Office of the Vice President

Statement by The Vice President on Iraq

James S. Brady Press Briefing Room

1:37 P.M. EDT

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Good afternoon, folks.  I want to give you a brief update on an extremely important development in Iraq.  Early this morning on -- early in the morning October 18th (sic April 18th), Iraqi security forces with the support of U.S. forces killed the two most senior leaders of al Qaeda Iraq during a series of joint security operations near Tikrit, Abu Ayyub al-Masri and Abu Umar al-Baghdadi.  The former leaders of AQI are the ones who plotted, planned, and executed terrorist attacks against the Iraqis in recent past, as well as against Americans.

Their deaths are potentially devastating blows to al Qaeda Iraq.  But equally important, in my view, is this action demonstrates the improved security strength and capacity of Iraqi security forces.  The Iraqis led this operation, and it was based on intelligence the Iraqi security forces themselves developed following their capture of a senior AQI leader last month.

In short, the Iraqis have taken the lead in securing Iraq and its citizens by taking out both of these individuals.  This counterterrorism operation is the culmination of a lot of cooperation and very hard work by Iraqi and U.S. forces to degrade AQI over the past several months and years.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the family of the U.S. soldier who was killed while supporting this assault.  I apologize.  I hate to mention the death of an individual American without mentioning their name because I don’t want it to sound like it’s just a line.  But the family has not been informed yet, and that’s the only reason I’m not releasing the name of this young hero.

We also commend all the troops and civilians serving in Iraq who continue to put themselves in harm’s way in service of our country, and in the service of a secure and peaceful Iraq.

To consolidate these security gains and honor the sacrifice that so many have made is now incumbent upon Iraqis’ political leaders to take the next and important necessary step to form an inclusive and representative government that meets the needs and aspirations of the Iraqi people.

We remain committed to end our combat mission in Iraq this summer, by the end of August 2010, and in accordance with the U.S.-Iraqi security agreement that was signed a couple of years ago to remove all U.S. forces from Iraq by the end of 2011.

As we complete this security transition, we will continue to work to build a lasting partnership with the Iraqi people and their government based on the many shared interests we have that go beyond the military cooperation we’ve had of late, including the economy, education, cultural exchanges, and the development of a strong economy for Iraq.

For today, I want to mark this important milestone as the Iraqi people stand up to those who would deny them peace, freedom, as well as security.  There will be more difficult days ahead, but this operation is evidence, in my view, that the future of Iraq will not be shaped by those who seek to destroy that country, but belong to those who are building a strong and unified Iraq as I’m confident the Iraqis will do.

Thank you very much.

END
1:40 P.M. EDT

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Statement by the Vice President on the Passing of Dr. Benjamin Hooks

Jill and I are deeply saddened by the loss of a true civil rights hero, Benjamin Hooks. As head of the NAACP from 1977-1992, and throughout a distinguished legal career, his voice stood out among a generation of African-American men and women seeking together to eliminate racism and create a fairer, more just America for our nation’s children than the one Benjamin inherited as a child in Memphis, Tennessee. He was an ordained minister and he used the power of faith to inspire others to believe in the importance of civil rights—not just for the sake of black men and women, but for America as a whole. Benjamin once said that, “You can read the history of a country through its actions.” Benjamin’s actions helped write a better history. Those who follow his lead will help build a better future.  

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Essay by Dr. Jill Biden in The Chronicle of Higher Education

The following essay penned by Dr. Jill Biden will be featured in the April 23 issue of The Chronicle of Higher Education, and can be found online HERE.

Community Colleges: Our Work Has Just Begun
Jill Biden

I have been a teacher for almost three decades and a community-college instructor for the past 16 years. Last spring, President Obama asked me to increase awareness about one of the best-kept secrets of higher education: the very sizable and valuable contribution of community colleges. Since then I have been visiting colleges around the country and reporting back to the president about their challenges, innovations, and ideas. This issue is a priority for the Obama-Biden administration. We are committed to making community colleges better and more accessible to students across this nation.

The passage of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 was a substantial victory for community colleges. The final legislation does not contain everything our administration had proposed, but it does include one of the most significant new federal investments in higher education, and in community colleges, since the GI Bill was introduced, over 60 years ago.

