Transcription of Sarah Palin Colorado College Speech by Dr Patois
I appreciate you! Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you. It is such an honor to get to be here. Thank you so much just have a seat and I am just humbled I am honored to get to spend this evening with you. Thank you CCU for being here for the right reasons and understanding that you know freedom is not free but freedom is a God given right and it’s worth fighting for and is our United States military it is our veterans who we have to thank we salute them for protecting the freedom. For protecting our Constitution you are here for the right reasons so from the bottom of my heart I thank you for being part of the solution that we need here in our country today god bless you and again thank you United States Military thank you veterans. God bless you.
Hey you know before we get started even um, and speaking of being here for the right reasons and supporting TAPS and all that uh Bonnie is doing and, and the sacrifices that she and her family have made in um, in order to help those who have been touched by tragedy I thank you for showing your financial support for such a group an’ um in, in order to kind of articulate, in trying to think, in simple terms, which I’m very comfortable doing, I wanna’ read you something, you’ve probably have heard it before, I want to read you something that we believe was written by Charles Provence some years ago and it is again in just simple terms why it is that we are able to assemble here today freely, why it is that we know that we can be here safely and those with opposing views even are able to uh, express their views and um, share and debate and discuss. The reason that we’re able to do that is because of the sacrifices that our military have made for us. Let me read you this real quickly because we do need to remember that “it is, because of, the veteran, not the reporter, who has given us freedom, of the press. It is our veteran, not the poet
who has given us freedom of speech. It is the veteran, not the campus organizer who has given us freedom to protest. It is the veteran, not the lawyer, who has given us the right to a fair trial. It is the veteran, not the politician, who has given us the right to vote. And it is the veteran, who salutes the flag, who serves beneath the flag and who’s coffin is draped by the flag and who allows protesters, to burn the flag” (quotation marks are a guess). It is the veteran who is allowing us to be here today. So, with that, we salute the veteran, we recognize that without the sacrifices that have been made, by them, we would not be sitting here today.
And what a place to be sitting today. A basketball court for one. I’m just tickled to get to be here, we just fill (sic) right at home. And in Colorado, you know, a lot of similarities between Alaska and Colorado, um, I think that residents from both States, we both chuckle when other States describe their, monumental mountains that we have we all kind of just chuckle and look at each other Colorado and Alaskan residents because we know (tape cuts out)
A lot of similarities, a lot of commonality too between some of you who are here today (tape cuts out) or something and (??) how shocked you are but very, very honored that you are here an’ we look forward to hearing from you here at CCU and what a wonderful school this is. I was reading some of the foundational PRINCIPLES that CCU thinking, aw man you guys are spot on here. If only everybody would embrace what is taught as foundational principle at CCU. Here as, uh, their MISSION, is to honor Christ in all that they do and to impact our culture in support of traditional family values and the sanctity of life and compassion for the poor and having a biblical view of human nature and limited government and personal freedom, free markets, natural law, original intent of the Constitution and western civilization as they are seekers of truth I think, you’re spot on! That’s exactly what it is we need to get back our culture!
You know politicians go on and on and on today with their ideas, their doctrines (she pronounces it with an e between the t and r) their maybe a new philosophy of where it is,
an ideology where we should go as a Country and I think neeooo (sic) just go to CC,U, just read what it is that they stand for it’s spot on and that’s what we need for young people to embrace, to live out, in order to positively, impact our nation. So, CCU, you’re right on, your foundation is there, stay strong students, keep up the good work.
So good to get to be here, with President Armstrong again, and as I say General Boykin and John Andrews for this wonderful event. Now, last night, thank God, last night, all of us, hearing the news, that one evil leader, one evil leader, one extremist that was responsible for the murderers of thousands of innocent Americans had finally met justice at the hands of America’s finest. (Unintelligible) finally, we get to pay tribute to those finest our United States military. I know that we’ll probably all remember, individuals, where we were that September day when those that horrific thoughts, and ambitions and plans of this terrorist cut short the thoughts, ambitions and plans of beloved, innocent Americans who were heartlessly murdered on September 11, 2001. God bless all the brave men and women in our military and our intelligence services who carried out the successful mission to bring Osama Bin Laden to justice and all those who had laid the groundwork, over the years, to make that victory possible. This historic action, that was announced last night, it was the result of the diligence and the hard work and the character of countless American warriors. Those who know that those who spread evil, those with murderous intention, they must be contained. Those who would kill in the name of religion, they must be stopped.
