswire.com/

[gristy]

1. a small faction is attempting to derail Iraqi democracy

define "small".

Also, no "God Bless America" at the end? WTF???

[JNelson6563]

2. Did Orwell write this?

:puke:

[TahitiNut]

5. It reads like a WW2 proclamation to France by occupying Nazis ...

... combined with some Tokyo Rose rhetoric. It's chillingly Orwell-esque in its denial of reality and putting lipstick all over the pig.

[leesa]

3. My this is quite a bit different from the news I have been reading. It's

nice that those soldiers get to celebrate Easter and Passover now, isn't it? Do they get to whip plastic Easter bunnies?

[The_Casual_Observer]

4. Is chimp going to make a suprise visit to the Baghdad Airport

and pose with a plastic ham?

[DrBB]

6. One small queston about "small faction":

To wit, How many cities do they control? I ask again Mr President, and all reassurance-spouting neocons and hawks: How many cities are controlled in whole or in part by this small faction?

And a few more:

How many more millions today would call themselves Sadrist than would have done so a week ago?

And what in the name of all that is holy are Americans doing warning the women and children of a small third world city to leave, but requiring their husbands and sons and brothers to remain? Are we deliberately sending the signals of ethnic cleansing?

By the way, that nice little dreamy dream Tom Friedman and the PNACers had about a Free Secular Iraq, shining model of modernity to all Arabs and kernel of the velvet revolution that would cure all ills in the Middle East--remember that? Well, guess what. Whatever feeble, non-delusory life there was in that idea died sometime in the last 72 hours. Just so you know.

[Cocoa]

7. Sadr incited the attacks?

Bush doesn't say anything about Bremer shutting down the newspaper. I guess that would be confusing, given all the crap he says about freedom, etc.

[cliss]

8. That's exactly the tactic they will take in this

propaganda war. "It's a very SMALL faction". "Saddam supporters", "Al-Sadr is a criminal, so we have to capture him",. This is all propaganda spin. We know that the vast majority of Iraqis want the occupiers out.

The only sentence that I REALLY take offense to is in the 8th paragraph:

"As the Middle East increasingly becomes a place where freedom flourishes, the lives of millions in that region will be bettered..."

Now flash to a hospital in Falloujah, where hundreds of injured and dying Iraqis are.

This speech was written by Stephen Hadley. I recognize his style.

[truthisfreedom]

9. ahh, nothing like a little fireside chat from the western witless house.

[boobooday]

10. Band of THUGS

Or maybe this is a thug?




http://www.wgoeshome.com

[54anickel]

11. They beat on Kerry with flip-flops, but Shrubs got us in Cement boots.

All his policies, economic domestic or foreign are cast in stone and he will not change even though the circumstances do. All he changes is the marketing spin for the same policy.

On economics, he came up with the idea of captial gains tax cuts based on the surplus built up from when the markets were bubbling over. When the bubble burst, did he change that policy, hell no he pushed for even more tax cuts and tried to say they were in the interest of economic recovery. That was also he rational for pushing for the "privatization" of SS - let them invest in the stock market, it's doing great!

His policy was set for invading Iraq, first the al-Qaeda link, then the WMD, then the SH is a tyrant BS.

Now we are down to the wire of the hand over to the Iraqis, and hey, the date will not change, the policy will not change, we will destroy the entire country and region if need be to institute "democracy" in that country if it means killing them all and our troops to boot.

All I can say is wear those flip flops proudly John Kerry, have campaign pins made in the image of a pair of flip-flops with the words "flexible for a changing world". Beats Shrubs cement boots hands down.

[BiggJawn]

12. "Flexible for a Changing World" That's Brilliant!

I think it sums it up perfectly.

When I see that "Steady Leadership in Uncertain Times" bullshit, I'm reminded of what EVERY MBA CEO-wannabe is taught from Day One:
The Market is flexible, and so are you, or you are Dogmeat.

Is it any wonder then, that this "CEO-Boy-King" has totally fucked-up EVERY business venture he's ever been set up in? Dumbshit must've been hung-over on the days they had the "flexibility" lectures at Harvard...

What's he gonna do if there is still a lot of fighting coming from these "small factions" on 29 June?

Scooter and Wolfie better be getting him a new script ready, he's gonna need it.

[54anickel]

14. Thanks, if I were artistic, I'd design a pin and wear it proudly. Not

sure if Kerry would appreciate it though. :-)

[54anickel]

13. Still Dreaming of Tehran: Iran now on neocon/Likudnik cross-hairs

Setting up Phase II?

http://www.axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/article_6312.shtml

snip>

But the neocons aren't giving up, and they are trying to pull the White House in even deeper. Not only are they undeterred by the chaos in Iraq, but they are pressing ahead to advance their regional strategy, one that calls for regime change in Iran, then Syria and Saudi Arabia. Says Chas Freeman, who served as US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia during the first Gulf War and a leading foe of the neocons, "It shows that they possess a level of fanaticism, or depth of conviction, that is truly awesome. There is no cognitive dissonance there."

