SECRETARY KERRY MAKES REMARKS WITH ANGOLAN VICE PRESIDENT VINCENTE

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

Remarks With Angolan Vice President Manuel Domingos Vicente Before Their Meeting

Remarks

John Kerry

Secretary of State

Treaty Room

Washington, DC

August 4, 2014

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SECRETARY KERRY: Well, good morning. Again, it’s my distinct pleasure to welcome Vice President Vicente here to Washington and to tell him how much I appreciated my welcome when I was in Angola. We had a wonderful visit with President Dos Santos, with the foreign minister, and much of his delegation who are here today.

I want to thank him and the Government of Angola for their tremendous cooperation and their leadership with respect to the Kimberley Process and the Great Lakes Process, with respect to the Democratic Republic of Congo, the M23, the FDLR, and the issue of trying to resolve that crisis once and for all. Their leadership has been very, very important.

We have also have been – and they chair, I might add, the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region, and help – and have helped significantly resolving that conflict. President Dos Santos’ stature, his seniority in the region, and his leadership have been very, very important to helping to set up the principles, which have helped to bring that crisis to a road, a path, that everybody understands could bring peace.

In addition, we have strengthened our economic relationship with Angola, and we look forward to doing so even more. And we congratulate Angola on the significant job that they have done to help to reintegrate some 500,000-plus people who were displaced as a result of their very long civil war.

So there is a great deal that is happening, and Angola is one of the countries that is evidence of the transformation that is taking place in Africa. And we are very happy to welcome the vice president here today and to have a chance to talk about these things. Thank you.

VICE PRESIDENT VICENTE: Thank you very much.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you, sir. Please.

VICE PRESIDENT VICENTE: Well, I’m – I’ll address to you in Portuguese.

SECRETARY KERRY: I think we have somebody to --

VICE PRESIDENT VICENTE: I don’t know if there is a translation here. Okay. (In Portuguese.)
SECRETARY KERRY: (In Portuguese.) Do we have our – we don’t have him here. I know he’s speaking – we were counting on his excellent English, which I know he speaks, but basically – do you want to summarize, or do you want me to just say --

VICE PRESIDENT VICENTE: You can.

SECRETARY KERRY: The quickest summary in the world is that he said he was very happy to be here in Washington with the Secretary of State, very happy to be here as part of this conference, that he looks forward to working with us and the continued stabilization of the continent of Africa. He talked about the growth and development and economic relationship. And I think that’s the quickest summary. Is that fair?

VICE PRESIDENT VICENTE: That’s good.

SECRETARY KERRY: Thank you. All right.

VICE PRESIDENT VICENTE: Thank you.

SECRETARY KERRY'S STATEMENT ON UN VOTE ON SRI LANKA RECONCILIATION

FROM:  U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT 

UN Human Rights Council Vote on Sri Lanka Reconciliation

Press Statement

John Kerry
Secretary of State

Washington, DC

March 27, 2014

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Today’s vote in the UN Human Rights Council sends a clear message: The time to pursue lasting peace and prosperity is now; justice and accountability cannot wait.

This resolution reaffirms the commitment of the international community to support the Government of Sri Lanka as it pursues reconciliation and respect for human rights and democratic governance. That’s why the resolution requests that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights continues monitoring the human rights situation in Sri Lanka. That’s why it calls on the Office to conduct an investigation into allegations of serious human rights abuses and related crimes during Sri Lanka’s civil war. And that’s why the United States will continue speak out in defense of the fundamental freedoms that all Sri Lankans should enjoy.

We are deeply concerned by recent actions against some of Sri Lanka’s citizens, including detentions and harassment of civil society activists. Further reprisals against these brave defenders of human rights and the dignity of all Sri Lankan citizens would elicit grave concern from the international community.

The Sri Lankan people are resilient. They have demonstrated grit and determination through years of war. Now, they are demanding democracy and prosperity in years of peace. They deserve that chance.

The United States stands with all the people of Sri Lanka. We are committed to helping them realize a future in which all Sri Lankans can share in their country’s success.

