{"id":72274,"date":"2018-12-26T16:47:38","date_gmt":"2018-12-27T00:47:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/69.46.6.243\/?p=72274"},"modified":"2018-12-26T20:09:26","modified_gmt":"2018-12-27T04:09:26","slug":"president-president-and-first-lady-visit-troops-in-iraq","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/?p=72274","title":{"rendered":"President Trump to Troops at Al Asad Air Base, Al Anbar Province, Iraq"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Al Asad Air Base, Iraq&#8230;Well, first of all, at ease.  At ease.  Let\u2019s have a good time.  Let\u2019s have a good time.  And we had an incredible meeting that lasted for about an hour, and you have no idea what we\u2019ve come up with.  You\u2019re going to be so happy.  You\u2019re going to be so happy.  I want to just first say thank you for everything.  And, on behalf of Melania and myself, we had a great flight in.  So I want to thank you, honey.  Come say hello, honey.  Say hello.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cwf0x9eAnLg\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>THE FIRST LADY:  I\u2019m very honored to be here tonight.  Thank you for your service, for your sacrifice, and keeping us safe and free.  I\u2019m very proud of you.  And, on behalf of our nation, I\u2019m wishing you a merry Christmas and a happy and prosperous New Year.  Thank you again, and to your families.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  (Laughs.)  Let\u2019s let her make this speech, right?  She\u2019s great.  A very popular First Lady and a great person.<\/p>\n<p>And I want to thank General LaCamera for the incredible job he\u2019s done.  And I was just saying, we had a meeting with him and some of your great representatives, and we have some ideas, that are more than ideas, that are going to be just \u2014 we like to win.  Do we like to win?  We\u2019re going to win.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>I want to thank everyone at Al Asad Air Base.  Special people.  We came in, we were \u2014 we felt very safe coming in.  It was a pretty difficult journey in certain ways, but we felt very, very good; very safe.  And also we knew exactly where we were going, and we\u2019re going to say hello to you and wish you all a merry Christmas and a happy New Year.  Very important.  Thank you very much.  Great job.<\/p>\n<p>So Melania and I are thrilled to be here with the extraordinary men and women of the American Armed Forces \u2014 the greatest military, and \u2014 especially as we get all of this billions and billions of dollars of new equipment that I approved over the last two years.  You\u2019re getting such new equipment, your eyes are popping, right?  (Applause.)  Your eyes are popping.  You\u2019re getting the best equipment in the world.<\/p>\n<p>As you know, it was being very rapidly depleted, and it wasn\u2019t good.  And we weren\u2019t going to let that happen to you or to our country.<\/p>\n<p>And I just want you to relax.  Let\u2019s have a good time for a few minutes, and then I\u2019ll be heading to another location, and then I\u2019ll be heading back.  But I have you totally in mind \u2014 totally in mind.<\/p>\n<p>We came to Al Asad to share our eternal gratitude for everything you do to keep America safe, strong, and free.  Though you are thousands of miles away from your home and your loved ones, I hope you all had a merry Christmas.  I also know that, speaking for your families, they are missing you and they love you.  And you know they\u2019re every bit a part of your success; they make it possible.  So they\u2019re very special to us, all of the families.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s because of your sacrifice that America\u2019s families can celebrate in safety and in peace.  And we\u2019re doing great back at home.<\/p>\n<p>There are many incredible patriots to recognize here, right now.  And I\u2019d like to start by saying a few words for Colonel Michael Maddox.  Colonel, thank you very much.  (Applause.)  Thank you, Colonel.  Great job.  Thank you, Colonel.  No games.  I can see \u2014 I know people.  No games for the Colonel.  No games with your general, right?  Not a lot of games.  It\u2019s called, \u201cThey want to win.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I want to thank the 201st Regional Support Group.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>One that everybody knows of, even back in the States: Task Force Thunder and their Lieutenant Colonel Kent Park.  (Applause.)  There\u2019s a reason for that name, \u201cThunder,\u201d isn\u2019t there?  