"Transcript of President’s Speech, January 25, 2005"

[Swamp Rat]

"Spring of the Dying Roses"

by Malcolm L. Kantzler

Transcript of President’s Speech

January 25, 2005

(snip)

“Ladies and gentlemen, fellow Americans, I have just ordered the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to immediately remove all U.S. troops from the cities and populated regions of Iraq.

(The President pauses, waiting for murmuring of reporters to end.)

        “In addition, the Department of Defense and State Department are revoking all civilian permissions and ordering immediate departure of all civilian contractors.  All U.S. development contracts for work in Iraq are now suspended, indefinitely.

        “Some of our troops now there, the ready reserves, will immediately return to their U.S. bases and their civilian lives.  A large contingent of active units will join our troops in Afghanistan to expand the terrorist pursuit there.  The remainder will establish a military zone, somewhere along the Iraqi border, in an unpopulated area.  It will be, politically, somewhat like a very large version of Guantanamo base in Cuba—in effect, a securely defended, independent military-staging area for possible offensive operations against the hard-line, cleric regime in Iran, if the current posture that government has taken on nuclear-arms development does not quickly change.  The troops in this staging area are being complemented with the full range of assets necessary for offensive and defensive operations.  The units there will also carry out on-demand missions within Iraq, based upon intelligence and covert-operations initiatives against terrorist elements that may remain in the country, and they will patrol suspected insurgent border-crossing areas.  They will not be exposed, ready targets, involved in Iraq’s internal politics.  They will be in a position to react quickly and be moved to meet any force that may mistakenly believe that this policy is a sign of weakness or an opportunity to threaten U.S. interests in that part of the world, and they will remain there until the threats to our security are eliminated, whether by diplomacy or use of force.

(snip)

Link:
http://popularsovranty.com/dyingroses.shtml?source=Overture