Remarks by President George W. Bush announcing the end of major combat operations in Iraq Thursday evening from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln:

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. 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.
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 (560 kilometers) 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 of 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 of 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 (Donald) Rumsfeld, for General
(Tommy) Franks, and for all the men and women who wear the uniform of the United
States: America is grateful for a job well done.
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 good
will. When I look at the members of the United States military, I see the best
of our country, and I am honored to be your commander in chief.
In the images of fallen statues, we have witnessed the arrival of a new era.
For a hundred 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 advance when the guilty have far
more to fear from war than the innocent.
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.
We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We are bringing order to parts of that
country that remain dangerous. We are pursuing and finding leaders of the old
regime, who will be held to account for their crimes. We have begun the search
for hidden chemical and biological weapons, and already know of hundreds of
sites that will be investigated. We are 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. The transition from dictatorship to democracy will
take time, but it is worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until our work
is done. And then we will leave -and we will leave behind a free Iraq.
The Battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on September
the 11th, 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.

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.
From Pakistan to the Philippines to the Horn of Africa, we are hunting down
al-Qaida 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-Qaida's senior operatives have been captured or killed.
The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror. We
have removed an ally of al-Qaida, 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Our commitment to liberty is America's tradition -declared at our founding,
affirmed in (President) Franklin Roosevelt's Four Freedoms, asserted in the
Truman Doctrine, and in (President) 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.
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 are 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.
Our mission continues. Al-Qaida 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.
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.
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. 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. 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.
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 is 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
are 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.