Bush, Pace, Cheney, and Rumsfeld Deliver Remarks

SPEAKERS: Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Pace

SPEAKER: PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH

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BUSH: Thank you. Please be seated.

Thank you very much, Mr. Secretary and Joyce.

Mr. Vice President, thank you for your kind words.

Lynne and Senator Warner, Deputy Secretary England, Secretary Harvey, Winter, Wynne, General Pace, members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, distinguished guests, men and women of the armed forces, I'm pleased to join you as we pay tribute to one of America's most skilled, energetic and dedicated public servants: the secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld.

Don Rumsfeld has been at my side from the moment I took office. We've been through war together. We have shared some of the most challenging moments in our nation's history.

Over the past six years, I have come to appreciate Don Rumsfeld's professionalism, his dedication, his strategic vision, his deep devotion to the men and women of our nation who wear the uniform, and his love for the United States of America.

That devotion began at an early age, inspired by a man in uniform he called Dad. His father, George, was 37 when America was attacked at Pearl Harbor. Too old to be drafted, he volunteered for service in the United States Navy.

One of Don's earliest memories is of standing on the hangar deck of his dad's aircraft carrier, the USS Hollandia, at the age of 11. He was taking in the sights and sounds of the ship as it prepared to leave for the Pacific war.

His father's example stayed with him, and after graduating from Princeton, Don Rumsfeld joined the United States Navy, rising to become a pilot, a flight instructor and a member of the Naval Reserve for nearly 20 years.

In the decades since he first put on the uniform, Don Rumsfeld has served with distinction in many important positions: congressman, counselor to the president, ambassador to NATO, White House chief of staff, secretary of defense.

BUSH: Yet to this day the title that has brought him his greatest pride is "dad" and now "granddad."

And so today, as we honor a fine man, we also honor his family, Joyce Rumsfeld and his children.

Don is the only man...

(APPLAUSE)

Don Rumsfeld is the only man to have served as secretary of defense for two presidents in two different centuries.

(LAUGHTER)

2001, I called him back to the same job he held -- held under President Gerald Ford. I gave him this urgent mission: Prepare our nation's armed forces for the threats of a new century.

Don Rumsfeld brought vision and enthusiasm to this vital task. He understood that the peace of the post-Cold War years was really the calm before the next storm, and that America needed to prepare for the day when new enemies would attack our nation in unprecedented ways.

That day came on a clear September morning. And in a moment of crisis, our nation saw Donald Rumsfeld's character and courage. When the Pentagon was hit, Secretary Rumsfeld's first instinct was to run toward danger. He raced down smoke-filled hallways to the crash site so he could help rescue workers pull the victims from the rubble.

And in the weeks that followed, he directed the effort to plan our nation's military response to the deadliest terrorist attack in our nation's history.

Under Secretary Rumsfeld's leadership, U.S. and coalition forces launched one of the most innovative military campaigns in the history of modern warfare, sending special operation forces into Afghanistan to link up with anti-Taliban fighters, to ride with them on horseback, and to launch a stunning assault against the enemy.

BUSH: In Operation Enduring Freedom, we combined the most advanced laser-guided weapons with one of the oldest tools in the military arsenal: a man with a weapon on a horse.

History will record that the first major ground battle in the 21st century involving American forces began with a cavalry charge.

I guess that's what you get when you bring together a president from Texas with a secretary of defense who actually remembers when America had a cavalry.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

In 2003, on my orders, Secretary Rumsfeld led the planning and execution of another historic military campaign: Operation Iraqi Freedom.

In this operation, coalition forces drove Saddam Hussein from power in 21 days. And in the years that followed, Don Rumsfeld helped see the Iraqi people through the resumption of sovereignty, two elections, a referendum to approve the most progressive constitution in the Middle East, and the seating of a newly elected government.

On his watch, the United States military helped the Iraqi people establish a constitutional democracy in the heart of the Middle East, a watershed event in the story of freedom.

As he met the challenges of fighting a new and unfamiliar war, Don Rumsfeld kept his eyes on the horizon and on the threats that still await us as this new century unfolds.

