President United States (48:00)
Thank you very much, Chaplain Green. Wonderful job. Appreciate it and thank everybody for being here. And please feel free to sit. So before we begin this important ceremony, and there's no ceremony that can be much more important than this, let me provide a brief update on Operation Epic Fury. Today. The United States military continues to carry out large scale combat operations in Iran to eliminate the grave threats posed to America by this terrible terrorist regime. Following our obliteration of Iran's nuclear program in Operation Midnight Hammer a short while ago, we warned Iran not to make any attempt to rebuild at a different location because they were unable to use the ones that we so powerfully blew up. But they ignored those warnings and refused to cease their pursuit of nuclear weapons. In addition, the regime's conventional ballistic missile program was growing rapidly and dramatically, and this posed a very clear, colossal threat to America and our forces stationed overseas. The regime already had missiles capable of hitting Europe in our bases, both local and overseas, and would soon have had missiles capable of reaching our beautiful America. The purpose of this fast growing missile program was to shield their nuclear weapon development and make it extraordinarily difficult for anyone to stop them from making these highly forbidden by US Nuclear weapons. We were the ones that were complaining. We were the ones that wanted it stopped. But everybody was behind us. They just didn't have the courage to say so. An Iranian regime armed with long range missiles and nuclear weapons would be an intolerable threat to the Middle east, but also to the American people. Our country itself would be under threat, and it was very nearly under threat. I was very proud to have knocked out the Iran nuclear deal by President Barack Hussein Obama. That was a horrible, horrible, dangerous document. They would have had nuclear weapons three years ago and they would have used them. But I'll not let that happen. For almost 47 years, this regime has been attacking the United States and killing Americans. Every time you see someone with missing arms and legs or a face that's been absolutely shattered violently, it was almost certainly caused by an Iran roadside bomb. They were put there by General Soleimani, who was the father of the roadside bomb. Very proudly, he thought. But I terminated him in my first term. This was our last, best chance to strike what we're doing right now and eliminate the intolerable threats posed by this sick and sinister regime. And they are indeed sick and sinister. Our objectives are clear. First, we're destroying Iran's missile capabilities. And you see that happening on an hourly basis. And their capacity to produce brand new ones and pretty good ones they make. Second, we're annihilating their navy. We've knocked out already 10 ships. They're at the bottom of the sea. Third, we're ensuring that the world's number one sponsor of terror weapon. Never going to have a nuclear weapon. I said that from the beginning. They're never going to have a nuclear weapon. They were on the road to getting one legitimately through a deal that was signed foolishly by our country. And finally, we're ensuring that the Iranian regime cannot continue to arm, fund and direct terrorist armies outside of their borders. And we thought we had a deal, but then they backed out and they came back that you can't deal with these people. You've got to do it the right way. Today we grieve for the four heroic American servicemembers who have been killed in action and send our love and support to their families in their memory. We continue this mission with ferocious, unyielding resolve to crush the threat, this terrorist regime. A threat indeed it is. We have the strongest and most powerful by far military in the world and we will easily prevail. We're already substantially ahead of our time projections, but whatever the time is, it's okay. Whatever it takes, we will always. And we have. Right from the beginning, we projected four to five weeks, but we have capability to go far longer than that. We'll do it. Whatever somebody said today, they said, oh, well, if the President wants to do it really quickly after that, he'll get bored. I don't get bored. There's nothing boring about this. Do you agree with that, Pete? I don't think there's anything, Mr. General. I think there's nothing boring about it. Somebody actually said from the media. I think you'll get bored after about a week or two. No, we don't get bored. I never get bored. If I got bored, I wouldn't be standing here right now. I guarantee you that. To go through what I had to go through. We also projected four weeks to terminate the military leadership. And as you know, that was done in about an hour. So we're ahead of schedule there by a lot. But please join me in thanking every American service member who bravely is standing in harm's way. They really are incredible. And I just want to thank you. We have a lot of them right here. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, everybody. We have a lot of great service members here with us, too, in this beautiful building. Isn't it beautiful? We're adding onto the building a little bit. We're improving the building. See that nice drape? When that comes down? Right now you see a very, very deep hole. But in about a year and a half from now, you're going to see a very, very beautiful building. And there's your entrance to it right there. In fact, it looks so nice, I don't think I'll even. I think I'll save money on the doors because it can't get more beautiful than that. I picked those drapes in my first term. I always like gold, but I think we can save a lot of money. I just saved. I just saved curtains. But. And it will be. It'll be spectacular. It'll be the most beautiful ballroom. I believe it's because I built many a ballroom. I believe it's going to be the most beautiful ballroom anywhere in the world. And when you hear all that hammering out there, you know why the first lady is not thrilled? Exactly. She said, will the pile drivers ever stop? You know, they go from 6 in the morning till 11:30 in the evening. Can you imagine? Here. You know what? To me, that's a beautiful sound. She doesn't like it. I love it. You know what? To me, other than here, because we're donating it, not a penny to the taxpayer. It'll be under budget, ahead of schedule. It'll be $400 million or less. Most people say $400 million or more. No, it'll be less. But when I hear that sound, that beautiful sound behind me, it means money. So I like it. But my wife isn't thrilled. It's getting crazy. I said, don't worry about it. We'll be all finished up in a few months. But now, for the reason that we're gathered this morning to recognize the unsurpassed courage of three really incredible American heroes, one living and two no longer with us. So together we recognize the exceptional valor of Master Sergeant Roderick Edmonds. And maybe I could ask your families to stand because they're beautiful families.