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>The 443rd Air Expeditionary Squadron and their great commander, Major Dicie Hritz.  Where is Dicie?  (Applause.)  Thank you.  Great, fellas.  Great.<\/p>\n<p>The 1st Expeditionary Rescue Group and their commander, Colonel Michael Guischard.  (Applause.)  Where is Michael?  Thank you.  Thank you, fellas.<\/p>\n<p>The 3rd Cavalry Regiment and their commander, Colonel Jonathan Byrom.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Brigadier General Austin Renforth.  Where is Austin?  Austin.  (Applause.)  Thank you, Austin.  Thanks, Austin.<\/p>\n<p>Everyone at the Special Operations Joint Task Force.  Thank you.  Where the hell are they?  (Laughter and applause.)  And all personnel who reside at Camp Havoc.  You know that that means \u2014 Camp Havoc.<\/p>\n<p>Also joining us this evening is the U.S. Ambassador to Iraq, Douglas Silliman.  Douglas, thank you very much.  Great job, Douglas.  Great job.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>The courageous men and women at Al Asad Air Base are on the leading edge of our fight to vanquish America\u2019s terrorist enemies.  You know that.<\/p>\n<p>The other reason I\u2019m here today is to personally thank you and every service member throughout this region for the near elimination of the ISIS territorial caliphate in Iraq and in Syria.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>Two years ago, when I became President, they were a very dominant group.  They were very dominant.  Today, they\u2019re not so dominant anymore.  (Applause.)  Great job.  I looked at a map, and two years ago it was a lot of red all over that map.  But now you have a couple little spots.  And that\u2019s happening very quickly.  That\u2019s happening very quickly.  You\u2019ll be seeing that.<\/p>\n<p>I want to just say great job.  And we\u2019ll be watching ISIS very closely.  We\u2019ll be watching them very, very closely \u2014 the remnants of ISIS.<\/p>\n<p>No enemy on Earth can match the awesome strength of American soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines.  Nobody is even close.  And nobody is even close, in terms of our equipment.  We make the greatest equipment in the world.  Whether it\u2019s missiles or ships or anything you want to name, we have the greatest in the world.  The jet fighters, the new F-35, the Super F-18s \u2014 we have the greatest fighter jets in the world.  We make the greatest equipment in the world.<\/p>\n<p>But you strike fear into the hearts of our enemies and bring comfort to all of our allies and those who cherish peace.  And we want peace.  And the best way to have peace is strength.  When we\u2019re strong, we\u2019re going to have peace.  If we\u2019re not strong, you know what happens.  So we\u2019re stronger than ever.  And very soon, when it all comes in, when that equipment keeps flowing \u2014 it\u2019s being made, much of it now \u2014 there will be nobody ever in history that\u2019s even close.<\/p>\n<p>American and coalition forces have had one military victory after another over the last two years against ISIS, including the retaking of both Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria.  We\u2019ve liberated more than 20,000 square miles of territory.  Think of what that is \u2014 20,000.  Twenty thousand acres is a lot; think of what twenty thousand square miles is.  It\u2019s a lot.  This was all formerly held by ISIS \u2014 and liberated more than 3 million civilians from ISIS\u2019s bloodthirsty control.<\/p>\n<p>The men and women stationed at Al Asad have played a vital role in the military defeat of ISIS in Iraq and in Syria.  Because of these gains, our service members in Syria can now return home to their families.  Some will come here for a stay, but a lot of them are going to be going back home, where they want to be, with their families.  They\u2019ve done a fantastic job.<\/p>\n<p>Originally, years ago, they came here.  And it was supposed to be for three to four months, and that was a long time ago.  That was many years ago.  But what a job you have done.  What a job they have done.  I made it clear from the beginning that our mission in Syria was to strip ISIS of its military strongholds; we\u2019re not nation building.  Rebuilding Syria will require a political solution.  And it\u2019s a solution that should be paid for by its very rich neighboring countries, not the United States.  Let them pay for it.  And they will.  They will.<\/p>\n<p>In fact, Saudi Arabia yesterday \u2014 you probably read \u2014 stepped up to the plate and has already made a commitment of substantial funds for development.  