He developed a new defense strategy and a new command structure for our nation's armed forces, with a new Northern Command to protect the homeland, a new Joint Forces Command to focus on transformation, a new Strategic Command to defend against long-range attack, and a transformed U.S. Special Operations Command, ready to take the lead in the global war on terror.

He launched the most significant transformation of the Army in a generation. He led my administration's efforts to transform the NATO alliance with a new NATO response force ready to deploy quickly anywhere in the world.

On his watch, NATO sent its forces to defend a young democracy in Afghanistan, more than 3,000 miles from Europe; the first time NATO has deployed outside the North Atlantic area in the history of the alliance.

BUSH: He helped launched the Proliferation Security Initiative, an unprecedented coalition of more than 80 nations working together to stop shipments of weapons of mass destruction on land, at sea and in the air.

He undertook the most sweeping transformation of America's global defense posture since the start of the Cold War, repositioning our forces so they can surge quickly to deal with unexpected threats and setting the stage for our global military presence for the next 50 years.

He took ballistic missile defense from theory to reality. And because of his leadership, America now has an initial capability to track a ballistic missile headed for our country and destroy it before it harms our people.

Most importantly, he worked to establish a culture in the Pentagon that rewards innovation and intelligent risk-taking, and encourages our military and civilian leaders to established ways of thinking.

The record of Don Rumsfeld's tenure is clear: There have been more profound change -- there has been more profound change at the Department of Defense over the past six years than at any time since the department's creation in the late 1940s.

(APPLAUSE)

And these changes were not easy. But because of Don Rumsfeld's determination and leadership, America has the best-equipped, the best- trained, and most experienced armed forces in the history of the world: all and all not bad for a fellow who calls himself a broken- down ex-Navy pilot.

BUSH: This man knows how to lead, and he did. And the country is better off for it.

(APPLAUSE)

In every decision Don Rumsfeld made over the past six years, he always put the troops first. And the troops in the field knew it.

A few years ago, the editors of Time magazine came to his Pentagon office and Don correctly suspected they were thinking of naming him person of the year. Without hesitation, Don Rumsfeld told them, "Don't give it to me. Give it to our men and women in uniform." And that's exactly what Time magazine did.

(APPLAUSE)

Don Rumsfeld's selfless leadership earned him the admiration of our soldiers and sailors and airmen and Marines. And we saw how they feel about him this week when he paid a farewell visit to our troops in Iraq.

Don Rumsfeld's strong leadership has earned him my admiration and deep respect.

We stood together in hours of decision that would affect the course of our history. We walked amid the rubble of the broken Pentagon the day after September the 11th, 2001. He was with me when we planned the liberation of Afghanistan. We were in the Oval Office together the day I gave the order to remove Saddam Hussein from power.

In these and countless other moments, I have seen Don Rumsfeld's character and his integrity. He was always ensured I had the best possible advice, the opportunity to hear and weigh conflicting points of view.

He spoke straight. It was easy to understand him.

He has a sharp intellect, a steady demeanor and boundless energy.

He began every day at the Pentagon with a singular mission: to serve his country and the men and women who defend her.

BUSH: Mr. Secretary, today your country thanks you for six outstanding years at the Department of Defense. And I thank you for your sacrifice and your service and your devotion to the men and women of our armed forces.

I want to thank Joyce for her poise and her grace, and for the example she has set for our nation's military families.

Laura and I will miss you both. And we wish you all the best in the years to come.

And now, ladies and gentlemen, I bring to this podium America's 21st secretary of defense, Donald Rumsfeld.

(APPLAUSE)

END

SPEAKER: VICE PRESIDENT DICK CHENEY

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CHENEY: Well, thank you very much.

Mr. President, General Pace, Mr. Secretary, Joyce and the Rumsfeld family, my fellow citizens:

In a moment I'll have the high honor of presenting our commander in chief, but first I hope you'll permit me a few personal observations as we gather in tribute to the nation's 21st secretary of defense.

