HEROES

Today we are gathered to pay tribute to some of the finest men and women our nation has to offer - the men and women of our armed forces. They are our sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters, our husbands and wives. But they have one thing in common - they are part of the greatest military force in the world. For more than 50 years, our nation has paused in May to recognize the contributions of those in uniform. But this year, we are especially mindful of what it means to serve. We are here today to thank the men and women in uniform for their service and their sacrifice, because we know that without them - and the thousands who have gone before them -- the light of freedom would have been extinguished around the world. They truly are carrying on a tradition of heroes. Once again, we see the forces of freedom and democracy being threatened around the world. We are going through difficult times in our efforts to allow the people of Iraq to live in democracy. Television news broadcasts are filled with images of bombings and civilian uprisings. But it's worth stepping back to consider just how far we've come in the past year. The war for Iraqi liberation began in March 2003. Thanks to a small army of reporters embedded with military units, we saw firsthand the courage, the professionalism, and the determination of our fighting men and women. They swept toward Baghdad with lightning speed, confounding the critics who predicted they would get bogged down in the sands of Iraq, defeated by Saddam's so-called "elite Republic Guard." We saw spectacular displays of precision bombing of key military facilities that left key oil and power plants undamaged, so the Iraqi people would have the tools they'd need to begin their new lives. Within a month, we saw statues of Saddam Hussein being toppled as joyous Iraqis danced in the streets. They were celebrating the end of more than three decades of a brutal regime that relied on fear, intimidation and torture to control its people. And it was our armed forces, working with those of our Coalition partners, who made those celebrations possible.