President Bush Addresses Troops in Iraq

Green Zone, Baghdad

In Focus: Renewal in Iraq

THE PRESIDENT: Thank you all. Thank you for the warm welcome. Thought I'd stop in to say "hello." (Laughter and applause.) I bring greetings from a grateful nation. (Applause.) I thank you for your sacrifice, I thank you for your service, I thank you for making history.

You know, one of the things I try to do is put good people in place who accomplish hard jobs. And I can't think of two better leaders than Zal Khalilzad and General Casey to lead this important effort. (Applause.) I thank you all very much for your service to our country. Your sacrifice is noble and your sacrifice is important.

I understand long deployments are tough -- they're tough on you and they're tough on your families. And so the first thing I want to tell you is the American people are incredibly grateful for what you do, and I bring their greetings and their thanks for the sacrifices you and your family make.

These are historic times. The mission that you're accomplishing here in Iraq will go down in the history books as an incredibly important moment in the history of freedom and peace; an incredibly important moment of doing our duty to secure our homeland.

You know, right after September the 11th I knew that some would forget the dangers we face. Some would hope that the world would be what it's not -- a peaceful place in which people wouldn't want to do harm to those of us who love freedom. I vowed that day, after September the 11th, to do everything I could to protect the American people. And I was able to make that claim because I knew there were people such as yourself who were willing to be on the front line in the war on terror. [Continue reading]

Category: (Military) News, USA, News, Iraq and Politics & Debate.