It is well-known that Don Rumsfeld and I are longtime friends and associates, and our experiences in Washington have been very similar. We both served as members of Congress. Both of us have been secretary of defense. Both of us have been White House chief of staff.

But there is one instructive experience I've had that he hasn't: I know what it's like to work for Don Rumsfeld.

(LAUGHTER)

(APPLAUSE)

I don't think it's revealing classified information to point out that Don has an intensity about him.

(LAUGHTER)

He's often told the story of an acquaintance who asked Joyce how she managed to put up with a guy like him for so many years. Joyce replied, "He travels a lot."

(LAUGHTER)

My association with Don goes back to the spring of 1969. I was a graduate student, pursuing a Ph.D., when Don asked me to join his staff. And from the first day, he kept me busy enough to forget all about that dissertation I'd been working on and active enough to drop any notion of returning to academia.

Don was the toughest boss I had ever had -- the most demanding and the most commanding.

CHENEY: If you've been on his staff, you know that Don has an incredibly sharp eye for detail. He has near-perfect recall of everything he's told you and everything you've told him.

He has a way of asking you the one question you're not prepared for. And apparently he does not sleep.

(LAUGHTER)

Yet, as much as he might push you, Don never demands more of others than he does of himself. And I've never worked harder for a boss, and I've never learned more from one either.

Don is a superb executive, who knows how to cut through to an issue at once. He embodies the adage that a statesman should act as a man of thought and think as a man of action. Set careful goals, he says, then do the best job possible. Let the flak pass, and work toward those goals.

He never forgets that we're here not to accumulate titles and honors, but to do our jobs. Public servants, he said, are paid to serve the American people and do it well.

At his very core, Don is a man of rectitude, with a sense of honor that defines him and a sense of fairness and perspective that has never failed him.

For these reasons and more, I have always considered Don Rumsfeld to be the very ideal of a public servant.

And thus, those of us who know Don are extremely fortunate to have his friendship and all that goes with it: the wisdom, the humor and the great personal decency of the man.

In a lifetime, one meets only a few people of such caliber and character. And so, my first association with Don Rumsfeld was one of life's great turning points, both professionally and personally.

On the professional side, I would not be where I am today but for the confidence that Don first placed in me those many years ago. And on the personal side, it's enough to say that I have no better friend and ask for none.

Throughout this country, and especially within the military, you'll find people who have never met Don Rumsfeld but who looked up to him as a role model.

CHENEY: Even to the casual observer, this man emanates loyalty, integrity and, above all, love for this country and a devotion to its cause.

The record of the years 2001 to 2006 only confirms the good qualities and the gift for leadership that Don Rumsfeld has shown all his life.

The attacks of September 11, 2001, found Don Rumsfeld at his post and then sprinting to the rescue. Under his leadership, even as this great building burned, the men and women of the Pentagon moved immediately to protect the country and to prepare the response to acts of war.

When the commander in chief gave his orders, the Department of Defense was ready. And today, even after more than five years of unrelenting action, this department continues to wage the war on terror systematically and decisively.

Under Secretary Rumsfeld, we've struck major blows against the Al Qaida network that hit America. We've removed two dictatorships that sponsored terror, liberated 50 million people from tyranny and stood by young democracies, as America always does.

The work goes on because the set of challenges that arrived on 9/11 is unlike any this nation has ever faced. In the depth of their hatred, the technologies they seek and the ambitions they have announced, these enemies threaten civilization itself. They are hidden, dispersed, asymmetrical in their methods, and unconstrained by the laws of warfare or the rules of morality.

Unlike other conflicts, this war is not a matter of finding an opposing army and engaging it or finding a navy and sinking it. There's no manual for how to wage this fight and not even much guidance from military history.

Yet, the stakes are as high as can be imagined, and the margin for error is exceedingly small.

CHENEY: Our former boss, President Gerald Ford, said recently that holding the office of secretary of defense in times like these requires a certain amount of steel.

Don Rumsfeld has that steel in him. And as one general recently said, Don is a man who leads from the front, and that's something our people in uniform relate to and appreciate.

