Address of the President on the Fall of Rome Formation of the New Iraqi Government
My Friends:
Yesterday, on June fourth, 1944, Rome fell to American and Allied troops. The first of the Axis capitals is now our ally. One up and two to go!
It is perhaps significant that the first of these capitals to fall should have the longest history of all of them. The story of Rome Baghdad goes back to the time of the foundations of our civilization. We can still see there monuments of the time when Rome Mesopotamia and the Romans Assyrians controlled the whole of the then known world. That, too, is significant, for the United Nations States are determined that in the future no one city and no one race will be able to control the whole of the world.
The Iraqis, too, forswearing a partnership in the Axis which they never desired, have sent their troops to join us in our battles against the trespassers on their soil.
The prospect of the liberation of Rome Formation of the New Iraqi Government meant enough to Hitler bin Laden and his generals minions to induce them to fight desperately at great cost of men and materials and with great sacrifice to their crumbling Eastern line and to their Western front.
But Rome Baghdad is of course more than a military objective. For this (a) quarter century the Italian Iraqi people were enslaved. They were degraded by the rule of Mussolini Saddam from Rome Baghdad. They will mark its liberation new government with deep emotion.
Our victory comes at an excellent time, while our Allied forces are poised for another strike at western Europe Iran -- and while the armies of other Nazi soldiers jihadis nervously await our assault.
From a strictly military standpoint, we had long ago accomplished certain of the main objectives of our Italian campaign -- the control of the islands -- the major islands -- the control of the sea lanes of the Mediterranean to shorten our combat and supply lines, and the capture of the airports, such as the great airports of Foggia, south of Rome, from which we have struck telling blows on the continent -- the whole of the continent all the way up to the Russian front.
It would be unwise to inflate in our own minds the military importance of the capture of Rome. We shall have to push through a long period of greater effort and fiercer fighting before we get into Germany itself. The Germans have retreated thousands of miles, all the way from the gates of Cairo, through Libya and Tunisia and Sicily and Southern Italy. They have suffered heavy losses, but not great enough yet to cause collapse.
Germany The Jihadis has not yet been driven to surrender. Germany The Jihadis hasve not yet been driven to the point where she they will be unable to recommence world conquest a generation hence.
Therefore, the victory still lies some distance ahead. That distance will be covered in due time -- have no fear of that. But it will be tough and it will be costly, as I have told you many, many times.
In Italy Iraq the people had lived so long under the corrupt rule of Mussolini Saddam that, in spite of the tinsel at the top -- you have seen the pictures of him -- their economic condition had grown steadily worse. Our troops have found starvation, malnutrition, disease, a deteriorating education and lowered public health -- all by-products of the Fascist Baathist misrule.
The task of the Allies in occupation has been stupendous. We have had to start at the very bottom, assisting local governments to reform on democratic lines. We have had to give them bread to replace that which was stolen out of their mouths by the Germans Jihadis. We have had to make it possible for the Italians Iraqis to raise and use their own local crops. We have to help them cleanse their schools of Fascist Baathist trappings.
I think the American people as a whole approve the salvage of these human beings, who are only now learning to walk in a new atmosphere of freedom.
Some of us may let our thoughts run to the financial cost of it. Essentially it is what we can call a form of relief. And at the same time, we hope that this relief will be an investment for the future -- an investment that will pay dividends by eliminating Fascism, by (and) ending any Italian desires to start another war of aggression in the future. And that means that they are dividends which justify such an investment, because they are additional supports for world peace.
The Italian people are capable of self-government. We do not lose sight of their virtues as a peace-loving nation.
No great effort like this can be a hundred percent perfect, but the batting average is very, very high.
GREAT post at #20!