CLICK HERE TO JUMP TO THE PIECE Pledges of Patriotism FEATURING HEATHER MCMAHAN'S SCULPTURE
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Doug Mills and Charles Dharapak ASSOCIATED PRESS
President Bush made a plea for support Tuesday at Fort Bragg, N.C. He asked for the nation's patience with the `difficult and dangerous' work in Iraq, hoping a backdrop of U.S. troops would help reclaim control of an issue that has eroded his popularity. |
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By Ken Herman
WASHINGTON BUREAU
FORT BRAGG, N.C. - President Bush, urging an increasingly skeptical nation to stick with him on Iraq, used a prime-time speech Tuesday to try to get Americans to recall the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks when they see violence in Iraq.
"The only way our enemies can succeed is if we forget the lessons of September 11. .. and if we yield the future of the Middle East to men like (Osama) bin Laden. For the sake of our nation's security, this will not happen on my watch," Bush told a crowd of 750 service members in a Fort Bragg gymnasium.
The speech came on the first anniversary of the U.S. handover of sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government and as polls showed Americans growing less supportive of the war.
In the year since the Iraqis regained sovereignty, U.S. troop levels have dropped by just a few thousand from the 138,000 troops deployed a year ago, and at least 893 troops have been killed.
Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari predicted Monday that two more years will be "more than enough" time for Iraqi security forces to take over from U.S. troops.
Bush said Tuesday night that "our strategy can be summed up this way: As the Iraqis stand
up, we will stand down."
He announced plans to team coalition forces with Iraqi units and work to improve Iraq's ability to run antiterrorist operations.
WAR: Bush links Iraq effort, 9/11 attacks
David T. Foster CHARLOTTE OBSERVER
In Tuesdays speech from Fort Bragg, N.C., President Bush assured the nation that Mideast peace is worth the sacrifice of U.S. troops.But nearby protesters, including some who claimed to be Iraq veterans, criticized the speech as a`captive-audience photo opportunity. |
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But the president stuck with his refusal to set any timetable for withdrawing from Iraq , branding any deadline as the "wrong message" to U.S. troops, the Iraqis and the enemy.
"We will stay in Iraq as long as we are needed and not a day longer," Bush said, calling on Americans to use the Fourth of July holiday to show their support for U.S. troops in Iraq and directing them to a Pentagon Website, http://americasupportsyou.mil, to send messages to the troops.
Polls have tracked Americans' increasing doubts about the war. A Washington Post/ ABC News Poll, conducted Thursday through Sunday, found that 51 percent of respondents believe the war was a mistake.
On the positive side for Bush, 52 percent (up from 47 percent earlier in the month) say the war has contributed to U.S. long term security, a key component of the president's message.
Bush urged the nation to see a connection between the Sept. 11 attacks, to which no Iraqi link has been proved, and the increasingly unpopular Iraq war.
"The work in Iraq is difficult and dangerous. Like most Americans, I see the images of violence and bloodshed," he said. "The suffering is real."
Wearing a metal bracelet a Fort Bragg widow gave him bearing the name of her husband, who died in Iraq, Bush asked: "Amid all this violence, I know Americans ask the question: Is the sacrifice worth it?"
It is worth it, Bush said.
2nd Lt. Amy B. Bombassaro |
Pledges
of patriotism
In his address, President Bush highlighted the Web site http://americasupportsyou.mil, which includes troop support and messages from across the country. Topping the Texas portion is a mention of the Austin "It's Flag Day!" presentation by sculptor Heather Mc Mayan's Art for Soldiers, Children's Courtyard, the Texas National Guard and KVUE television anchor Tyler Sieswerda. Children gathered at the Capitol to show their support for the military through art. |
| Heather McMahan's `Welcome Home' sculpture depicts boots, goggles and a helmet left in the sand. |
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"Many terrorists who kill innocent men, women and children on the streets of Baghdad are followers of the same murderous ideology that took the lives of our citizens in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania ," he said. "There is only one course of action against them: to defeat them abroad before they attack us at home."
Bush said some might question whether Iraq is "a central front" in the fight against terrorism, but "among the terrorists, there is no debate. Hear the words of Osama bin Laden: 'This Third World War ... is raging' in Iraq .... He says it will end in `victory and glory or misery and humiliation.'"
Along with the military prong of his Iraq strategy, the president described a political effort to build Iraq into a stable democracy.
Bush cited what he called "significant progress" in the past year, including the Jan. 30 Iraqi national election, ongoing rebuilding and increased international assistance.
"The best way to complete the mission is to help Iraqis build a free nation that can govern it self, sustain itself and defend itself," he said.
The live audience for his address included personnel selected by commanders at Fort Bragg and nearby Pope Air Force Base. Before the speech, Bush met privately with families of 33 Fort Bragg service members killed in Iraq.
Overall, 14,700 of the troops from the two bases are now de ployed overseas.
Opposition to the war was voiced by demonstrators, including some who identified themselves as Iraq war veter ans, in nearby Fayetteville. The protesters criticized Bush for staging a "captive-audience photo opportunity."
Elsewhere in Fayetteville , retired Marine Tommy Jones, 40, told The Associated Press that he is among those who initially backed the war but now has second thoughts.
"It seems like we've been there too long," Jones said Tuesday. "There have been too many casualties."
On Capitol Hill, Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., said that Bush's remarks did little to allay Americans' concerns about the war.
"We cannot achieve our goal of a safe and stable Iraq until the president puts forward a comprehensive plan for success and a clear strategy for how we will achieve it," Durbin said.
Senate Minority Leader Har ry Reid, D-Nev., said Bush's references to Sept. 11 "only served to remind the American people that our most dangerous enemy, namely Osama bin Laden, is still on the loose."
Republicans were ready to offer support for Bush. GOP Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas , Ted Stevens of Alaska and John Warner of Virginia planned to makecomments this morning on the Senate floor.
Senator John Cornyn, R-Texas, who had made two trips to Iraq , said Tuesday, "I can say we are winning the war."
kherman@coxnews.com