It's no surprise to me, when I see images of uniformed men and women crowding around Secretary Rumsfeld, welcoming him to bases from middle America to the desert in Iraq and cheering their hearts for him at the Army-Navy game.

Don respects them and cares for them as much as he does for the nation itself. They soldier for him. He soldiers for them. They know it. They feel it. And that's why they'll miss him.

In his regard for our people in uniform, in his unwavering strength through unprecedented challenges, in his example of leadership and patriotic service, I believe the record speaks for itself: Don Rumsfeld is the finest secretary of defense this nation has ever had.

(APPLAUSE)

In this hour of transition, every member of our military and every person at the Pentagon can be certain that America will stay on the offensive in the war on terror.

The president of the United States and his national security team understand the threat, the enemy's changing tactics and its unchanging nature.

We're not dealing with adversaries that will surrender or come to their senses. They hit us first. They hit us right here, on this ground, at this building.

And as the president has assured the American people, we will stay in the fight until this threat is defeated and our children and our grandchildren can live in a safer world.

(APPLAUSE)

As we go forward, the people defending this country can be confident our president is committed to closing every window of vulnerability and to giving our troops the training and support they need to carry out the missions and to achieve victory.

CHENEY: The years of President George W. Bush have been a time of purpose and pride for the United States armed forces. And so I count it a privilege, here at the Pentagon, to turn the proceedings over to our commander in chief.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

END

SPEAKER: SECRETARY OF DEFENSE DONALD RUMSFELD

RUMSFELD: Thank you very much. Thank you.

(APPLAUSE)

Thank you so much.

Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, I thank you so much for joining us. And I thank you for those generous words; for your support these many years.

Chairman Pace, thank you for your sound advice and for your unfailing good humor through enormously challenging times.

Deputy Secretary Gordon England, you've been a valued partner in this mission, and I thank you so much. You make a difference here every single day. Thank you, Gordon.

(APPLAUSE)

RUMSFELD: Service secretaries, members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, combatant commanders, I saw my friend, former Chairman General Dick Myers down here in the front row.

Dick, it's always good to see you.

Chairman Warner, members of Congress, ladies and gentlemen, thank you all.

And all of those gathered, military and civilian, who make this great department what it is, thank you so much for what you do for our country.

As I look back over the past six years and reflect on what's been achieved, I feel a sense of gratitude -- gratitude to Joyce, to be sure, and our three wonderful children, seven grand grandchildren. We have been together in this every minute.

Gratitude to the hundreds of thousands of people in this department who, out of love of country, contribute so much. And gratitude to all of those amazing young people who volunteer and step forward and proudly wear our nation's uniforms.

Last weekend I was in Iraq. I wanted to personally express my heartfelt appreciation to the troops for their service and for their sacrifice. I wanted to leave them a sense of what they have given me: Pride in mission and an abiding confidence in our country.

It has been the highest honor of my life to serve with them, these makers of history.

RUMSFELD: Mr. President, over the past six years, at your request, as you pointed out, this department has been determined to create a new framework to better defend against the irregular threats of this new era.

These folks have had to depart from the conventional and the familiar, to wrestle with the new and the unfamiliar. And they do it with no guide book, with no road map. And they do it in full view of the Congress and the press and the world, with generous scrutiny from all sides.

(LAUGHTER)

Today I'll break with convention one more time and instead of the traditional farewell remarks on past achievements, I will focus squarely on the future.

I say this with the perspective of one, as the president indicated, who's had the opportunity to lead this department in two different eras, in two different world conflicts, for two different presidents and, yes, it's true, in two different centuries.

When I last departed this post in 1977, I left cautioning that weakness is provocative; that weakness inevitably entices aggressors into acts that they would otherwise avoid.

Then our country was engaged in a long struggle, a struggle of uncertain duration against what seemed at the time as an ascendant ideology and clearly an expanding empire.

Few would have believed that 15 years later the Soviet Union would cease to exist or that the dissidents then trapped behind the Iron Curtain would lead people out of the dustbin of history and into the family of free nations, which they did.