What makes the neocon strategy on Iran especially risky is that with Iraq teetering on the brink of civil war, neighboring Iran has significant clout inside Iraq, including ties to various Iraqi Shiite factions and a growing paramilitary and intelligence presence. If Iran chooses, it can help ease the daunting task that the United States faces in trying to put together a sovereign Iraqi government. But if it seeks confrontation, it can help spark an anti-US revolt in southern Iraq, home to most of Iraq's Shiite majority. In that case, nearly all analysts agree, the American occupation could be overwhelmed.

Leading the charge against Iran is AEI's Michael Ledeen, perhaps best known for setting in motion the US-Israeli arms deal with Iran in the mid-1980s that became known as Iran/contra. Supporting Ledeen's position are two other AEI fellows: Richard Perle, the ringleader of the neocons and a former member of the Pentagon's Defense Policy Board, and David Frum, a Weekly Standard contributing editor and the former White House speechwriter who coined the phrase "axis of evil." In their new book, An End to Evil, Perle and Frum call for a covert operation to "overthrow the terrorist mullahs of Iran." Speaking to retired US intelligence officers in McLean, Virginia, in January, Ledeen called Iran the "throbbing heart of terrorism" and urged the Bush Administration to support revolutionary change. "Tehran," he said, "is a city just waiting for us."

Ledeen is viewed skeptically by many experts, including at the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency. "Ledeen doesn't know anything about Iran," says Juan Cole, a professor at the University of Michigan who is an expert on the Shiites of Iran and Iraq. "He doesn't speak Persian, and I believe he has never been there." But Ledeen does have connections in the Iranian exile community. For the past two years, he has maintained a relationship with Manucher Ghorbanifar, the Iranian wheeler-dealer who worked closely with him in Iran/contra. Ledeen introduced Ghorbanifar to a key neoconservative official, Harold Rhode, a longtime Pentagon staffer who speaks Arabic, Farsi, Turkish and Hebrew and who until recently served in Iraq as a liaison between the Defense Department and Ahmad Chalabi. Rhode and another Pentagon official, Larry Franklin, have been talking to Ghorbanifar about options for regime change in Tehran. "They were looking at getting introduced to alleged sources inside Iran, who could give them some inside information on the struggles in Iran," said Vince Cannistraro, a former CIA counterterrorism chief. Ghorbanifar, he said, was spinning tall tales about alleged (but unsubstantiated) transfers of Iraqi uranium to Iran's nuclear weapons program.

more...

[cliss]

17. wow. Scary stuff, 54.

Hard to believe that these lunatics would be looking further down the road, while they still have their current messes to clean up.

And really, it's not the fault of these people. There will be megalomaniacs among us. Like schizophrenics and manic depressives. These people have major character disorders, and they're spilling them onto the rest of the world.

The fault lies with the system, which allowed these people to get their foot in the door, and actually get in there and make policy.

It's very obvious, when you read 54's post.

We used to laugh as kids when we read the Spiderman comics, when he battled characters who were aiming at World Domination. Those comic book writers were quite accurate.

[54anickel]

20. Even scarier if you read the final paragraph with the possibility of

LIHOP/MIHOP in mind.

Many analysts view the prospects of a Pahlavi-Khomeini-MEK alliance with exceeding skepticism. And they note that the neocons, having bungled Iraq, don't have a lot of credibility left on Middle East policy. But it would be wrong to count them out. A former CIA officer who took part in the debate over Iraq policy in the 1990s recalls how the neocons ultimately prevailed. "The neocons had this idea of working with the Iraqi opposition to arm and train them and to overthrow Saddam Hussein, and people like me said, 'That is really stupid,'" he says. "But you get people to think about it, you get the President engaged, then options expand and then when opportunities come along, you seize them. That's what they did. They got people to buy in. Before September 11, people told them, 'It's never going to happen.' Come September 12, the rules changed." An explosion in Iraq, and some Iranian mischief there, and the rules could change again.

[gate of the sun]

15. lies, lies

this whole story about Iraqi Democracy what a crock of shit. The june 30 date is not about bringing realy democracy to Iraq. Lies lies lies. I bet many repubs ate it up......

[lightbulb]

16. They attack us because they hate their freedom

"Some have suggested that we should respond to the recent attacks by delaying Iraqi sovereignty. This is precisely what our enemies want."

Oh. My. God. Shut up.

[young_at_heart]

18. I don't think I'll ever forget the smirk/smile on his face recently

when he said something to the effect that, as the end of June nears there will be more and more attacks.

[SOS]

19. Bush, the detail-oriented vacationer:

"This weekend, many of the men and women who serve that cause in uniform will celebrate Easter and Passover far from home."

Passover is celebrated at the first full moon after the Vernal Equinox. This year that began at sundown on April 5th.
Oh well, he doesn't get anything else right.