Commemoration Ceremony for Humanitarian Airlift by Heart to Heart International and Physicians with Heart

[fact sheet]

Jerry [Oberndorfer, Director for Humanitarian Programs, Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs, Department of State], thank you very much. What Jerry neglected to say is I am also the one who brought him to this job, recruiting a former Marine at the time, and it seems to have worked. He’s been at it steadily for ten years. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen. Let me explain why I am going to run out on you. I’ve got to go to the National Cathedral immediately following this to represent the President in a speech at a national day of mourning for our allies in Australia, who are feeling so terribly the burden of having suffered directly and horribly the terrorist attack in Bali. So I apologize to you all for leaving.

Mr. Ambassador [Khamrakulov of Uzbekistan], Dr. Morsch [President, Heart to Heart International], Dr. Evans [President, American Academy of Family Physicians Foundation], Dr. Roberts [Board Chair, American Academy of Family Physicians], friends, guests, delegates and supporters of Heart to Heart and Physicians with Heart, and particularly all of my colleagues from the Department of State who helped put this mission together – and so many others like it – I want to welcome you all.

I must admit, an airplane hangar is an unusual venue for a ceremony, but then again, we are here to commemorate an unusual program and some unique people. It is my distinct pleasure to be able to join you today to salute the team about to depart on this important humanitarian mission to Uzbekistan and also to celebrate the tenth year of the partnership that makes this mission possible.

It is my particular pleasure to be here as Deputy Secretary because of the importance of such programs to our Department of State, or I should say to your Department of State. But also because this is a program with some personal meaning for me. More than ten years ago, when Physicians with Heart and Heart to Heart International first started these airlifts, I was serving as the Coordinator for Assistance to the Commonwealth of Independent States. So, in a sense, today I have come full circle. Indeed, perhaps we all have. This exact day marks the tenth anniversary of the signing of the FREEDOM support act into law. That was the legislation that provided much of the initial framework as well as some funding for U.S. relations with Uzbekistan, and of course all of the other republics created after the fall of the Soviet Union.

I think sometimes it can be hard to fathom how much has happened in the ten years that have since fallen away. I know we are not lacking for challenges today, from the war against terrorism, to Iraq, to North Korea, but remember with me for a moment. Remember what it felt like a decade ago to stand on the edge of a precipice, looking at the wreckage left after the collapse of communism. None of us had any idea at all what would happen next to the millions of people left stranded in the vacuum.

Now there are many of you here today, including Heart to Heart’s founder Gary Morsch, Barbi Moore, my former colleagues Fred Hof, Rick Nelson [inaudible] who looked over that edge without flinching and saw nothing but opportunity. The opportunity to demonstrate to the people of those 12 newly independent states that this nation, which had expended so much energy and treasure in waging the Cold War, could also put our hands and our hearts into the business of waging peace.

When the Department of State first launched Operation Provide Hope in February of 1992, far too many people in the former states of the Soviet Union were struggling in the confusion to survive. We set out to address their critical needs for food and medicine. Again, it is hard now to recall what it was like then, but at the time, we were breaking new ground. In some cases, our pilots were using outdated maps to fly through airspace that no American had ventured into, unsure that they would even be able to land their aircraft. And other members of the military community were walking airfields of the former Soviet Union that no American had ever set foot on.

The success of Operation Provide Hope was not just the tons of food and tons of supplies we successfully delivered to those most in need, but rather the commitment to peace that effort communicated to the people of a devastated land. Heart to Heart was the necessary companion and complement to Provide Hope. For this organization and others like it demonstrated that this aid was not just courtesy of some government bureaucrats, but it was a commitment directly from the people of America to the people of Russia, Uzbekistan and indeed all of our former adversaries.

And so we rightly celebrate the work of Heart to Heart International and Physicians with Heart as today’s team made up of doctors, business leaders, State Department employees, and ordinary American citizens prepares to deliver a shipment of medicine and medical supplies worth more than eight million dollars, donated by many of the private interests represented here today. But this team will deliver more than supplies with monetary value; they will also donate skills that are precious and an American spirit of compassion and selflessness that is priceless.

Larry Eagleburger, the Deputy Secretary of State when we first started Operation Provide Hope, said at the time: "What is at stake for us is whether the recent transformation of dangerous adversaries into friends and partners is a permanent or a passing phenomenon." Today we can say that our friendship with Uzbekistan is certainly no passing phenomenon. Indeed, over the past decade, the hard work of Heart to Heart and Physicians with Heart, along with more than 500 million dollars in U.S. humanitarian assistance, have helped build the foundation for a strong relationship between the United States and Uzbekistan. Today, our nations stand together in a mutual commitment to the rule of law. This commitment brings us together not only to fight in the war against terror – and Uzbekistan has been absolutely unwavering in its support following September 11^th – but increasingly, in our dedication to democratic institutions, sound economic policy, and individual liberties. Mr. Ambassador, I applaud and encourage the efforts of your nation to embrace political and economic reforms and to protect the human rights of all of your people.

Those of you who are taking part in this mission today are playing a part in helping Uzbekistan embrace that brighter future. Because this is not just another aid project; it is a product of the American spirit. Long after the need for humanitarian assistance has subsided, your spirit and generous support will endure and embolden the people of Uzbekistan. I thank you all for your efforts and I wish those of you about to depart on this important mission a safe flight and a successful endeavor. Thank you all very much.