That history did not happen by accident. And it most assuredly was not made by people sitting safely on the sidelines. It occurred only because America and our allies withstood the tough times, the bitter disagreements, and they stayed at the task with conviction that our security was linked to the defense and the advance of human freedom.

This is what history asks of us today. And as I leave the Pentagon for the second -- and I suspect the odds are -- the last time...

(LAUGHTER)

RUMSFELD: ... I do feel a sense of urgency about the very real challenges ahead.

As the president noted seven years ago, he said, "We are living in an era of barbarism emboldened by technology. We live at a time when our enemies mix an extremist ideology with modern weaponry and they have the ability to kill thousands -- indeed even hundreds of thousands -- of our people in a single swift, deadly stroke. We forget that at our peril."

A number of us came here in 2001 with that mission and mandate to prepare this defense establishment to protect the American people from the unconventional and the irregular threats.

That mission was given powerful impetus that bright September morning, when that mighty building just a few yards away shook, burned and smoked, and 125 members of our Pentagon team did not come home.

The attacks of September 11th awakened Americans to the global extremist movement, a movement with networks in nations all around the world, even our own, a movement with tens of thousands of adherents who believe it is their calling to kill Americans and other free people.

Ours is a world of unstable dictators, weapon proliferators and rogue regimes, and each of these enemies seeks out our vulnerabilities. And as free people, we have vulnerabilities.

Ours is also a world of many friends and allies, but sadly, realistically, friends and allies with declining defense investment and declining capabilities and, I would add, as a result, with increasing vulnerabilities. All of which requires that the United States of America invest more.

RUMSFELD: Today, it should be clear that not only is weakness provocative, but the perception of weakness on our part can be provocative as well.

A conclusion by our enemies that the United States lacks the will or the resolve to carry out missions that demand sacrifice and demand patience is every bit as dangerous as an imbalance of conventional military power.

This is a time of great consequence. Our task is to make the right decisions today so that future generations will not have to make much harder decisions tomorrow.

It may well be comforting to some to consider graceful exits from the agonies and, indeed, the ugliness of combat. But the enemy thinks differently.

Under the president's leadership, this country made a decision to confront the extremists' ideology of hatred that spawned a worldwide movement, and to take the fight to the enemy. The alternative was inaction and defense, a pattern that history has shown only emboldens the enemy.

Our country has taken on a bracing and difficult task. But let there be no doubt: It is neither hopeless nor without purpose.

Leadership is not about doing what's easy, it's about doing what's right, even when it's hard -- especially when it's hard.

President Lincoln once said, "Determine the thing that can and shall be done, and then we shall find the way to do it."

RUMSFELD: That remains true today.

We're in what will be a long struggle. It's new, it's complex, and even after five years, it's still somewhat unfamiliar.

That we have been successful -- I would add fortunate -- to have suffered not one single attack here at home since September 11th, 2001, has contributed to a misperception in some quarters that the threat is gone. It is not.

As I leave, I do feel urgency, but I also feel optimism. I know that the American people can summon the same grit that helped our founders forge from a wilderness a new frontier. I know it because I've seen it over my own lifetime.

It's the same steel that sent our fathers and grandfathers across oceans to defend free nations from tyrants; that same grit that gave the Americans to endure 40 years of a Cold War under the specter of nuclear annihilation.

So it is with confidence that I say that America's enemies should not confuse the American people's distaste of war -- which is real and which is understandable -- with a reluctance to defend our way of life.

Enemy after enemy in our history have made that mistake to their regret.

To those in uniform here and abroad who proudly serve, always remember that America's example is a message of hope for hundreds of millions of people all across the globe.

America is not what's wrong with this world. Ours is a message that was heard and fought for in places like Berlin, Prague, Riga, Tokyo, Seoul, San Salvador, Vilnius and Warsaw.

RUMSFELD: And that message is even now being whispered in the coffeehouses and the streets of Damascus and Tehran and Pyongyang.

The great sweep of human history is for freedom. And America is on freedom's side.