And President Erdogan of Turkey has also agreed to take out any remnants of ISIS, and we\u2019ll be working with them.  We\u2019re going to be working with them.<\/p>\n<p>Our presence in Syria was not open-ended, and it was never intended to be permanent.  Eight years ago, we went there for three months, and we never left.  But now we\u2019re doing it right, and we\u2019re going to finish it off.<\/p>\n<p>One year ago, I gave our generals six more months in Syria.  I said, \u201cGo ahead.  Get them.\u201d  And it turns out it was really a year and a half ago.  I said, \u201cGo get them.\u201d  \u201cWe need six months.\u201d  \u201cGo get them.\u201d  Then they said, \u201cGive us another six months.\u201d  I said, \u201cGo get them.\u201d  Then they said \u201cGo \u2014 can we have one more, like, period of six months?\u201d  I said, \u201cNope.  Nope.\u201d  I said, \u201cI gave you a lot of six months.\u201d  And now we\u2019re doing it a different way.  And we\u2019re doing it.  And you\u2019re doing it, folks.  You\u2019re doing it.  Just the remnants.<\/p>\n<p>The men and women who serve are entitled to clear objectives, and the confidence that when those objectives are met they can come home and be with their families.  Our objective in Syria was always to retake the territory controlled by ISIS.  Some people said we\u2019ve already retaken 99 percent.  That\u2019s a number that comes up a lot.  And if you look at the map, before and after, it looks like 99 percent.<\/p>\n<p>Now that we have done so, the nations of the region must step up and take more responsibility for their future.  And also, they have to confront those remnants of ISIS and take them out very easily \u2014 if, after we\u2019re totally finished, they\u2019re even left at all.<\/p>\n<p>There will be a strong, deliberate, and orderly withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria \u2014 very deliberate, very orderly \u2014 while maintaining the U.S. presence in Iraq to prevent an ISIS resurgence and to protect U.S. interests, and also to always watch very closely over any potential reformation of ISIS and also to watch over Iran.  We\u2019ll be watching.<\/p>\n<p>While American might can defeat terrorist armies on the battlefield, each nation of the world must decide for itself what kind of future it wants to build for its people, and what kind of sacrifices they are willing to make for their children.  America shouldn\u2019t be doing the fighting for every nation on Earth not being reimbursed, in many cases, at all.<\/p>\n<p>If they want us to do the fighting, they also have to pay a price \u2014 and sometimes that\u2019s also a monetary price \u2014 so we\u2019re not the suckers of the world.  We\u2019re no longer the suckers, folks.  And people aren\u2019t looking at us as suckers.  And I love you folks because most of you are nodding your head this way.  We\u2019re respected again as a nation.  We\u2019re respected again.<\/p>\n<p>America is safer, and peace is more possible because of the incredible courage and devotion of every patriot here tonight.  Some people say, \u201cWell, maybe somebody comes from the area, and they hit us on our homeland.\u201d  If that happens, they will suffer consequences over here like nobody has ever suffered before.  (Applause.)  Let me just tell you.  And I hope they hear that loud and clear.  And that\u2019s not a threat; that\u2019s going to be a fact.  If anything should happen at all, nobody will ever have suffered the consequences that they will suffer.  Just remember I said it.<\/p>\n<p>AUDIENCE MEMBER:  (Inaudible.)<\/p>\n<p>THE PRESIDENT:  We will honor \u2014 you\u2019re welcome.  You\u2019re welcome.  (Laughter.)  We will honor your service by doing everything in our power to defend our homeland and to stop terrorists from entering America\u2019s shores.  And that includes the strengthening of our borders.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t know if you folks are aware of what\u2019s happening.  We want to have strong borders in the United States.  The Democrats don\u2019t want to let us have strong borders \u2014 only for one reason.  You know why?  Because I want it.  (Laughter.)  If I said \u2014 you know, I think, just standing here looking at all these brilliant, young faces \u2014 these warriors.  You\u2019re warriors.  You know, you\u2019re modern-day warriors.  That\u2019s what you are.<\/p>\n<p>But you gave me an idea, just looking at this warrior group.  I think I\u2019ll say, \u201cI don\u2019t want the wall.