Jim Garamone at the DoD News
offers the below piece:
WASHINGTON, Jan. 30, 2018 — The
United States faces myriad dangers from rogue regimes and global competitors,
and the nation must have a strong defense to discourage these rivals and forge
a world of peace, President Donald J. Trump said in his State of the Union
address tonight.
The president said these
regimes – including China and Russia – “challenge our interests, our economy
our values.”
A strong defense is necessary
to deter adversaries, the president told a joint session of Congress. “For this
reason, I am asking the Congress to end the dangerous defense sequester and
fully fund our great military,” Trump said.
Sequestration is a provision
of the Budget Control Act of 2011 that imposes across-the-board spending cuts
if Congress and the White House cannot agree on more targeted options.
The president stressed that
the United States must modernize and rebuild the nation’s nuclear triad to make
it so powerful that it will deter any thought of aggression by any country.
“Perhaps someday in the there will be a magical moment when the countries of
the world will get together to eliminate their nuclear weapons,” he said.
“Unfortunately, we are not there yet, sadly.”
Campaign to Defeat ISIS
Trump also discussed the
campaign against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria.
“Last year, I also
pledged that we would work with our allies to extinguish ISIS from the face of
the Earth,” he said. “One year later, I am proud to report that the coalition
to defeat ISIS has liberated very close to 100 percent of the territory once
held by these killers in Iraq and Syria and in other locations as well. But
there is much more work to be done. We will continue our fight until ISIS is
defeated.”
The president singled out
Army Staff Sgt. Justin Peck, who fought against ISIS in Raqqa, Syria. Peck was
part of a team clearing a hospital of improvised explosive devices when one
exploded, seriously wounding Navy Chief Petty Officer Kenton Stacy. Peck
“bounded into the booby-trapped building and found Kenton in bad shape,” the
president said. “He applied pressure to the wound and inserted a tube to reopen
an airway. He then performed CPR for 20 straight minutes during the ground
transport and maintained artificial respiration through two and a half hours of
emergency surgery.
“Kenton Stacy would have died
if not for Justin's selfless love for his fellow warrior,” Trump continued.
“Tonight, Kenton is recovering in Texas. Raqqa is liberated. And Justin is
wearing his new Bronze Star, with a "V" for valor. Staff Sergeant
Peck: All of America salutes you.”
ISIS placed the bombs in the
hospital to kill and maim, and the president called them plain evil. “When
possible, we have no choice but to annihilate them,” he said. “When necessary,
we must be able to detain and question them.”
Re-Examination of Terrorist
Detention Policy
Terrorists are not merely
criminals, the president said, but unlawful enemy combatants. “And when
captured overseas, they should be treated like the terrorists they are,” he
said. “In the past, we have foolishly released hundreds and hundreds of
dangerous terrorists, only to meet them again on the battlefield, including the
ISIS leader, [Abu Bakr] al-Baghdadi -- who we captured, who we had, who we
released.”
Trump said he had just signed
an order directing Defense Secretary James N. Mattis to re-examine the military
detention policy and to keep open the detention facilities in Guantánamo Bay,
Cuba. “I am asking the Congress to ensure that, in the fight against ISIS and
al-Qaida, we continue to have all necessary power to detain terrorists -- wherever
we chase them down, wherever we find them,” he said. “And in many cases, it
will now be Guantanamo Bay.”
The president also touted the
fact that forces in Afghanistan have new rules of engagement and will work even
more closely with Afghan forces. “Our military is no longer undermined by
artificial timelines, and we no longer tell our enemies our plans,” he said.
The president also called on
Congress to address “the fundamental flaws” in the Iran nuclear deal.
“But no regime has oppressed
its own citizens more totally or brutally than the cruel dictatorship in North
Korea,” he said. “North Korea's reckless pursuit of nuclear missiles could very
soon threaten our homeland. We are waging a campaign of maximum pressure to
prevent that from ever happening.”
Bravo Zulu! Sequester entitlement programs rather than DOD.
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