Pell Grants had been threatened with a 60-percent funding decrease, but we stabilized the Pell program and ensured that such grants would increase with inflation. The Pell Grant victory will put money in the pockets of millions of full- and part-time community-college students, helping them pay for tuition, books, supplies, and living expenses. This increase in financial aid is coupled with the recently expanded Opportunity Tax Credit, which provides students a tax credit of up to $2,500 per year for up to four years to offset higher-education expenses, including a partial credit for those who owe no taxes. It also sets up income-based repayment of student loans, capping loan repayments at rates based on income and family size. As a lifelong teacher, I am particularly pleased that income-based repayment helps those who choose public-service careers. Graduates who work as teachers, nurses, or in other public-service professions—and those who serve in the military—can have their loans forgiven after 10 years.

The reconciliation bill also sets aside $2-billion ($500-million per year over four years) to develop and improve educational and training programs at community colleges. Throughout the nation, community colleges will receive funds to help them serve students more effectively, and to help form partnerships with regional industry clusters so that graduates will be prepared to excel in the local work force.

This administration's commitment to community colleges is a long-term one. The president has asked me to convene a national summit on community colleges in the fall. We will bring college presidents, instructors, and advocates together with business leaders and other stakeholders to share best practices and successful models for helping students gain the knowledge, training, certificates, and degrees needed to succeed. This will be a working summit, a setting where we can shine a spotlight on community colleges, highlight their utility to families and communities across the nation, nurture more collaboration, and generate additional policy ideas and goals for student success. As a community-college instructor, I am thrilled to be leading this summit and truly pleased to have the support of the administration.

Over the past 16 years, I have seen firsthand the power of community colleges to change lives. And that is, in large part, why I never really considered the possibility of not teaching at a community college after we moved to Washington last year. Since then I have been privileged to teach students from more than 22 countries.

As an English teacher, I frequently use journals and exercises in our school's learning lab as a tool for my students to develop their writing and composition skills. One exercise that is always productive is to encourage my students to write about their core beliefs as inspired by National Public Radio's This I Believe program. In these sessions, students listen to radio segments as examples—and then I encourage them to write about their own core beliefs. I am constantly moved and humbled by the experiences my students share in this exercise and in their journals about their dreams, challenges, and values.

Each one of them has a story to tell—stories about dedication and sacrifice.

Every day, I see my students work hard to overcome obstacles just to be in the classroom. Many of them work full time, have aging parents in need of care and attention, or are parents themselves. Often they contend with difficult economic realities. They are eager to learn, and many of them are the first members of their families to attend college. They persevere because they understand that getting an education will change their lives for the better. It will improve their job prospects and enrich their understanding of the world around them.

Community colleges can also serve as a gateway from a high-school diploma to a baccalaureate degree. They offer an affordable option for middle-class high-school students who want to attend a four-year college but cannot afford the tuition. The numbers tell the story: The average cost of tuition at a private four-year university is over $26,000 for the current academic year. At public four-year universities, the average is $7,000. Community-college tuition averages $2,500, presenting a far more affordable way to complete the first two years of a college education, especially when the credits earned on a community-college campus can often be transferred directly into four-year programs. It is not a coincidence that community colleges educate over 40 percent of all postsecondary students nationally.

For laid-off workers, community colleges offer job-certification programs that teach new skills and professions. Most people would be surprised to look at the catalog of an average community college today—they would find course work in a range of emerging health-care industries, training in cutting-edge technologies, offerings in architecture and green-building techniques, and classes in highly marketable job fields. For an immigrant or first-generation American, community college is often the place to begin a postsecondary education.

All of us have the opportunity to match the dedication of community-college students with a renewed commitment to ensuring their success. By working together, we can maximize the return on the new federal investment in students through Pell Grants, and in community colleges themselves, by modernizing the way classes are offered, ensuring easy transfer to four-year schools, and supporting other strategies for student success.

We know that education is the key to unlocking human potential. And we know that today, on community-college campuses across this country, millions of students are eager to build a more secure future for themselves, their families, and our country. We cannot—and we will not—let them down. As a member of the education community, I ask for your continued partnership in the months and years ahead as we continue to build support for community colleges and work to improve their offerings and outcomes. This is the moment for community colleges. Our work has just begun.

