Bush vows to stay course in Iraq

Invoking 9/11, president takes case for war on the road

Tuesday, August 23, 2005; Posted: 5:03 a.m. EDT (09:03 GMT)

"SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (CNN) -- With his public approval ratings falling and antiwar demonstrations mounting near his Texas home, U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday tried to rally support for the war in Iraq by arguing the conflict is "a vital part" of the war against terrorism.
Speaking in Utah before U.S. military veterans, President Bush acknowledged the deaths of more than 1,860 U.S. troops in Iraq since the 2003 invasion that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.
"We will honor their sacrifice by staying on the offensive against the terrorists -- by building strong allies in Afghanistan and Iraq that will help us fight and win the war on terror," he said.
Bush said the war in Iraq is part of a battle that began with the September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. soil. Addressing the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the U.S. president said "a policy of retreat and isolation will not bring us safety."
But the protests that have overshadowed his month-long Texas vacation followed him even to the state of Utah, a Republican Party stronghold. Salt Lake City's Democratic mayor denounced what he called Bush's "deceitful, disastrous" policies.
Recent polls indicate a majority of Americans now consider the invasion a mistake, and Bush's own popularity has suffered as the war in Iraq, more than two years old, continues.
A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted August 5-7 found that 54 percent of those surveyed thought the 2003 invasion of Iraq was a mistake.
In Bush's own Republican Party, Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska, a possible presidential candidate, said the war in Iraq has destabilized the Middle East and is looking more like the Vietnam conflict in which he fought a generation ago.
Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold, of Wisconsin, another possible candidate for president, said Bush failed in his speech "to give the American people a realistic assessment of where we stand today, and where we should be going."
Bush is expected to speak Wednesday to a National Guard group in Idaho.
President Bush Monday expressed confidence that Americans would remain "steadfast and determined" in Iraq.
He said the United States is fighting there to prevent it from becoming a haven for terrorists, as Afghanistan was for al Qaeda under the now-deposed Taliban. And he said American efforts have borne fruit, with Iraqis electing a transitional government in January and struggling to write a constitution this week.
"Terrorists are trying to block the rise of democracy in Iraq, because they know a free Iraq will deal a decisive blow to their strategy to achieve absolute power," he said.
Critics have long said the president's efforts to link Iraq to the September 11 attacks are disingenuous. The September 11 commission's report found no evidence that Iraq had any operational relationship with al Qaeda.
Additionally, the CIA concluded in February Iraq has now become a training ground for terrorists who wish to attack U.S. troops -- a haven critics say did not exist before Saddam Hussein's ouster.
How can anyone say that Iraq is not linked to the Al Qaeda? Who cares if they aren’t linked? There are still terrorists in Iraq who are targeting Americans AND the Iraqis. A good portion of the terrorists in Iraq are foreign fighters from anywhere and wherever. Saddam congratulated Usama for the attacks on the World Trade Centers. That is enough reason by itself. This is a war on terrorism and there is terrorism aplenty in Iraq. That’s just one reason. And a good one. They are the ones killing our troops everyday. Does anyone really think that the attacks would end if we left Iraq? At least we are occupying them in their own country and keeping it out of America.
"There was no tie between Iraq and [al Qaeda leader Osama] bin Laden, and that is one of the greatest lies of this administration," Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson told CNN.
Traitor!
Utah voters cast ballots for Bush by a nearly 3-1 margin last November. But hundreds of protesters turned out in Salt Lake City's Pioneer Park at Anderson's urging, rallying about four blocks away from the VFW convention.
Demonstrators carried signs that read "Exit strategy needed," "Republicans for Peace" and "When Clinton lied, nobody died." A man in a Bush mask walked through the crowd, while a man next to him carried a sign that read "I'm with stupid."
Anderson blasted the "fabricated rationale" for the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam, saying the Bush administration's arguments for war have shifted from removing weapons of mass destruction that turned out not to have existed to establishing a democratic state that will foster change in the Middle East.
President Bush hasn’t lied. If he thought there were weapons of mass destruction in Iraq and there weren’t, how is that a lie? EVERYBODY thought there were!!!!! EVERYONE wanted to go to war with Iraq!!!!! Now people are saying that Bush was lying? Please. Anyway, just because we didn’t find them does not mean that they weren’t planning on it. Does not mean there weren’t plans in place or ongoing research in the matter. No matter how you cut the cloth the end conclusion is the same: Saddam needed to be taken out of power. He should have been taken out back during Desert Storm. He was killing millions of people with chemical weapons. Hasn’t anyone heard of the abuses he inflicted on his people? Are we supposed to stand by and watch? Furthermore, who cares that our focus has shifted from finding WMD to establishing a democratic stable state in Iraq? What would they have us do? Go to war, hunt for WMD and then leave them to pick up the pieces? Leave them to establish security and rebuild their country?
"We need to extract ourselves from Iraq while not abandoning the people of Iraq, due to the horrendous war in that country," he told the demonstration.
Isn’t that a contradiction? How are we supposed to extract ourselves without abandoning the people? If we extract ourselves, that means we are gone, which means we are abandoning the people! Duh! Get a clue Anderson! Anyway, after Desert Storm our troops remained in Kuwait right up until Iraqi Freedom was started. What was the purpose then? To enforce the No Fly Zones. Our troops had been there for over 10 years already. Hasn’t anyone heard of Operations Southern and Northern Watch? It is basically the same thing now. Right now things are still heated, but it will calm down as the Iraqis begin to stand on their own feet and the security improves. Eventually we won’t need as many troops deployed and they can start coming home. How come no one has said anything about Afghanistan? When we first started there after 9/11 it was a hotbed just like Iraq, but it calmed down as time passed and the security improved!! We’re still there after nearly 4 years and will probably stay for another few years at least. If we left Afghanistan or Iraq now, all the sacrifices America and its people have made and the lives lost so far would be a waste!!!! We would not have solved a thing! All of our time and effort down the drain. And the terrorists won’t leave us alone just because we leave! They will only attack us on our own soil again!