Cheney Details Counter-terrorism Passion at CPAC

If any of you did not get a chance to hear or read Vice President Dick Cheney's speech to the Conservative Political Action Conference, you simply HAVE TO go read his words here posted at FamilySecurityMatters!

What a speech from a man who has never let up on the jihadists. This man is the worst enemy Osama bin Laden and Mullah Omar ever had and probably ever will have.

And patriotic? Here's an excerpt from Cheney's speech:

My good friend, George Shultz, often told this story from his years as Secretary of State under Ronald Reagan. Every time a new American ambassador was confirmed for his position, the Secretary would invite him or her to the State Department for a farewell visit. During these meetings, George would tell the ambassadors that there was one more test they had to take. "Before you can leave," he said, "I want you to go over to that globe and show me that you can identify your country." (Laughter.) Every time, the ambassador would turn the globe and point out where he was going off to serve.
One day, George had a visit from Mike Mansfield, former senator from Montana. Mike had been serving for several years as our ambassador to Japan, and was on his way back to Tokyo. George Shultz told him about the test and said, "Mr. Ambassador, it's your turn. Show me your country." Mike Mansfield went over to the globe and put his hand on the United States and said, "This is my country." (Applause.)

Do yourself and go read the entire speech - Cheney tells Americans what is REALLY important.

Vice President's Remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference

Not long ago, President Bush said that he "knew full well that if we were successful in protecting the country, that those lessons of September 11th would become dimmer and dimmer in some people's minds." Then he said, quote, "I just don't have that luxury, nor do the people that work with me to protect America, because we have not forgotten the lessons of September 11th."
One great lesson of 9/11 was that we had to stop treating terrorist attacks merely as law enforcement problems -- where you find out what happened, arrest the bad guys, put them in jail, and move on. The world changed with a coordinated attack, which ended the lives of 3,000 innocent people and turned 16 acres of New York City into ashes. As the President has made clear many times, we are dealing with a strategic threat to the United States. We are at war with an enemy who wants to cause mass death in this country. And we must act systematically and decisively until this enemy is destroyed. (Applause.)

The war on terror is, after all, more than a contest of arms and more than a test of will. It's also a battle of ideas. To prevail in the long run, we have to remove the conditions that inspire such blind, prideful hatred that drove 19 men to get into airplanes and come kill us. And so the President made the decision: We wouldn't just remove the Taliban and Saddam Hussein and let other dictators rise in their place. Instead, we're standing with the Iraqi and Afghan peoples -- as America did with other young democracies in earlier times -- to help them chart their own destiny. The free and democratic nations of Afghanistan and Iraq will be strategic partners, helping us to fight and to win the war on terror. (Applause.)