Jill Biden, a lifelong educator with a doctorate in education from the University of Delaware, teaches English at Northern Virginia Community College.

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Readout of The Vice President’s Meeting with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili

Earlier today, the Vice President met with Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili at the White House.  The Vice President thanked President Saakashvili for Georgia's substantial contribution to the international effort in Afghanistan, with its battalion serving alongside United States’ troops in Afghanistan's Helmand Province.  The Vice President reiterated the United States' support for Georgia's sovereignty and territorial integrity.  The Vice President encouraged President Saakashvili's efforts to strengthen Georgia through democratic and economic reforms designed to ensure stability and prosperity.  They discussed the deep and abiding friendship between the people of the United States and Georgia based on the shared values of democracy, freedom and respect for human rights.

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Text of The Vice President’s Condolence Note to the People of Poland

Earlier today, the Vice President visited the Polish Embassy in Washington, DC, to sign the condolence book for President Lech Kaczynski, First Lady Maria Kaczynska and all those who lost their lives in the tragic plane crash last Saturday in Russia.

Below is the text of the Vice President’s condolence note:

"It is with a heavy heart that I write these words. I had the honor and privilege of knowing President Kaczynski - recently having been with him in Poland as we worked out the new missile defense agreement.
His loss and the loss of Mrs. Kaczynski along with so many dedicated servants of the Polish people is almost too much to ask the Polish people to endure - but endure you will as you always have.
Please know that I am an admirer of all that is Polish - and that you can count on my country and all Americans to continue to stand with you.
With deep sympathy.
Joe Biden"

To view a photograph of the Vice President signing the condolence book at the Polish Embassy, please click HERE.

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Readout of Vice President Biden’s Meeting with Nuclear Industry Leaders

Today, the Vice President hosted a group of leaders from the American and international nuclear industry to encourage them to adopt and promote higher nuclear security standards.  One day after the President hosted the historic Nuclear Security Summit, over 20 industry leaders from the United States, Argentina, China, France, Japan, South Africa, Russia, South Korea met with the Vice President to discuss how industry could help advance the President's goal of securing all vulnerable nuclear materials in four years.

"We have a chance to build a public-private partnership to ensure Americans and citizens all over the world are safe from a very real nuclear danger," the Vice President said.  "We have said from the beginning that the big problems we face cannot be solved by the United States alone.  Equally, they cannot be solved by governments alone.  We all have to work together." 

The Vice President made clear that since roughly half of the world’s nuclear materials are in the hands of industry, public-private cooperation is essential to preventing the spread of nuclear materials to terrorists. The Vice President also challenged the nuclear industry to prepare a set of best practices to be delivered at the Nuclear Security Summit in South Korea in 2012.

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Vice President Biden Hosts Conference Call with Governors to Discuss Recovery Act Implementation

Earlier today, the Vice President hosted a conference call with Governors from across the country to discuss implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The following elected officials participated:

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Vice President Biden Hosts Conference Call with Governors to Discuss Recovery Act Implementation

Earlier today, the Vice President hosted a conference call with Governors from across the country to discuss implementation of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

The following elected officials participated:

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Readout of Lunch Meeting Hosted by The Vice President with Foreign Leaders and Dignitaries

Vice President Biden hosted leaders and officials from 11 nations today in advance of the Nuclear Security Summit.  Those attending included heads of government and other representatives from nations in Africa, Asia and Latin America that are members of the Non-Aligned Movement.  The purpose was to exchange views on nuclear security and proliferation issues and the urgency of addressing global risks of nuclear terrorism.

The Vice President underlined the interest shared by all nations in ensuring the security of nuclear materials that can be used in nuclear weapons and in shoring up international non-proliferation rules.  Those rules are centered in the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), an agreement that sets requirements for preventing the spread of nuclear weapons to additional states and encourages progress towards disarmament and the safe and secure peaceful use of nuclear energy.

