WEST POINT, N.Y. – Vice President Dick Cheney yesterday urged the 978 new graduates of the U.S. Military Academy to provide leadership to troops fighting terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Noting that West Point is about 50 miles north of where terrorists struck New York City on Sept. 11, 2001, the vice president said, “Nobody can promise us we won't be hit again.”
Cheney received standing ovations before and after he spoke to a crowd of about 20,000. To the emerging Army second lieutenants, he appealed for them to defend freedom against those who would destroy it and carry forward the academy's values of duty, honor and country.
The terrorism fight now centers on Iraq because that is where the enemy has massed, the vice president said. “The security of this nation depends on the outcome,” Cheney said.
He promised that the Army would have all the manpower, equipment and support it needs, and referred to President Bush's signature Friday on a spending bill for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Frank Brown, a graduating cadet from Vienna, Va., said he was “ready to get out there and start leading troops.” He said Cheney's speech “was pretty positive. He didn't get too political.”
Protesters who argued that they should be allowed on academy grounds to present opposition to Cheney's pro-war views were denied access by federal judges Friday.
About 300 people rallied in the village of Highland Falls outside a gate to the post and marched to a park where speakers held signs calling for the impeachments of Cheney and Bush and the return of troops from Iraq.
More than 50 counter-protesters showed up, many with U.S. flags and signs urging support for U.S. troops.