THE HISTORICAL FIRST BATTLE OF IRON ARMORED SHIPS

 

FROM: U.S. NAVY

130219-N-ZZ999-505 WASHINGTON (Feb. 19, 2013) In this depiction of the Battle of Hampton Roads provided by Naval History and Heritage Command, USS Monitor and CSS Virginia fire on each other. Monitor was a revolutionary vessel, designed by John Ericson, changing the course of the United States Navy. The Brooklyn-built Monitor made nautical history after being designed and assembled in 118 days, and then commissioned Feb. 25, 1862. Fighting in the first battle between two ironclads in the Battle of Hampton Roads on Mar. 9, 1862, the engagement marked the first time iron-armored ships clashed in naval warfare and signaled the end of the era of wooden ships. Its battle between the CSS Virginia proved that the age of wooden ships and sail were at an end. Though the Monitor's confrontation with the CSS Virginia ended in a draw, the Monitor prevented the Virginia from gaining control of Hampton Roads and thus preserved the Federal blockade of the Norfolk area. The Virginia, built on the carcass of the U.S. Navy frigate USS Merrimack, was the Confederate answer to the Union's ironclad ships. Months later, 16 Sailors were lost when the Monitor sank on Dec. 31, 1862 in a storm off Cape Hatteras, N.C. Her wreck was discovered in 1974 and is now a National Marine Sanctuary. (U.S. Navy photo courtesy of Naval History and Heritage Command/Released)

HISTORIAN ON CONFEDERATE CIVIL WAR GENERAL STONEWALL JACKSON

Picture:  Stonewall Jackson  From:  Wikimedia.

FROM:  AMERICAN FORCES PRESS SERVICE

Historian Describes 'Stonewall' Jackson's Rise to Prominence

By John Valceanu

WASHINGTON, June 17, 2012 - A hundred and fifty years after Confederate Army Maj. Gen. Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson's Valley Campaign, a renowned Civil War historian spoke about it at the Pentagon, describing how a great success can boost a military leader's reputation to the point that it has a major impact on his future operations.

Robert K. Krick delivered a presentation June 15, titled "Stonewall Jackson's Rise to Prominence and the Shenandoah Valley Campaign," as part of a speaker series sponsored by the Historical Office within the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Krick spent four decades as a National Park Service historian and retired as the chief historian at the Fredericksburg and Spotsylvania National Military Park in Virginia. He is the author of 20 books and more than 200 articles on the American Civil War.

During the Valley Campaign, which lasted from late March until early June 1862, Jackson used speed and bold tactics that enabled him to successfully engage much more numerous Union forces and prevent them from reinforcing an offensive against the Confederate capital of Richmond, Va. Jackson drove his 17,000 men to march 646 miles in 48 days in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, defeating Union Armies totaling more than 52,000 men in several battles.

The general's success in the Valley Campaign created an "unbelievable metamorphosis" in his public image, according to Krick. Though Jackson had earned his nickname of "Stonewall" for standing firm at the First Battle of Bull Run on July 21, 1861, Krick said that before the Valley Campaign he was known primarily for being "odd" and "eccentric." In fact, some of his subordinates held him in such low esteem in early 1862 that they jointly wrote a letter complaining about him to the secretary of war and the president himself.

At the beginning of the Valley Campaign, Jackson's soldiers were "decidedly uncertain" about his abilities, and some were actually scornful of him, Krick said. The historian described the general as a dour man who held a "generally stern worldview." He was partly deaf, very secretive and had almost no sense of humor. Before the war, he had been a relative failure as a professor of natural philosophy and instructor of artillery at the Virginia Military Institute. Students complained about him, asked for his removal and called him "Tom Fool."

Everything changed for Jackson in that spring of 1862. "By the time the Valley campaign was over, everyone recognized Jackson's genius," Krick said.

Jackson's success in the campaign was sorely needed good news for the Confederacy, Krick said, and it made the general one of the most famous and adored southern military leaders. His new status as a genius boosted the morale of southern troops, who thought he could help lead them to victory, and it demoralized Union forces, who had come to believe he was such a formidable opponent that it would be very difficult to defeat him. This attitude very likely helped Jackson in subsequent military engagements, according to the historian.

"People succeed far more often when they think they will succeed," Krick said. "And they fail far more often when they think they will fail."