Participants emphasized the close relationship between nuclear security and the development of nuclear energy.  The Vice President noted that peaceful nuclear uses can flourish in a world in which nuclear risks are steadily reduced and non-proliferation rules are respected and enforced.  With the number of nations with nuclear energy programs expected to double by mid-century, and with much of that growth in the developing world, it will be essential that nuclear security be applied globally in line with the highest international standards. The Vice President affirmed that any state in good standing on its non-proliferation obligations that is interested in pursuing nuclear energy and needs assistance would find a ready partner in the United States.

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Remarks by The Vice President before a Lunch Meeting with Foreign Leaders and Dignitaries

Naval Observatory
Washington, D.C.

THE VICE PRESIDENT:  Before we begin, I would like to ask for a moment of silence for the passing of our colleague, Polish President Lech Kaczynski, who with other members of the Polish government perished this week.  Thank you.

Once again, I welcome all of you to Washington and welcome you to our home.  This week, in my view and the President’s view, represents a historic gathering of leaders working toward a historic task of creating a better and a safer world for all our peoples.

The President and I are honored that you’ve all agreed to be here this week.  We value deeply the ability to bring so many important voices together, so many diverse opinions, in search of a common goal.

The goals of the non-aligned movement and my country on the important issues of nuclear security, non-proliferation, as well as other issues have never been closer than they are today, in our view.  Our nuclear posture review that we’ve just completed has made it clear that the United States is committed to reducing the number of nuclear weapons in our arsenal and reducing their role in our defense.

Along with the START treaty signed with Russia last week, we’ve made clear that the reductions that are going to take place between our countries are going to be real, transparent, and legally binding.

And the President of the United States has committed our country to seek peace and security of a world without nuclear weapons.  We believe that is ultimately an achievable goal, and that is our goal.

We know that some of the countries here and elsewhere believe that we have not been moving fast enough or that we can do more.  Well, there is room to disagree on the exact approach of reducing nuclear weapons, but make no mistake about it this administration is intent on reducing and continuing to reduce our nuclear weapons.

The one thing we can all agree on, I hope, is that adding more nuclear weapons or more nuclear-weapon states is the exact wrong approach at this moment in the world’s history, one that endangers the entire community of nations were we allow it to happen.

We can also agree, I hope, that controlling all nuclear materials that can produce a bomb is in the interest of every one of us gathered around this table and everyone in the world.  As world leaders, we all know that there are extremist groups and non-state actors seeking that capability right now, seeking to gain access to nuclear materials to make a nuclear bomb.

There are hundreds of tons of nuclear material scattered over 40 countries, including the United States of America and many in the countries here.  And just 50 pounds of high purity uranium smaller than a soccer ball could destroy the downtown of all our capital cities and kill tens if not hundreds of thousands of individuals.  So it’s very much in our interest to gain control.

This is the horrific threat that we all face together, and one that we are determined we will defeat together.  This week is testament to the common ground we all share.  But just as we all agree on the need to prevent a nuclear disaster, we also agree on the benefits of nuclear technology and peaceful nuclear power, what it can do to bring the world -- if properly managed and protected -- to a better place.

The United States of America stands fully committed to supporting the promotion of peaceful benefits of nuclear power, in the context though -- in the context of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty.  But, again, here we can all agree that those who have developed nuclear technology should do so -- are going to develop a peaceful nuclear technology must do so wisely, with a proper attention to security, good governance, and as safely as it can possibly be done.

As countries seeking to develop your nuclear sectors, we stand ready to support you, to share our experience with you.

And we recognize that it is not a problem for governments alone to control this fissile material, it requires good regulations and public-private partnerships to get it right.

More than half the world’s dangerous nuclear materials are owned not by governments but by industry.  And we will work with them, as we will work with you, to address our common concerns.

Later this week, I’ll be hosting a roundtable for companies from the world’s leading nuclear industries to see how we can further enhance a partnership and guarantee their safety and security.

So, again, let me thank each and every one of you for coming today this afternoon to our home.  And I ask that this week we help each other seize this historic opportunity that is in front of us to make the world we share together a safer and a more harmonious place.

I thank you all for coming, and I thank the press for being here.  And now we’ll have some lunch, and have a discussion.  Thank you.

END

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