Fighting pirates off the Horn of Africa, saving lives after natural disasters and stopping terrorists from entering American ports are all missions expected of the U.S. Coast Guard, President Barack Obama told graduating cadets Wednesday.
And in a nod to the recent killing of Osama bin Laden, the president said they would soon join a military and intelligence community that made sure "the terrorist leader who attacked us on 9/11 will never threaten America again." But Obama never mentioned bin Laden by name, nor did he delve into al-Qaeda or the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Instead, the president focused on global alliances and American ideals in his address to the 228 young men and women seated in their dress whites in the U.S. Coast Guard Academy's Leamy Hall.
Even in difficult times — of war and economic plight — "we remember our moral compass," Obama said. "That we are citizens with obligations to each other... That we rise and fall as one."
Obama's 20-minute speech, while low on war rhetoric, was the third wartime address by an American commander-in-chief to graduating Coast Guard cadets in the past decade.
The commencement marked a full circle for the newly commissioned ensigns, 14 of whom are Connecticut natives. They included David Nielsen, 21, of Middletown, who was a middle-schooler when terrorists attacked the country on Sept. 11, 2001, and has lived through dual wars and the creation of the Department of Homeland Security, which the graduates have now joined.
Read more at source
0 comments:
Post a Comment