US Vice President Joe Biden said on Saturday that the US could now focus on new global challenges after a decade of war in an -election year commencement address to jubilant graduates of the US Military Academy at West Point.
“Winding down these long wars has enabled us to replace and rebalance our foreign policy,” Biden told the Army cadets and their families at the storied academy’s football stadium.
Biden’s speech echoed some of the themes of military success struck by US President Barack Obama in his commencement address at the US Air Force Academy on Wednesday.
Photo: Reuters
Biden, like Obama, said US combat troops had returned home from Iraq, the conflict in Afghanistan is winding down and US commandos killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in May last year.
“Those warriors sent a message to the world that if you harm America, we will follow you to the end of the earth,” Biden said.
The academy speeches by Obama and Biden counter an assertion from presumptive Republican presidential candidate and former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney that the president has led from behind in world affairs.
Biden said the US would -continue to take charge internationally and focus on Asia, particularly China, which he called “the most critical relationship to get right.”
NATO allies last week affirmed that the war in Afghanistan would end at the end of 2014. The final US troops left Iraq at the end of last year.
The morning sun beating on the stadium was punishing, but the newly commissioned second-lieutenants were ecstatic as they tossed their caps into the air. The new officers said they felt prepared to deal with the dangers of duty.
“I am ready to sacrifice for those I love. I’m ready to go. Send me” said 23-year-old Te Jay Espe of Stanwood, Washington state.
“I know this country has given me a lot and I want to give back, I’m willing to give my life, said J.C. Van’t Land, 22, of Hull, Iowa.
Biden told the 972 graduating graduates that they deserved special praise because they decided to pursue military service fully aware that they could be fighting a war after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
“Your generation, the 9/11 generation, is more than worthy of the proud legacy that you will inherit today,” Biden said.
The Philippines yesterday said its coast guard would acquire 40 fast patrol craft from France, with plans to deploy some of them in disputed areas of the South China Sea. The deal is the “largest so far single purchase” in Manila’s ongoing effort to modernize its coast guard, with deliveries set to start in four years, Philippine Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Ronnie Gil Gavan told a news conference. He declined to provide specifications for the vessels, which Manila said would cost 25.8 billion pesos (US$440 million), to be funded by development aid from the French government. He said some of the vessels would
Hundreds of thousands of Guyana citizens living at home and abroad would receive a payout of about US$478 each after the country announced it was distributing its “mind-boggling” oil wealth. The grant of 100,000 Guyanese dollars would be available to any citizen of the South American country aged 18 and older with a valid passport or identification card. Guyanese citizens who normally live abroad would be eligible, but must be in Guyana to collect the payment. The payout was originally planned as a 200,000 Guyanese dollar grant for each household in the country, but was reframed after concerns that some citizens, including
A plane bringing Israeli soccer supporters home from Amsterdam landed at Israel’s Ben Gurion airport on Friday after a night of violence that Israeli and Dutch officials condemned as “anti-Semitic.” Dutch police said 62 arrests were made in connection with the violence, which erupted after a UEFA Europa League soccer tie between Amsterdam club Ajax and Maccabi Tel Aviv. Israeli flag carrier El Al said it was sending six planes to the Netherlands to bring the fans home, after the first flight carrying evacuees landed on Friday afternoon, the Israeli Airports Authority said. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also ordered
Former US House of Representatives speaker Nancy Pelosi said if US President Joe Biden had ended his re-election bid sooner, the Democratic Party could have held a competitive nominating process to choose his replacement. “Had the president gotten out sooner, there may have been other candidates in the race,” Pelosi said in an interview on Thursday published by the New York Times the next day. “The anticipation was that, if the president were to step aside, that there would be an open primary,” she said. Pelosi said she thought the Democratic candidate, US Vice President Kamala Harris, “would have done