The historian noted that Jackson was an old-fashioned, devotedly religious man. He believed in predestination and thought he was "God's instrument on earth" during the conflict. Even when failed terribly during the Seven Days Battles around Richmond from June 25 to July 1 1862, the general's faith in himself did not waver, and neither did Confederate soldiers' faith in his abilities as a commander.

"Jackson's greatest talent on the battlefield was that he had his jaw clenched more tightly than anyone else on either side," Krick said. "He stuck to it."

In an interview with the American Force Press Service conducted after the presentation, Krick reinforced the notion of Jackson's determination as his biggest asset.

"When things got chaotic and foggy and messy, he was more determined than anyone," Krick said. "That really was his number one characteristic."

Krick noted during the interview that Jackson is among the dozen or so most famous American military commanders of all time, despite lacking "that unbelievable capacity to determine what the enemy might to do and make the perfect counterpoint" that Frederick the Great and many other great commanders seemed to have.

"Jackson had very few resources in the valley. All he had was a small army and a lot of determination and will power, and he built that into something more than it was, which then gave him the opportunity on broader fields to do the same thing again," Krick said. "I imagine that's a universal ... human equation. Since the first people started slinging javelins at one another, determination and dedication have been an important feature."

During the interview, Krick said that those qualities would also serve today's battlefield commanders.

"It's hard to imagine there will ever be a human period of stress, turmoil and danger in which iron will, determination, dedication and willingness to stick to it do not succeed in some degree and then persuade the people who have to help you that you can succeed further," he said.

Jackson achieved the rank of lieutenant general in the Confederate Army. He died on May 10, 1863, eight days after being mistakenly shot by Confederate troops during the Battle of Chancellorsville.

THE CIVIL WAR AND HONORING THE WAR DEAD

FROM:  VETERANS AFFAIRS
PHOTO: AFTERMATH AT GETTYSBURG
The Civil War’s Legacy of Honoring War Dead
April 18, 2012 by Alex Horton
We’ve all been taught the consequences of the U.S. Civil War since childhood. How it led to the emancipation of slaves, solidified state and federal rights, and further made the case for women’s suffrage. But the unprecedented carnage of the war also transformed the attitude of how the nation honors its military dead; a tradition now indelible to the American spirit.

That was the premise behind a talk given by Harvard University President Dr. Drew Faust at VA central office in Washington today. Through her research, Dr. Faust found that the Civil War fundamentally changed the way our country handled death on the battlefield. Both the Union and Confederacy were ill equipped to bury fallen troops in a dignified manner, and death notifications sent to families were informal and happenstance, if they happened at all. Unmarked and hasty graves littered fields and farms near battlefields where hundreds of thousands of men struggled and died.

Humanitarian ideas and the dignity of the human spirit were transformed in the crucible of war, and an emerging sense of responsibility for our war dead led to drastic shift in government obligations.

Edmund Whitman, an Army officer and a quartermaster during the war, led the effort. Whitman inspected cemeteries and battlefields across the south from 1865-1869, examined informal records, and conducted interviews to find out locations of fallen troops. He oversaw the reinterment of over 100,000 Union soldiers. About 300,000 were reburied in 74 national cemeteries, which now fall under the purview of the National Park Service.
As Dr. Faust noted, it was Whitman’s mission to put human faces and human cost to the war, and to recognize the sacrifices of so many of our own. His work helped to establish the notion that those who fell in battle are to be honored, and it’s our duty as citizens to remember and cherish that.

It’s difficult to fathom the damage of the war. An estimated 600,000 soldiers from both sides were killed; if the war were fought today with the same casualty rate, six million would lay dead. But it’s also hard to imagine a time when the care of our slain troops was an afterthought—an annoyance to both troops in the field and folks in the halls of government. It’s now one of VA’s most sacred obligations, but it took a war of staggering magnitude for our nation to realize it had a duty to honor the dead as much as they honored us.

DoD Historical Speakers Series: The Civil War (Part 2)

DoD Historical Speakers Series: The Civil War (Part 2)

DoD Historical Speakers Series: The Civil War (Part 1)

DoD Historical Speakers Series: The Civil War (Part 1)