In Denver last May, I was on a panel moderated by Colorado Christian President Armstrong. I was there with radio host Hugh Hewitt and Dennis Prager. And we were asked a question on that panel what we believed was the greatest threat facing America. Dennis Prager answered first and he said that he believed the single biggest threat to our Country’s future is that we seem to failing to pass on what it means to be an American to the next generation and I agreed with his concerns. But I had a caveat when I agreed in my answer, to what it was that he said. I offered if we are truly though delinquent in teaching the next generation what it means to be free and how important it is to defend freedom then how do we explain the thousands of young men and women, my own son among them, who, though they have never tasted anything but freedom, how is it that they would choose, as patriots, to join our United States military and fight for freedom in distant lands far from the comforts of home? Who are these young American worriers (sic)? What is the character, represented, in those who are sitting up here on this stage? They are volunteer troops. They enlist because they instinctively know that America is worth fighting for and that America’s enemies must be defeated!
Fighting warriors in our Armed Forces must be willing to lay their lives on the line to preserve and protect something greater than self to defend the American eyedill (sic) of liberty. They represent the very best among us they embody our highest eyedills (sic) and they represent American Exceptionalism and yesterday their courage and their determination brought us justice. Especially justice for the victims of 9/11’s those families, God bless those families who suffered so much on 9/11. Yesterday was a testiment (sic) to the military’s dedication in relentlessly hunting down an enemy through many years of war. And we thank our President we thank President Bush for having made the right call (fyi there has been applause throughout but big applause after Bush making the right call)
Let me give you another example of victory, among the thousands of examples that we can think of in our military. An example of the heroism, over the years. One of Colorado’s newest residents is Staff Sergeant Sal Giunta, and, he’s a new resident, in Fort Collins. He’s the first living service member from the Afghanistan or Iraq conflicts to receive the Medal of Honor. He was a rifle team leader in Afghanistan and it was on October 25th 2000 and 7 his unit was ambushed shortly after nightfall. Sgt. Giunta described it; “there were more bullets in the air than stars in the sky. A wall of bullets that everyone, at the same time, with one crack and then a million cracks. They were close, as close as I’ve ever seen. But the Sgt. Kept his cool, he relied on his training. He fought off the insurgents and he rescued several members of his unit including an injured solider who was being carried off by the Taliban. Giunta’s squad leader later praised him saying, “We were outnumbered and you stopped the fight. You stopped them from taking a solider.” When he was notified that he was being recommended for the Medal of Honor, Sgt. Giunta was humble, he said, “If I’m a hero, every man that stands around with me, every woman who is in the military, everyone that goes into the unknown is a hero.” Why do these American heroes go into the unknown? See, it was, um, years ago, G. K., Chesterton, he wrote that the true
soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him but it’s because he loves what is behind him.” They fight because they love America and they love the eyedills (sic) that America represent (sic).
What America stands for is liberty and justice and equality and the empowerment of the individual. Now the enemy, that we’re fighting, love death, the subjugation of women and a twisted promotion of the survival of the fittest through fear and hate and lies about America and our purpose in the world. Yesterday when we learned that the public face of Islamic terrorism, was killed, there were already voices declaring, “well, our war on terrorism is over.” It is not over. We are still at war with a brutal enemy that hates America and our Allies and all that we stand for. So we must not re, retreat. We cannot let up, the war wages on. Our troops and our intelligence services they’ve proven again and again that their courage to defeat the enemy, in the same face, the same overwhelming odds that Sgt. Giunta faced, those threats are still rill and in fact they may be ramped up after the events of yesterday and that’s why when we continue to send our troops into harms way they deserve the clarity of knowing what their mission is, and the decision, to insert American units in areas, to hunt down, and to kill Bin Laden is an example of the needed, decisive leadership, that our troops deserve. An example it is, of the proper use of force to protect America.
So of course we celebrate, that important tactical victory, that we found out about yesterday. You know there’s no military in the world that could have accomplished what that young team of SILLs (sic) accomplished. No military in the world but the United States of America. I believe as the details unfold and as we become more, privy to, the events that (tape cuts out) of those SILLs (sic) (tape cuts out again) think about it one (tape cuts out) of West Point according to some reports the gun battle took place just about 800 yards from the Pakistani military compound. From their academy. Lot’s a (sic) questions. Many retired Pakistani military officers, live in the area. How is the most wanted man in the world able to avoid detection, living, in comfort, in a mysterious, super compound, in plain sight? General Boykin you can probably get to the bottom of some of this for us okay? We look forward to hearing from ya’ (sic) on this. ‘Cause (sic) we know that speculation will be that well, at least some of the Pakistani leaders, perhaps, were helping him. Eh, consider that just last October too, the U.S. offered 2 billion (it sounds like she said million but she must have said billion) dollars in military aid to Pakistan that’s on top of the seven and a half billion dollars plus that we provide them, in civilian aid. So, we deserve, we
deserve, answers to our questions and we should demand answers to our questions from that government. We also must (unintelligible) that anyone who cooperated, in hiding Bin Laden, be brought to justice. So, lots of questions, lots of questions about the burial, about the photos and those things will certainly be disclosed, we, we must trust. But despite these lingering questions I’m not going to question the integrity of our troops. CREDIT BELONGS to the troops and to our intelligence services for this victory. They were given a clear and a vital mission; defined objective and they accomplished the mission.
