27 April 2002
Rumsfeld Tells Troops that Anti-Terror Coalition will Prevail
(Speaks to U.S. and coalition forces in Kyrgyzstan) (1750)
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, April 26 -- Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
paid tribute to the success of coalition forces in liberating
Afghanistan, and said that the world would continue its campaign to
root out the al Qaeda network in countries around the world. "The task
is to put pressure on terrorists wherever they are," he said.
Speaking at a military base in Kyrgyzstan's capital of Bishkek,
Secretary Rumsfeld said, "As we are successful in Afghanistan we have
to see that terrorists don't move into other countries, which is why
we're helping to train forces, for example, in the Philippines so that
they can improve their counter-terrorist activities. We're working
with people in Yemen to strengthen their training in counter
terrorism."
Rumsfeld warned that the combination of terrorist networks and states
developing weapons of mass destruction remains a global threat. "When
you are dealing with weapons of mass destruction," he said, "you're
talking about tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands of people --
we have a very modest margin for error."
"The president made a promise to our country shortly after September
11," Rumsfeld said to the troops. "He said we will not waiver, we will
not tire, we will not falter and we will not fail. You are the ones
who are delivering on that promise."
Kyrgyzstan was the first stop on Secretary Rumsfeld's five-day trip to
Central Asia.
Following is a transcript of Secretary Rumsfeld's remarks to U.S. and
coalition personnel in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, April 26, 2002:
(begin transcript)
Department of Defense
News Transcript
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
April 26, 2002
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld
Meeting with Troops in Kyrgyzstan
Rumsfeld: Thank you very much. Gen. Lloyd, Ambassador O'Keefe, the men
and women of the United States armed services, and the men and women
of the coalition forces from all across the world, I thank you for the
welcome, and I thank you for what you are doing.
It is a terrific thing for me to be able to be here and to see you and
to have a chance to say personally, how much I appreciate what you are
doing. You are doing a superb job for our country and for all the
countries in the coalition. It is not an easy job; indeed it's a tough
job.
The problems we face as a world are somewhat new, and different.
Certainly they are different for the Untied States. Having had the
benefit of two oceans and friends on the north and friends on the
south -- to be subjected as we were on September 11 to terrorist
attacks that killed thousands of our fellow Americans. Indeed, it was
not so much an attack on the United States as it was an attack on the
world.
There were people from 80 countries killed in the World Trade Center
and the Pentagon in those few hours. There were people of every race
and color and religion. The task that you're doing so far from home is
one that I am afraid is going to last for a while. It's not something
that is going to be over quickly.
People in this camp are used to dealing with armies and navies, and
air forces. Regrettably the people we're having to deal with don't
have armies or navies or air forces as such, they operate in shadows
and caves. They operate secretly; they operate against civilians as
opposed to against armies. And the difficulty of that task is real.
We've been very successful in Operation Enduring Freedom thanks to the
help of people from so many countries. When I say we I don't mean the
armed services alone -- all of the elements of national power have had
to be brought to bear: economic power, financial power, diplomatic
efforts, intelligence sharing as well as military activity, both overt
and covert. The task is to put pressure on terrorists wherever they
are -- in Afghanistan to be sure and you folks are certainly helping
to do that in good style, but also to put pressure on them all across
the globe. To the extent that they have safe havens, sanctuaries where
they can go, then the effort we put into Afghanistan will be for
nothing.
There's no question but that the Taliban no longer govern that
country. The people of Afghanistan have been liberated. There's no
question but that the al Qaeda that had been training people in
terrorist training camps, and I might add training them very well.
These people are professionals. They spend a great deal of time and a
great deal of money getting very good at understanding how they can
move around the county, how they can operate with false passports, how
they can raise money, how they can recruit, how they can train, and
how they can kill innocent men, women and children. And they've gotten
very good at it, regrettably.
The fact remains that, as we are successful in Afghanistan and put
pressure on them there, that that's not enough. We have to keep
putting pressure on them so that they don't reassemble either just in
the mountains or over in the bordering countries to Afghanistan. So
that they then don't try again to retake that country which certainly
they would like to do.
Furthermore, we have to see that they don't move into other countries,
which is why we're helping to train forces, for example, in the
Philippines so that they can improve their counter-terrorist
activities. We're working with people in Yemen to strengthen their
training in counter terrorism. And more recently we are putting some
U.S. armed forces trainers into the former Soviet republic of Georgia
so that there again they can strengthen in their capacity to keep
terrorists out. There are a lot of other places terrorists can go and
gather and the networks exist -- for example, just the al Qaeda is
probably in 50 or 60 nations across the globe to say nothing of the
other global terrorist networks.
People laugh about the fact that I have served as secretary of defense
25, 26, 27 years ago. Dick Cheney, when I was sworn in with President
Bush, said we have asked Don to come back and serve as secretary of
defense again -- maybe he'll get it right this time.
But it is a long time ago and a lot of the things have changed. Some
of the weapons systems, however, haven't. The B-52's are still here. I
was there for the roll out of the F-16. I was the one who approved the
M-1 tank and it is amazing to think that all these many years later we
see roughly those same weapons systems still doing a wonderful job for
our country.
The one thing that has not changed, besides the few weapons systems,
are the people. And there is just no question but that the men and
women in the coalition forces that are gathered here in this tent, and
are spread in other countries across the globe, are people who
voluntarily put their lives at risk for their country, for their
families. They do it willingly, they do it professionally, and each of
you can be enormously proud of the contribution you are making.
We think about what happened on September 11 as really a terribly
tragedy, and it was. So many lives were lost, thousands of lives were
lost, and mothers and fathers and children were lost. The reality is
that with the development of weapons of mass destruction -- and they
are being developed, they are being developed in several handfuls of
countries around the globe -- and with the development of powerful
ways of delivering those weapons, we are living in a notably different
time, than we all did previously.
You know if you're dealing with conventional weapons and your talking
about the lives of hundreds or thousands, you have a certain margin
for error, and you can be a little negligent, you can be a little
slow, you can be imperfect in your wisdom and your foresight. You can
be a little laggard in terms of how you invest. But when you are
dealing with weapons of mass destruction -- and you're not talking
about hundreds or thousands, you're talking about tens of thousands
and hundreds of thousands of people -- we have a very modest margin
for error.
We, as people across the globe who don't believe in killing innocent
people, have to recognize that our responsibility and our task is
coming to us in a time that is notably different than prior
generations. And it calls on us to be wiser, to look around more
corners, and to be cognizant and alert to the dangers that exist.
There are a handful of terrorist nations in the world that have very
close connections with terrorist networks and those nations have
weapons of mass destruction and they are developing weapons of mass
destruction. And they are trading among themselves with those
technologies. That means, they're testing them and we see them testing
them. And one doesn't like to see that -- you like to turn your head
and say well that is not really happening, or maybe it is not
happening, but the reality is that it is happening.
And that being the case it seems to me that what you're doing is of
the utmost importance. You stand against an evil. It is the evil of
mass murders that have as their purpose in life, to kill large numbers
of innocent people. It is an evil that can't be appeased, it can't be
ignored and it certainly cannot be allowed to prevail.
And you are doing a great job at your task. I thank you for that and
so does President Bush. The president made a promise to our country
shortly after September 11. He said we will not waiver, we will not
tire, we will not falter and we will not fail. You are the ones who
are delivering on that promise. And looking at each of you and having
a chance to shake some of your hands here today, I know I can report
back to him that the promise that he made is in good hands, and that
our victory is indeed assured.
Thank you very much.
(end transcript)
(Distributed by the Office of International Information Programs, U.S.
Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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