As I end my time here, some ask what will I remember?

Well, I will remember all those courageous folks that I have met deployed in the field, those in the military hospitals that we visited.

And I will remember the fallen.

And I will particularly remember their families and the -- from whom I have drawn inspiration.

And I will remember how fortunate I have been to know you, to work with you, to have been inspired by your courage and by your love of country.

You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

God bless you.

(APPLAUSE)

END

SPEAKER: GENERAL PETER PACE (USMC), CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF

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PACE: Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, Secretary Rumsfeld, members of Congress, members of the Cabinet, my fellow Joint Chiefs, and combatant commanders, and to all of you here who have come today to pay tribute to Secretary Rumsfeld, it's a distinct honor and privilege for me to represent 2.4 million American men and women, active, Guard, Reserve, and their families, in saying thank you to this incredible American for his leadership and service to our country.

I've served with Secretary Rumsfeld now for just over five years. In that time, I've gotten to know him pretty well. There are some very special traits about this man, too numerous to mention, but I will mention a few.

I had the opportunity to talk about his traits last week at the secretary's last town hall meeting here at the Pentagon, but I would like to share them in this more public setting, because I think it's important for all Americans to know what makes this man tick.

He is a man of enormous commitment. He pushed us hard. The only person he pushed harder than us was himself. The man's work ethic is simply incredible, and he brought to this building and to this department a sense of urgency that quickly filled us all.

He is a man of courage. Those of us who have had the privilege of wearing the uniform certainly recognize and understand courage in combat.

PACE: But there's another type of courage that I've really come to admire, and that is the courage of a person with conviction, who speaks their mind at the right time and in a clear and forthright manner.

It takes courage to be in a room full of individuals like this secretary serves with, each of whom is extremely talented in their own right, to have a conversation going in one direction and to have our secretary speak his mind, and because he did, have the course of the conversation and sometimes the course of the nation change because he had the courage to speak at those times.

He has immense loyalty. Now, loyalty up the chain is certainly what this secretary provided to our commander in chief. What I want to talk about is loyalty down the chain.

I mentioned 2.4 million Americans in uniform; 99.9 percent of those Americans make us proud every single day. On occasion, one or two do not. And on occasion when they make mistakes, they bring discredit to our country.

When that has happened on Secretary Rumsfeld's watch, the blame and responsibility has been laid at his feet. The problem was way down the chain of command. Secretary Rumsfeld accepted the responsibility and not once, in public or in private, did I ever hear this man try to shift responsibility to anyone else but himself.

PACE: He's a man of integrity. I said he speaks his mind. That's true. But what I also appreciate is the fact that when he has conviction, when he knows he is right, not only does he speak what he believes to be true, but he is absolutely faithful to others who have different opinions.

Many times he has said: "This is what I believe. And oh, by the way, this is what General So-and-So believes, or this is what Secretary So-and-So believes," in a way that made sure that not only were his views on the table, but any countering views that he knew about were also presented.

Last, he's a man of compassion. You can see it in his face. You can see it in his face when he wanders in to a group of troops. You can see it in his face when he visits the hospitals and talks to the wounded. You can see it in his face when he's at a memorial service.

He loves the men and women of this department. And he loves this country. And he has served it exceptionally well.

And all of us who have served under his leadership owe him a debt of gratitude.

We also owe him a debt of gratitude for bringing his best friend and lifelong partner with him, Joyce Rumsfeld. What a wonderful, wonderful lady.

(APPLAUSE)

Anybody who's ever been in the same room with Joyce Rumsfeld knows her warmth, her compassion.

PACE: She's spent so many hours volunteering, working on family issues, visiting troops in the hospitals.

It's my great privilege, as I walk away from this microphone today, on behalf of all of us in uniform, to bestow on Joyce Rumsfeld our Distinguished Public Service Award, with which comes a long citation, but the Reader's Digest version is every bit as good as the long version.

And it is simply, Joyce: Thank you, we love you, God bless you and your husband in the next stages of your lives.

(APPLAUSE)

END