to go about
marking d ten year anniversary of
the a legal invasion and occupation
that this country engaged in
uh...
ten years ago
there are so many facets of this one of course
horrific state of iraq at this point
uh...
the tremendous
cost in terms of
of lives
nearly five thousand u_s_
military personnel
another uh... at four to five thousand u_s_ contractors
uh... not all former scenarios
uh...
the
at the minimum
at the minimum honduran pary dollars in
innocent iraqi lives not even talking about talking about
uh...
so-called insurgents or
iraqi military
innocent iraqi lives
those figures are the most conservative they're the ones from our government
the displacement of nearly four million refugees over the course of these ten
years
half of which more or less
internally displaced
the other half which uh... refugees outside of uh... iraq
the
destabilizing chin up that country's the
leaving of their political order in
uh... complete disarray in many respects
uh...
is
is really hard to sort of digest all
and
uh... so it's my intention
to focusing on
on a very narrow slice of that
uh... before we do i want to remind you and uh... this is going to be uh... sort
of uh... painful but i wanna just remind you of how this war started
with a shock and awe campaign
ten years ago
to the day
where
with an enormous amount of for sweet bombed
the hell of baghdad
killing who knows how many refuse to billions at
and uh... this is how it launched forgive me for reminding you of this
uh... but uh... it's its
it's the least
uh...
that we can do
fellow citizens
at this hour
american coalition forces bring the early stages of military operations
to disarm iraq
to free its people
and to defend the world from grave danger
on my orders
coalition forces have begun striking selected targets of military importance
to undermine saddam hussein's ability to wage war
these are opening stages
of what will be abroad and concerted campaign
more than thirty five countries
are giving crucial support
from the use of naval and air bases
to help with intelligence and logistics
to the deployment of combat units
every nation in this coalition
has chosen to bear the duty
and share the honor
of serving and our common defense
to all the men and women of the united states armed forces now in the middle
east
the peace of the troubled world and the hopes of an oppressed people
now depend on you
that trust is well-placed
enemies you confront will come to know your skill and bravery
the people you liberate
will witness the honorable indecent spirit
of the american military
in this conflict
america faces an enemy has no regard
for conventions of war
or rules of morality
saddam hussein has placed iraqi troops and equipment and civilian areas
attempting to use innocent man
women and children
as shields for his own military
a final atrocity
against his people
about americans and all the world to know
that coalition forces will make every after
despair innocent civilians from harm
a campaign on the harsh terrain of the nation as large as california
could be longer
and more difficult
and some predict
and helping iraqis achiever united stable and free country
will require are sustained commitment
yeah uh... nearly ten years of e
uh... and accused to go dot and
literally in the days if not powers
before this shock and awe began
the united states inform the u_n_ that you must get your weapons inspectors who
had been there for several months out of the country
these weapons inspectors found
nothing
zero
to the point where they were making public requests of the u_s_ government
tell us where these things are that you supposedly are aware of
we have searched everywhere and found nothing
no weapons of mass destruction
nothing that indicates the piece of the free world or the entire world would
rest on your uh... invading this country
that is the thing that i think we forget the most at that time
was that there were weapons inspectors on the ground
and
those of us who are saying that this is a and unnecessary war this is a war of
choice
there is no imminent threat to the united states
policed
that could be done
is simply all while the weapons inspectors to continue their work there
there was a fear i think in the administration that that in fact would
be problematic
that if they were allowed to stay there
the will to go to war in this country would diminish because it would be clear
there was no threat
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