Speeches, Remarks & Statements in 2008

Ambassador Reeker Thanks the Macedonian Army Troops that Served in the Operation Iraqi Freedom

December 19, 2008

To view a video clip from this event (WMV/size 12.6MB), please click here.

Remarks by Ambassador Philip T. Reeker,

Ambassador Reeker addresses the Macedonian Army troops (LP) - (WMV, size 12.6MB)

President Crvenkovski, Prime Minister Gruevski, Speaker Veljanoski, Minister Konjanovski, General Stojanovski, Distinguished Soldiers and family members,
I want to thank you for allowing me to join you today and for giving me the opportunity to personally thank you for successfully completing your mission as a part of our joint efforts in Iraq.

As the personal representative of the President of the United States to the Republic of Macedonia, I also had the honor of passing a letter of thanks from President Bush to President Crvenkovski. Today, I have the honor to read another letter:

Dear Honorable Mr. Konjanovski,

I wish to take this opportunity to thank you, your government, and the people of Macedonia for the contributions and sacrifices you have made to secure the future of the citizens of Iraq. The security assistance training you have provided to the Iraqi Security Forces in Baghdad, as well as your staff officers’ assistance at the Multi-National Force-Iraq, have contributed immensely to progress in Iraq.

I would also like to thank you for considering further support of OPERATION Enduring Freedom and the International Security Assistance Force mission in Afghanistan. Currently, we are analyzing the requirements in Afghanistan to determine how your forces would be best employed in this critical endeavor. We plan to engage your government concerning this matter within the next two weeks and look forward to continuing our partnership as we seek to bring greater security to the Afghan people.

Your nation’s leadership and support of the War on Terror have brought great credit to Macedonia. The US Central Command is grateful for the many contributions of your nation.

With best warm regards,

David H. Petraeus
General, United States Army
Commanding

                            
Dear friends, your return to Macedonia is a testament to your success as the Iraqi government now believes it is strong enough to handle more responsibilities with its own personnel.

As many of you know, I worked in our Embassy in Bagdad, with Ambassador Crocker and General Petraeus, prior to taking my position here and had the honor to meet some of you in Taji while we shared time devoted to this important mission.

I personally heard from US soldiers serving there about how much they appreciated your service and the great respect they had for your professionalism and dedication to excellence.

Though I know you took this mission with a military objective, you were also serving as envoys of Macedonia -- and you projected an excellent image of this country and its people.

The quality of your service was recognized with official commendations including four bronze stars and over 100 other individual medals.  I know that your colleagues serving in Afghanistan and Bosnia have similarly distinguished themselves through their excellent service.

No one who has served in any of these important missions has any doubt that the Macedonian military is strong, smart, and ready for any mission.

To the family members that are here, I want to thank you for supporting your soldiers while they served.  Deployments put a great strain on even the strongest families and your commitment to your soldiers helped them do their best work in Iraq.

In closing, I would ask that you share my thanks with any soldiers who were not able to join us today.  The United States recognizes that we have an exceptionally close friend and ally in the Republic of Macedonia.  I know that our excellent relationship will continue as we welcome the new President Barack Obama and work to achieve our joint objectives.

Have a good weekend. Thank you.