Bush vows to stay course in Iraq

[Phlegm]

From Associated Press:

WASHINGTON - President Bush accused Islamic militants on Thursday of seeking to “enslave whole nations and intimidate the world” and charged they have made Iraq their main front.

“The militants believe that controlling one country will rally the Muslim masses, enabling them to overthrow all moderate governments in the region and establish a radical Islamic empire that spans from Spain to Indonesia,” Bush said. The president has been stepping up his defense of his Iraq policy in the face of declining public support for the war and a crucial test in Iraq with the Oct. 15 constitutional referendum.

In a speech before the National Endowment for Democracy, a private, nonprofit group, Bush likened the ideology of Islamic militants to communism. And he said they are being “aided by elements of the Arab news media that incites hatred and anti-semitism.”

“Against such an enemy, there’s only one effective response: We never back down, never give in and never accept anything less than complete victory,” Bush declared.

Bush also took on war critics in the United States.

“There’s always a temptation in the middle of a long struggle to seek the quiet life, to escape the duties and problems of the world and to hope the enemy grows weary of fanaticism and tired of murder,” he said.

But Bush vowed to not to retreat from Iraq or from the broader war on terrorism. “We will keep our nerve and we will win that victory,” he said.

He spoke as recent polls show declining American support for the war that has thus far claimed more than 1,940 members of the U.S. military. His Iraq policy faces a crucial test in Iraq’s Oct. 15 referendum on a new constitution, a vote that Bush has said terrorists will try to derail.

“We are facing a radical ideology with inmeasurable objectives to enslave whole nations and intimidate the world,” Bush said.

Bush was briefed Wednesday on Iraq by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. David Petraeus and said he was pleased with the progress in the training of Iraqi troops.

“The Iraqis are showing more and more capability of taking the fight to the enemy,” the president told reporters Wednesday. “As they become more capable, we will be able to bring folks home.”

He did not offer a timetable.

‘Stay on the offense’

Bush also said he expected insurgents to try to derail next week’s vote on a new constitution.

“We fully understand they intend to disrupt the constitutional process, or will try to do so, as well as stop the progress of democracy,” Bush said. “Part of the way the Pentagon and the folks on the ground are going to deal with it is to stay on the offense, and that’s what’s taking place.”

Senate Democrats assailed the administration’s strategy in Iraq and prodded the president to change it. “We will not accept staying the course,” said Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.

In a letter to Bush, Senate Democrats said continuing along the same path in Iraq “could lead to a full blown civil war.”

“He has to tell the American people what the plan is,” said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del.

Casualty and opinion poll numbers

As of Wednesday, at least 1,941 members of the U.S. military have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count. At least 1,513 died as a result of hostile action, according to the military’s numbers, including five military civilians.

The most recent Associated Press-Ipsos poll showed only 37 percent of Americans approve of Bush’s handling of Iraq, with 62 percent disapproving.

Bush on Wednesday visited wounded troops at the Army’s Walter Reed hospital, which has received over 4,450 patients injured in Iraq. He visited with 29 and presented eight Purple Hearts.

He said that every time he comes to the hospital, slated to close under a federal plan, he marvels at the courage of soldier patients. “I asked for God’s blessing on them and their families as they recover,” Bush said.

Nearly 140,000 U.S. troops are in Iraq.

[xaoshaen]

Wow, that's a classic example of biased reporting. You've gotta love tossing out a fairly charged line like "He said that every time he comes to the hospital, slated to close under a federal plan, he marvels at the courage of soldier patients" without bothering to address the situation.

[Zanchief]

He thinks about Iraq every single day. Every single day.

[Durck]

He thinks about Iraq every single day. Every single day.

Doesnt he get briefed by Military and NSA every morning? Isn't there some report that was an uproar a while back because one of them reported Al Queda threat before 9/11, a few months before?

I dunno, seems good idea to stay and finish, in the lite of the recent letter recovered by our Marines from the #2 man in Al Quaeda, where he talked about how we left so fast from Vietnam, that the Commies were not ready and Al Quaeda should be ready to take over Iraq when that happens.

Seems prudent to me that the president would get briefed DAILY about war operations.

-Duck

[Zanchief]

That was a quote from Bush.

Just thought it was kinda funny.

[araby]

I got your reference Zanchief!! and then laughed when I remembered Jon Stewart making fun of that quote. it's a great time to live, when it's so easy to make fun of our politicians.