\u201d  And then they\u2019re going to give it to me.  (Laughter.)  I\u2019ve figured out the solution, First Lady.  (Laughter.)  Tell Nancy Pelosi, \u201cI don\u2019t want the wall.\u201d  \u201cOh, we want the wall.\u201d  And then we get the wall.  (Laughter and applause.)  That\u2019s another way of doing it.  (Applause.)  That\u2019s another way of doing it.<\/p>\n<p>No, we have to have it.  And, you know, not only human trafficking; drugs; illegals; a lot of criminals \u2014 bad records.  We\u2019ve seen murderers come in through the \u2014 you saw what happened with the caravan, as we call it.  A caravan of thousands of people.<\/p>\n<p>And, by the way, our Border Patrol did an incredible job, and our military did an incredible job.  And local law enforcement on the various parts of the border did an incredible job.  And those caravans are slowly breaking up, and they\u2019re going back where they came from, and they have to come into our country legally.  Legally.<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s what you\u2019re fighting for.  You know, when you think about it, you\u2019re fighting for borders in other countries, and they don\u2019t want to fight \u2014 the Democrats \u2014 for the border of our country.  It doesn\u2019t make a lot of sense.<\/p>\n<p>At this sacred time of the year, our thoughts turn to the American heroes who gave their last breath in defense of our country, including the seven brave souls who perished last March on the Jolly 51 rescue helicopter.  You know exactly who we\u2019re talking about.  Some of you were great friends of theirs.<\/p>\n<p>Through their incredible sacrifice, our fallen heroes have achieved immortality.  That\u2019s what it is; it\u2019s immortality.  Immortality.  They will live forever in the hearts of their countrymen, in your hearts, and in the history of the United States of America.  They will live forever.<\/p>\n<p>The dignity and glory of the American warrior is recorded on the fields of battle and in acts of valor that will live for all of time.  You\u2019re going to be remembered for all of time.  And under my administration, we\u2019re winning now.  We\u2019re not playing to lose slowly, like they\u2019ve been doing for 19 years.  We\u2019re fighting in areas where we shouldn\u2019t be fighting, and spending hundreds of billions of dollars doing it.<\/p>\n<p>No.  You have the right thought process now going, for the first time in a long time.  (Laughter and applause.)  Thank you.  We want to fight where it\u2019s meaningful, which is basically what you\u2019re just saying.  And you understand that better than anybody.  The people in this room understand that better.  Your general understands it.  I just met with them.  Your general understands it.  We want to fight for the meaningful things.<\/p>\n<p>No force in history has done more for the cause of justice and peace.  I want each and every one of you to know that we will always protect those who protect us.  You protect us.  We are always going to protect you.  And you just saw that because you just got one of the biggest pay raises you\u2019ve ever received \u2014 unless you don\u2019t want it.  (Applause.)  Does anybody here \u2014 is anybody here willing to give up the big pay raise you just got?  Raise your hands, please.  Ah, I don\u2019t see too many hands.  Okay, don\u2019t give it up.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s great.  You know what?  Nobody deserves it more.  You haven\u2019t gotten one in more than 10 years \u2014 more than 10 years.  And we got you a big one.  I got you a big one.  I got you a big one.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>They had plenty of people that came up.  They said, \u201cYou know, we could make it smaller.  We could make it 3 percent.  We could make it 2 percent.  We could make it 4 percent.\u201d  I said, \u201cNo.  Make it 10 percent.  Make it more than 10 percent.\u201d  Because it\u2019s been a long time.  It\u2019s been more than 10 years.  It\u2019s been more than 10 years.  That\u2019s a long time.  And, you know, you really put yourselves out there, and you put your lives out there.  So congratulations.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019re fighting every day to ensure you have also the tools, the equipment, the training, and resources that you need to fight and to win.  We don\u2019t play \u201cprevent defense\u201d anymore.  We\u2019re not doing that.  That\u2019s why, when you see me doing things, I always have things in mind.  I always have lots of things in mind \u2014 things that you have in mind, too, but a lot of other people don\u2019t.  