Transcript of Secretary Rice's Statement (June 25, 2008)

Secretary Rice in the courtyard of the Berlin embassy (videostream 7'16")

Good Morning. First of all thank you, Ambassador, for your great leadership of this Embassy, and, John, thank you as well. It is great to be here in Berlin and it is a spectacular day.

What a great Embassy. It is testament to the American belief that nothing is impossible and anything can be done. I know it was not easy to bring this Embassy to this place, but it is absolutely fitting that the United States Embassy is here where it was before World War II, and this place, sitting right there, is also testament to the fact that nothing is impossible. I first came to Berlin in 1983. I remember going through checkpoints, I remember seeing East German guards that were terrifying to deal with. I never dreamed that in 1990 I would attend a ceremony, not very far away from here, with Secretary James Baker and then Foreign Minister Edward Shevardnadze and a number of others on July first of 1990, when German unity became a forgone conclusion as first the currencies were unified, undoing the terrible events of 1948, and then a few months later in Moscow when the final agreement unifying Germany, ending four power rights and responsibilities, and returning German sovereignty took place. Right there in Moscow, of all places. And, of course, it wasn’t too long after that, about a year plus later, that the hammer and sickle came down from above the Kremlin for the last time and the Russian tricolor went up and the Cold War was indeed truly over. And if this was indeed the epicenter of the cold war, it has now become the epicenter of a different world, a world in which western values have triumphed, in which east and west have been united in Europe, and a Europe, I think, that was unthinkable just a few decades ago. So it’s always wonderful to come to a place like this because it reminds you when there are difficult times in the Middle East, in Afghanistan or Iraq, or anyplace else on the globe where people are seeking freedom and where people are determined to take hold of their God given liberties, it’s good to come to a place like this and remember that freedom doesn’t die easily, that, in fact, it continues to live in the hearts of men and women, and that it can be for a while delayed, but it can never be fully denied. And that’s another reason I love coming to this place.

Now I want to thank each and every one of you for what you do to nurture this extremely special relationship. We have a history with the German people that is one that has had, of course, its extreme difficulties, but has emerged as one of the strongest and most viable in the world. And I know that every day you work hard, whether you’re Foreign Service, Civil Service or from the many other government agencies that are here, particularly the men and women in uniform. You work hard every day, a long way from home, to make this relationship work. And now, rather than just focusing on the relationship, to make this relationship work for the spread of prosperity and values of freedom throughout the world -- the work that we do with the Germans in NATO or Afghanistan, the work that we do in the Middle East. The fact that we just held here a conference on Palestinian security, it shows that these great relationships, the relationships based on values, are now being put to use in the service of those values around the world. So thank you for that. But I especially want to thank those German citizens, our locally employed staff and others who are not Americans who work with us here. Because, even though, Ambassador, with all due respect, you carry the title Ambassador, I believe that our locally employed staff, our Foreign Service Nationals, are indeed the crown jewel for us around the world. We couldn’t do our work without them. And not only that, but they are really our best Ambassadors because they go home to their cities, their apartment blocks, and their neighborhoods, and can really say what it’s like to be with Americans, so I want to issue a special thank you to you. I thank you for what you do all the time, but I also want to thank you for what you’ve done for the last several days and really going back for more than a month, because first you had the President, and then you have me here, and I know that that means a lot of long hours and extra time to make a visit like this or the visit like the President work. And I want to assure you that it’s been a terrific visit, we’ve gotten a lot done here. I love coming to Germany. I look forward to at least coming back in the time that I remain Secretary. Thank you, thank you, thank you for everything that you do every day, and everything especially that you’ve been doing over the last days. And so, with that, maybe we’ll go over, Ambassador, and shake a few hands. Thank you.