Cheney: No 'policy of retreat.'

Posted by Mark Silva at 11:30 pm CST

ABOARD THE USS KITTY HAWK -- With a bid to reassure a region as well as troops deployed aboard an aicraft carrier that has seen action in the war in Iraq that the United States will not "retreat'' from the mission, Vice President Dick Cheney promised an unrelenting fight against terrorism.

"Every member of our military can be certain that America will stay on the offensive in the war on terror,'' Cheney said in a speech delivered aboard the aircraft carrier, the oldest active ship in the U.S. Navy, a conventionally powered aircraft carrier that launched 5,000 sorties into Iraq.

"The president of the United States and his national security team understand the threat ,'' Cheney promised. "We're not dealing with adversaries that will surrender or come to their senses. We'll be flexible. We'll do all we can to adapt to conditions on the ground. We'll make every change necessary to do the job. And I want you to know that the American people will not support a policy of retreat. We want to complete the mission, and we want to get it done right, and we want to return with honor.''

That retreat line drew quite a round of applause from the many hundreds of sailors assembled in the hangar bay of the Kitty Hawk, just beneath the flight deck. It was a campaign-styled rally, complete with banner and sailors seated in bleachers behind the vice president. Cheney also made a point of revising his own speech, whose text originially said the American people "do not support a policy of retreat." He changed that to say "will not support a policy of retreat.''

Cheney in the hangar bay of the Kitty Hawk, which gave the vice president a 19-gun cannon salute upon arrival at the old naval base at Yokosuka which once served as headquarters for the Japanese Imperial Navy, but where today Cheney met with U.S. and Japanese officers working togeter. Photo by Silva.

Cheney's remarks seemed tailored as much for a home audience as the U.S. troops assembled on the Kitty Hawk and the larger Japanese audience following his words on a weeklong Pacific tour.

"Throughout this region our country has interests, and treaty obligations and commitments of conscience,'' he said. "To meet these responsibilities we need safe and unimpeded movement on the seas, and bases for our ships and personnel. From our Pacific bases we stand ready to defend our allies and friends. We keep the shipping lanes open for trade, which is the economic lifeline for so many countries. We keep an eye out for those who try to move deadly weapons across these waters. And we bring relief to victims of natural disasters. The United States is a powerful country, and also a decent, generous country. Our presence helps to ensure the peace and stability of a strategic part of the world. America does the job well – and for that, we can thank the men and women of the United States military.

This was a campaign-styled event aboard the carrier. Silva

"Our nation is grateful, as well, to the people of Japan,'' he said. "Our two countries share common values and strategic objectives. Our forces work closely together – and some of the most important joint exercises are carried out right here at this base….

"In recent years, our forces have served together in Afghanistan and Iraq, and Japan has been one of the largest donors toward the reconstruction effort in those countries. Indeed, when the United States was attacked on September 11th, 2001, Japan's government made clear its firm commitment to joining the fight against terror. Japan has honored that commitment. As great democracies, Japan and the United States understand our duties in the world. Sometimes those duties are hard and dangerous, but we accept them. And none is more pressing than the figth against global terror.''

Earlier in the day, the vice president met with Emperor Akihito at the Imperial Palace. Silva

Cheney spoke of the Kitty Hawk's early involvement in the war on terror, deployed just after 9/11 into the North Arabian Sea in support of Operation Enduring Freedom. And later, "in the campaign to liberate Iraq,'' it was deployed 29,000 nautical miles with more than 5,000 sorties flown from the deck.

"Since the war began, we've struck major blows against the al-Qaeda network that hit America,'' Cheney said. "We're 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 other this nation has faced. This war is not a matter of finding an opposing army and engaging it, or finding a navy and sinking it. The terrorist enemies are hidden and dispersed, and they view the entire world as a battlefield,'' he said. "They are determined to commit indiscriminate murder against innocent, unsuspecting me, women and children.''

"These enemies want to seize control of a country in the Middle East so they can acquire a base for launching attacks, and oil wealth to finance their ambitions….''

To serve that goal, he said, terrorists are arming themselves with chemical, biological and "even nuclear weapons… to destroy Israel… to intimidate free countries… and to cause great harm to the United States.''

"We are their prime target. They hate us, they hate our country, they hate the liberties for which we stand. They want to destroy our way of life.''

"The terrorists have made Iraq the central front in this war.,'' he said.

And, now, he said Gen. David Petraeus is carrying out "a new strategy for victory on that front.'' Petraeus has said the enemy is determined, adaptable and barbaric and "there are no guarantees,'' he said. "The general has it exactly right. The terrorists know they cannot beat us in a stand-up fight. They never have.''

"Bin Laden continues to predict that the people of the United States simply do not have the stomach to stay in the fight against terror.''

"This nation has learned the lessons of history,'' he said. We know that terrorist attacks are not caused by the use of strength… they are invited by the perception of weakness. We know that if we leave Iraq before the mission is completed, the enemy is going to come after us…. We'll face them far from home, so we do not have to face them on the streets of our own cities.''

He commended the crew up and down, from the "Grapes on the flight deck… to the BTs in the fire room… to the intel specialists. "Your service makes a difference for a nation at war… and improves the chances that one day we'll see a world at peace.''

"The cause we serve is freedom. That cause is right. That cause is just. And that cause will prevail.''

The Kitty Hawk, which launched 5,000 sorties in the war in Iraq, is the oldest active ship in the US Navy. Silva