A lesson then, here for effective use of force. As opposed, to sending our troops on missions that are ill defined. And it can be argued that our involvement elsewhere, say in Libya, is an example of a lack of clarity. See these are deadly serious questions that we must ask ourselves when we contemplate sending Americans into harms way. Our men and women in uniform deserve a clear understanding of U.S. positions, on such a crucial decision. I believe our criteria, before we send, our young men and women, America’s finest, into harm’s way, I believe that our criteria should be spelled out clearly, when it comes to the use of our military force. I can tell you what I believe that criteria should be. I can tell you what it should be in five points.
First, we should only commit our forces when clear and vital American interests are at
stake period.
Second, if we have to fight, we fight, to win. To do that we use overwhelming force. We
only send our troops into war with the objective to defeat the enemy as quickly as possible
we do not send our military and stretch out the mission with an open ended and ill-defined
mission. Nation building is a nice idea in theory but it’s not the main purpose of our Armed
Forces. We use our military to win wars.
And Third, we must have clearly defined goals and objectives before sending troops into
harms way. If you can’t explain the mission the American people, clearly, concisely, then
our sons and daughters should not be sent into battle. Period.
Fourth, American soldiers must never be put under foreign commands. We will fight side
by side with our allies but American soldiers must remain under the care and the command
of the American officers.
And Fifth, sending our Armed Forces should be the last resort. We don’t go looking for
dragons to slay. However, we will encourage, the forces of freedom, around the world, who
are sincerely fighting for the empowerment of the individual. When it makes sense, when
it’s appropriate we’ll provide them with support and help them, WIN, their own freedom.
We’re not indifferent to the cause of human rights or the desire for freedom. We’re always on the side of both but we can’t fight every war, we can’t undo every injustice, around the world, but with strength, and clarity, in those five points, we’ll make for a safer, more prosperous, more peaceful world. Because as the U.S. leads by example, as we support freedom across the globe, we’re gonna’ (sic) prove that free and healthy Countries, they don’t wage war on other free and healthy Countries. The stronger we are, the stronger and more peaceful, the world will be, under our example.
Now some of these principles may sound familiar and a few of them were first expressed back in 1984 in President Reagan’s cabinet. They were designed to help a sharply defined when, and how we should use force. And they served us well in the Reagan years. Times are much different now but I believe that by updating these, time tested principles, to address the, the unique and changing circumstances and threats that we face today they’ll serve us well and into the future, now and into the future. Remember, Reagan liked to keep it simple, yet profound. Remember what he would say to the enemy? He’d say, “We win, you lose.” And some may argue that well, today, in a world where we’re dealing with terrorist organizations rather than cold war adversaries, these principles are outdated. On the contrary, these principles are timeless. They will allow us to effectively and forcefully defend our vital national interests and those of our key allies in the age of terrorism. We must vigorously defend ourselves but at the same time we must not wear down our Armed Forces with never ending and ever increasing commitments.
I believe that America, though it must never retreat into isolation, the world would be less safe and less free without our leadership. And we must never forget that America has a responsibility to lead. To whom much is given, much is expected. We cannot be the world’s policeman granted, or the world’s ATM but we can lead by example. By our words and when necessary by our actions. We must, we will, remain the world’s abiding beacon of freedom.
Now we may hear from pundints (sic), from some of the elite in the beltway, the politicos, in fact, I often hear from them on a daily basis, that, that ah, you know some of these common sense ideas, which I dubbed them, that, uh, their passé and that American (sic) is in decline, which is what some of them would articulate and want you to believe but a nation, that can produce, and support, the men and women, that we have up here, on stage, eh, a man like Sgt. Giunta (she says jrita) a nation that can produce these volunteer patriots and the brave warriors who defeated the enemy yesterday, we are not gonna’, a nation in decline if we can look to these young people an’ (sic) rillize (sic) that they still want to protect America and fight for America that is proof that we are not in decline. We have America’s finest willing to sacrifice for their Country. They’re willing to sacrifice all, for all of us. Here we have, in America, gifted, private sector entrepreneurs who create wealth and they provide jobs and we attract the best and the brightest minds in the world wanting to come to America. Do you notice not a lotta (sic) people wanting to leave America, they're wanting to come to America? Because, they, we, believe in an (sic) American Exceptionalism and we believe in the pioneering spirit that can be found in places like, Colorado.
