And it must be said, because of misguided priorities, there have been massive cuts in funding for our national security. I believe President Clinton has failed to adequately provide for our defense, and for whatever reason this neglect it is irresponsible.
I ask that you consider these crystal-clear differences: he believes that it is acceptable to ask our military forces to do more with less; I do not. He defends giving a green light to a terrorist state, Iran, to expand its influence in Europe, and he relies on the United Nations to punish Libyan terrorists who murdered American citizens; I will not. He believes that defending our people and our territory from missile attack is unnecessary; I do not. And on my first day in office, I will put America on a course that will end our vulnerability to missile attack and rebuild our armed forces.
It is a course President Clinton has refused to take, and on my first day in office, I will put terrorists on notice: If you harm one American, you harm all Americans. And America will pursue you to the ends of the earth. In short, don't mess with us if you're not prepared to suffer the consequences.
Thank you.
And furthermore, the lesson has always been clear: If we are prepared to defend -- if we are prepared to fight many wars and greater wars and any wars that come, we will have to fight fewer wars and lesser wars and perhaps no wars at all. It has always been so, and will ever be so.
And I'm not the first to say that the long, gray line has never failed us. And it never has. For those who might be sharply taken aback in thinking of Vietnam, think again. For in Vietnam the long, gray line did not fail us; we failed it in Vietnam.
The American soldier was not made for the casual and arrogant treatment that he suffered there, where he was committed without clear purpose, resolve, bound by rules that prevented victory, and kept waiting in the valley of the shadow of death for 10 years while the nation debated the undebatable question of his honor.
Now, the American soldier was not made to be thrown into battle without clear purpose or resolve, not made to be abandoned in the field of battle, not made to give his life for indifference or lack of respect. And I will never commit the American soldier to an ordeal without the prospect of victory.
And when I am President every man and every woman in our armed forces will know the President is Commander-in-Chief, not Boutros Boutros Ghali or any other UN Secretary General.
This I owe not only to the living but to the dead, to every patriot, to every patriot's grave, to the ghosts of Valley Forge, of Flanders Field, of Bataan, of Chosun Reservior, Kasan, and the Gulf. This I owe to men who died on the streets in Mogadishu not three years ago, to the shadows of the bluffs of Normandy, to the foot soldier who never came home, to the airman who fell to earth, and to the sailors who rest perpetually at sea. This is not an issue of politics but far greater than that, like a bond of trust between a parent and a child. It is the lifeblood of the nation. It commands not only sacrifice, but a grace in leadership embodying both caution and daring at the same time.
And this we owe not only to ourselves. Our allies demand consistency and resolve, which they deserve from us as we deserve it from them. But even if they falter, we cannot, for history has made us the leader and we are obliged by history to keep the highest standards possibly.
And in this regard may I remind you of the nation's debt to Presidents Nixon, Ford, Reagan and Bush. President Nixon engaged China and the Soviet Union with diplomatic genius. President Ford, who gave me my start in 1976, stood fast in a time of great difficulty and with the greatest of dignity. Were it not for President Reagan the Soviet Union would still be standing today.
He brought the Cold War to an end, not as some demanded, through compromise and surrender, but by winning it! That's how he brought the Cold War to an end.
And President Bush with a majesty that words fail to convey, guided the Gulf War coalition and its military forces to victory. A war that might have lasted years and taken the lives of tens of thousands of Americans passed so swiftly and passed so smoothly, that history has yet to catch its breath and give him the credit he is due. (Applause.) History is like that. Whenever we forget its singular presence, it gives us a lesson in grace and awe.
We are the party whose resolve did not flag as the Cold War dragged on. We did not tremble before a Soviet giant that was just about to fall. And we did not have to be begged to take up arms against Saddam Hussein.