A lot of the media doesn\u2019t want to report it correctly, but we have a lot of things in mind.<\/p>\n<p>But do you ever see at \u2014 like, in football, where a team is holding the other team scoreless \u2014 they can\u2019t throw; they can\u2019t pass; they can\u2019t do anything.  Now it\u2019s three and a half quarters; they got to just hold them.  And they say, \u201cLet\u2019s change to prevent defense.\u201d  And that\u2019s what happens.<\/p>\n<p>And you know what it does?  It prevents them from winning.  How many times have you seen that?  We don\u2019t like prevent defense.  We want real offense and we want real defense.  And that\u2019s what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n<p>We have secured a record increase to our military budget, and we are purchasing all of this great equipment \u2014 $700 billion last year; $716 billion \u2014 with a \u201cb,\u201d with a \u201cb.\u201d  We were fought very hard by the Democrats and others.  But I said, \u201cWe have to take care of our military.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I mean, I want to see costs come down, too.  But not when it comes to our military.  You have to have the finest equipment anywhere in the world, and you have that \u2014 $716 billion.  And this year, again, we\u2019re going to be \u2014 don\u2019t tell anybody because nobody else knows \u2014 even a little bit higher.<\/p>\n<p>But we have no choice.  We can\u2019t play cheap with our warriors or military.  We can\u2019t play cheap with victory.  And we\u2019re not going to.<\/p>\n<p>We understand the best way to preserve the peace is to be prepared for combat, and the surest way to prevent conflict is to be totally unyielding and totally ready for conflict if that should happen.<\/p>\n<p>America is a peace-loving nation.  But rest assured, if we are forced to fight, we will engage the enemy with overwhelming force like never before \u2014 like nobody has ever seen before.  (Applause.)<\/p>\n<p>There is no military more capable and, now, more lethal, more fearless, and more skilled than the United States Armed Forces.  Nobody is even close.  Our faith and confidence in you is absolute and total.  You are the sentinels who watch over our nation.  You are the warriors who defend our freedom.  You are the patriots who ensure the flame of liberty burns forever bright.  That\u2019s who you are.  That\u2019s who you are.<\/p>\n<p>To everyone at Al Asad Air Base, and every American serving overseas, may God bless you, may God protect you, and may God always keep you safe.  We love you.  We support you.  We salute you.  We cherish you.  And together, we pray for justice, goodness, and peace on Earth.<\/p>\n<p>We are putting America first, for the first time in a long time \u2014 longer than anyone can remember.  At the same time, we\u2019re here to help others.  And for all of you that have those red caps \u2014 and I saw them before; I signed a lot of them \u2014 it says, \u201cMake America Great Again.\u201d  And you know what?  That\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n<p>So we flew all night on Christmas evening \u2014 the First Lady, myself, John Bolton, and a lot of other great people on that plane.  Thank you, John.  And it was worth every minute of it.  And I just want to thank you.  You are outstanding, outstanding people.  And we will never let you down.  Just remember that.<\/p>\n<p>God bless America.  Thank you very much.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Al Asad Air Base, Iraq&#8230;Well, first of all, at ease. At ease. Let\u2019s have a good time. Let\u2019s have a good time. And we had an incredible meeting that lasted for about an hour, and you have no idea what we\u2019ve come up with. You\u2019re going to be so happy. You\u2019re going to be so [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":72275,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-72274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-government","category-news","last_archivepost"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/12\/Fullscreen-capture-12262018-44555-PM.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=72274"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/72274\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/72275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=72274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=72274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.thepinetree.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=72274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}