No America is not in decline, because America believes in itself, and in leaders, who believe in America and believe in the providential hand that can guide us. We need leaders who embody the same standards in which our men and women in uniform hold themselves. Remember, the true soldier fights because he loves what is behind him. Behind him here, is tradition, it’s patriotism, it’s NOT A NEED FOR A FUNDAMENTAL TRANSFORMATION OF AMERICA, its for a renewal of the good about America. It’s a renewal of what CCU stands for. Our fighting men and women love American values. Remember that they, they love their families; they love this providential land which God has shed his grace upon. They love their fellow American. They fought for us, they protected us, they’ve given us the justice that America deserves. They know that freedom isn’t free, it’s a God given right, it’s worth fighting for, they have made us proud now let’s make them proud. THANK YOU for loving the United States of America, for supporting TAPS, for assisting the survivors, may you be blessed in the mission Colorado and thank you for being part of the solution. God bless you Colorado, thank you, and God bless America. Thank you.
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Commentary by Kathleen
First let me thank Dr Patois for taking the time to transcribe Sarah's speech which she gave in Denver, Colorado on Monday. The purpose of Sarah's speech was to honour veterans and serving military members both in the USA and abroad. She also took the opportunity to make clear the conditions that she believes the USA should employ "when it comes to the use of our military force." What does she say?
1. First, we should only commit our forces when clear and vital American interests are at stake period.
Palin states if and only if there is a clear and vital interest for America will military forces be committed. The use of the word "period" implies that this is final and she has the authoritive voice on the matter. However, Palin does not say what those actual American interests are so whilst it seems that her statement is very definitive American interests may actually be applied with a broad interpretation.
2. Second, if we have to fight, we fight, to win. To do that we use overwhelming force. We only send our troops into war with the objective to defeat the enemy as quickly as possible we do not send our military and stretch out the mission with an open ended and ill-defined mission. Nation building is a nice idea in theory but it’s not the main purpose of our Armed Forces. We use our military to win wars.
The USA used overwhelming force in Vietnam and completely underestimated the determination of the North Vietnamese and the Vietcong whilst at the same time overestimating its own capabilities. In 1961 American force numbers were tripled and then tripled again in 1962. Overwhelming force does not equal instant success however overwhelming force can exact a huge toll in human fatalities, both civilian and military. Palin claims that nation building is a "nice idea in theory" giving the impression that she is against such uses of the Armed Forces however Palin has also spent much time goading President Obama about nation building in Iran.
3. And Third, we must have clearly defined goals and objectives before sending troops into harms way. If you can’t explain the mission the American people, clearly, concisely, then our sons and daughters should not be sent into battle. Period.
Again with the use of the word "period." Another attempt at authority with a sprinkling of platitudes. Palin thinks in a very simplistic manner -- everything is black and white and there are no shades of grey in her reasoning. Having goals and objectives is a good thing but plans are there to be thwarted. History is littered with so called "missions" that did not go to plan and Generals who were too optimistic in their expectations of specific outcomes. And many operations have been tainted from the outset because of inaccurate and biased information (weapons of mass destruction for example) which was believed to be accurate at the time.
4. Fourth, American soldiers must never be put under foreign commands. We will fight side by side with our allies but American soldiers must remain under the care and the command the American officers.
US military forces have often been under foreign command. At least seventeen times, stretching back more than a century according to PolitiFact. At times American forces have been in command of foreign forces. Sorry Sarah but there is no there there.
5. And Fifth, sending our Armed Forces should be the last resort. We don’t go looking for dragons to slay. However, we will encourage, the forces of freedom, around the world, who are sincerely fighting for the empowerment of the individual. When it makes sense, when it’s appropriate we’ll provide them with support and help them, WIN, their own freedom.
At last, I agree with something that Palin has to say. Sending in Armed Forces into any conflict should be a last resort. It's a hap hap happy day! And then she has to spoil it all by misrepresenting herself yet again. "We don't go looking for dragons to slay." Let's step back in time. In early February 2010 Palin said on Fox news:
“Say he decided to declare war on Iran or decide to really come out and do whatever he could to support Israel–which I would like him to do. That changes the dynamics of what we can assume will happen between now and three years. Because I think if the election were today, Obama would not be elected.”
I think that we might all agree that Iran is a pretty big dragon and encouraging the President of the United States to chase it in order to boost his popularity certainly gives us an inside of what is going on in Palin's head. It is clear that she would like to help Israel WIN against Iran never mind the consequences. Palin would definitely, cynically play the war card if she were in his position and she makes that abundantly clear in the following clip:
So there you have it. Palin's true Doctrine on the use of military forces. For all her fine talk of "defined goals and objectives" and "sending Armed Forces as a last resort" Palin believes that launching a war, specifically one on Iran, would make a President popular. Sarah Palin is a warmonger. I'm convinced that if she ever got the chance that she would be more than happy to send American military forces into Iran on any old pretext in order to boost her popularity whilst at the same time furthering her agenda to destabilise the middle east and hasten on the Rapture that she is so sure is coming. God save us all!
