Presidential victory laps
Just as presidents have often used the bully pulpit to promote policies and national themes, so have they used their position as Chief Executive and Commander in Chief to celebrate their administrations' achievements.
"The whole people of the United States are now waiting to welcome you home with an acclaim which probably has never greeted any other army," he told the assembled crowd. "Because this is a war into which our country, like these countries we have been so proud to stand by, has put its whole heart. And the reason that we are proud of you is that you have put your heart into it; you have done your duty, and something more, you have done your duty and done it with a spirit which gave it distinction and glory. And now we are to have the fruits of victory."
"I came here today with only one regret: that I would not be able to personally thank every man in Vietnam for what he is doing," said Johnson. "I wish very much that I could visit every battalion, every squadron, every ship. You know what you are fighting against: a vicious and illegal aggression across this little nation's frontier. You know what you are fighting for: to give the Vietnamese people a chance to build the kind of nation that they want, free from terror, free from intimidation, free from fear."
At left: Blaize holds up woodcuts of two islands that make up the independent state.
At left: Mr. Bush exits the stage at Plaza Porras accompanied by a Secret Service agent carrying a gas mask.
"These people (the troops) came in here and had a job to do, restoring hope, and restoring life, literally," Mr. Bush said while visiting an orphanage.
Mr. Clinton told American forces that they would be able to look back at their service there and say, "We made history. We did something that really mattered. And you will be able to be proud of it for as long as you live. . . .
"This mission is different," he said. "We have asked you not to fight a war but to give a people exhausted by war the strength to make and stay at peace. You will succeed because you're the finest fighting force in the world, and your presence in Bosnia can and will make the difference between a war that starts again and a peace that takes hold."
In December 2000 Clinton returned to Belfast, where he told a crowd, "You cannot imagine the impact of the Good Friday Agreement in Northern Ireland on troubled regions of the world - in Africa and the Middle East, in Latin America and, of course, in the Balkans, where the United States has been heavily involved in my time. Peace continues to be challenged all around the world. It is more important than ever to say: But look what they did in Northern Ireland, and look what they are doing in Northern Ireland. . . .
"It has been a great honor for me; it has been an honor for the United States to be involved in the cause of peace in a land that produced the forbearers of so many of present-day America's citizens."
After slamming the NATO-led mission in Kosovo as "nation-building" during the 2000 election campaign, President George W. Bush visited troops in Kosovo. "Your service here has set an example for the whole world to see," he said. "We're making good progress. Thanks to you and those who served before you, the people of Kosovo are able to buy food and find shelter, go to school, and get medical help. Thanks to you, there will be elections here in November - elections where we want to see the widest-possible participation. Thanks to you, there are fewer arms flowing into Macedonia and a hope for peace in that land."
"Major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed," Mr. Bush said.
Air Force One pilot Col. Mark Tillman told Knoller in an interview that, for Mr. Bush's first trip to Iraq, "The President wanted us to take him to the combat zone so he could speak with the troops - have Thanksgiving dinner with the troops."
Mark Knoller said each trip was carried out under extraordinary security. On Mr. Bush's first visit to Iraq, reporters were not permitted to file reports until the president had completed the trip and was wheels-up on the way home. White House officials had said that if any advance word had leaked out, the trip would have been cancelled, even if Air Force One were half-way there.
By the last visit, which Knoller covered, reporters were permitted to report the president's arrival as soon as he landed. "Reporters accompanying the president on such trips are sworn to secrecy until White House officials give the green light that it's okay to report the visit," said Knoller.
"What you're doing is historic in nature," Mr. Bush told the troops. "People will look back at this period and wonder whether or not America was true to its beginnings; whether we strongly believed in the universality of freedom and whether we were willing to act on it. Certainly we acted in our own self-interest right after September the 11th; and now we act not only in our own self-interests, but in the interests of men, women and children in the broader Middle East, no matter what their religion, no matter where they were born, no matter how they speak."
"In Anbar you're seeing firsthand the dramatic differences that can come when the Iraqis are more secure. In other words, you're seeing success," Mr. Bush said. "You see Sunnis who once fought side by side with al Qaeda against coalition troops now fighting side-by-side with coalition troops against al Qaeda."
Left: A U.S. Marine stands guard as President George W. Bush visits Al-Asad Air Base in Anbar Province.
"I thank you for what you're doing," Mr. Bush told the service members. "There is no doubt in my mind that we will succeed. There is no doubt in my mind when history was written, the final page will say: Victory was achieved by the United States of America for the good of the world; that by doing the hard work now, we can look back and say, the United States of America is more secure, and generations of Americans will be able to live in peace."
He praised the troops - and the agreements he had signed with the Iraqi Prime Minister that day: "These agreements formalize the ties between our two democracies in areas ranging from security and diplomacy to culture and trade. These agreements show the way forward toward a historic day: When American forces withdraw from a democratic and successful Iraq, and the war in this land is won."
Mr. Bush's visit to Baghdad was not without incident. After an Iraqi journalist in protest threw his shoe at the president - an extreme insult - the outburst prompted similar shoe-tossing protests across the globe.
"I was thinking, right before we landed, how much Afghanistan has changed since I have been the President," Mr. Bush said. "In 2001, the Taliban were brutally repressing the people of this country. I remember the images of women being stoned, or people being executed in the soccer stadium because of their beliefs. There was a group of killers that were hiding here and training here and plotting here to kill citizens in my country.
"Right after the attacks I made it abundantly clear that we would bring people to justice for our own security; and made it abundantly clear that if a group of people harbored a terrorist, they were equally as guilty as a terrorist. And we gave the Taliban an opportunity to respond. They didn't. And American troops proudly liberated the people of Afghanistan."
On March 28, 2010 Mr. Obama - just months after announcing his administration would withdraw all U.S. troops in Iraq by the end of 2011 while implementing a "surge" of U.S. forces in Afghanistan - told soldiers at Bagram Air Base that while he had ordered more troops to Afghanistan, he had also pushed America's allies "to pony up more resources themselves, more commitments of aid, and additional forces and trainers.
"Many of the troops that I ordered to Afghanistan have begun to arrive, and more are on the way. And we'll continue to work with Congress to make sure that you've got the equipment that you need, particularly as we complete our drawdown in Iraq."
"It was here, in Afghanistan, where Osama bin Laden established a safe haven for his terrorist organization," Mr. Obama said. "It was here, in Afghanistan, where al Qaeda brought new recruits, trained them, and plotted acts of terror. . . .
"But over the last three years, the tide has turned. We broke the Taliban's momentum. We've built strong Afghan security forces. We devastated al Qaeda's leadership, taking out over 20 of their top 30 leaders. And one year ago, from a base here in Afghanistan, our troops launched the operation that killed Osama bin Laden. The goal that I set - to defeat al Qaeda and deny it a chance to rebuild - is now within our reach. . . . My fellow Americans, we've traveled through more than a decade under the dark cloud of war. Yet here, in the pre-dawn darkness of Afghanistan, we can see the light of a new day on the horizon. The Iraq war is over. The number of our troops in harm's way has been cut in half, and more will soon be coming home. We have a clear path to fulfill our mission in Afghanistan, while delivering justice to al Qaeda."
By CBSNews.com senior editor David Morgan