[Dan]

Vice President's Remarks at Closing Ceremonies of Socom's International Special Forces Week (part II)

In the Cold War, national security required massing large forces at borders, and a year-after-year stand-off. Today's security environment often requires small teams of men searching caves, going over mountain peaks, and walking along narrow ledges in the pitch-black night. And for that kind of work, we turn to the silent professionals.

In Operation Enduring Freedom, the first boots on the ground were special operations forces. As that campaign got underway in late 2001, we heard warnings that the obstacles would be extreme -- and indeed they were. Afghanistan, after all, is a landlocked country with a forbidding, mountainous terrain, and winter was setting in. The enemy force was widely scattered -- but well armed, protected in deep caves, and skilled in guerilla tactics. Added to that was the sheer mileage between our forces and out objective. Into that environment we sent the special operations, and in short order they figured out how to do it all.

Operating by their wits, their intelligence, and their cultural knowledge, they went to the far corners of Afghanistan, built relationships with anti-Taliban forces, engaged enemy holdouts, and designated high-value targets for the bombing campaign. They also linked the technology of the 21st century with the transportation modes of the ancient world -- riding horseback on wooden saddles, painting targets with lasers, and calling in precision air strikes from hundreds of miles away. In the space of about seven weeks, despite all the obstacles we understood going in, the regime was destroyed and the Afghan people were set free.

When our coalition moved to liberate the people of Iraq, special ops teams worked with Kurdish opposition forces to secure the northern front of the war, while in the west they took out scud launchers. Other coalition teams secured oil fields, dams, and bridges, converted roads into airstrips, called in air strikes against regime targets, and helped prepare the way for one of the largest combat parachute drops since the Second World War. Once again, the contributions of special ops were critical to the swift downfall of a regime -- and a strutting dictator went from a palace to a bunker to a spider hole to a prison cell.

We are still using special ops teams in Afghanistan and Iraq, as those nations continue on the road of security and self-rule. People in both countries have turned out in overwhelming numbers to elect their own leaders, and we are keeping our commitment to help these rising democracies achieve success. Terrorists will continue to wage their war against free institutions, and we will stand with Afghans and Iraqis in fighting them.

Today, special ops are working with Iraqi forces to determine where the insurgents are -- and then to carry out quick, decisive strikes against terror targets, as we have seen in Ramadi, Mosul, Baghdad, and on the Syrian border.

There has been hard fighting in Afghanistan as well, against Taliban remnants holed up in rugged parts of the country. Special ops teams are conducting search missions with the Afghan National Army. In the continuing hunt for al Qaeda, we have men working at high altitudes in the mountain range above Kandahar and Jalalabad -- often operating at the upper limits of human endurance -- moving calmly and patiently to deliver justice to the terrorists. And in both Iraq and Afghanistan, we are helping to train local security forces, so that those nations can eventually take on the responsibility for their own security.

In Iraq and Afghanistan -- and in other places where the fight against terror is less talked about, but still critical -- such as the Philippines, the Balkans, Colombia, and the Pan Sahel region of Africa -- special ops units have provided a glimpse of the kind of force we want to build for the future. A military that was designed for the mid-to-late 20th century needs to be a force that is lighter, more adaptable, more agile, and more lethal in action. Our country's military is going to build upon traditional advantages such as technological superiority, our ability to project force across great distances, and our precision strike capabilities. Our transformed military will stress rapid reaction and reward new thinking, breaking down old information stovepipes, and placing greater emphasis on jointness of operations.

The core of any military transformation is the competence, the creativity, and the flexibility of the men and women who serve. And there is no better model for how to proceed than special ops -- because you have always zeroed in on the practical questions of how to figure out a problem, move in quickly, get the job right -- done right, and then go on to the next mission.

Special ops also remind us of the global focus we need to win the battle against terror and weapons proliferation. SOCOM units have joined with special ops from almost every country represented here today, on a broad range of missions -- from counter-insurgency, to counter-narcotics, to interdiction of illicit materials, to having a ready response for the Olympic Games.

At this forum you've also discussed some of the ways terrorists and weapons or drug traffickers try to exploit the seams between governments, and how we can close up those seams through better communication and joint operations. This is going to be a critical challenge going forward, as we move against shadowy enemies in many countries and a variety of environments, from urban areas to jungle to desert.

Above all, in your patience, and endurance, and devotion to your missions, special ops remind us of the importance of vigilance. We have a long war ahead of us, and our enemies are waiting for us to let our guard down. But we will not relent in this effort, because we have the clearest possible understanding of what is at stake. Looking across this room, I see the diversity of our planet, but an identity of interests. None of us wants to turn over the future of mankind to tiny groups of fanatics committing indiscriminate murder and plotting large-scale horror. And so we must direct every resource necessary to defending the peace and freedom of our world, and the safety of the people we serve. That's the commitment of the United States that we've made to ourselves and to other nations. And with good allies at our side, we will see this cause through to victory.

The writer Tom Clancy once said of special ops forces, "Real toughness is between the ears, not in the biceps. You've got to see them to believe them." That really captures the idea. It is difficult to put into words the intensity of your training, the hazards of your hardest assignments, and the speed of thought and action that are needed at the tip of the spear. You are the ones who can go into unfamiliar territory and become part of the environment -- preparing battle spaces, learning languages and cultures, building relationships, and picking up intelligence. Special ops are the ones who hunt down, engage, kill and capture enemies, yet also set up hospitals, call in humanitarian aid, and help villages to become self-sufficient -- leaving behind you men, women, and children who feel gratitude for your kindness and good will for our country.

Special ops, it's been said play every role from warrior to physician to diplomat to engineer. And at times you have to switch from one role to other in the blink of an eye.

In this time of testing for our world, many in the military have faced long deployments -- and because special ops go so far forward, you very often go without regular contact with home or family. It's also in the nature of your business that the best work goes unrecognized until years after the fact, if ever. And we may never know all the grief that has been spared because of you. I can only say, with complete certainty, that your efforts are paying off -- and today all of us live in a world made safer by your actions.

Once again, I thank you for the opportunity to be with you this afternoon. Each one of you has taken up the noblest of callings -- the profession of arms -- and in that calling, you are force multipliers. President Bush and I know how hard you're working, and I promise you that this nation will never take your efforts for granted. And we are tremendously proud of each and every one of you. And on behalf of the entire nation, I want thank you all.