thedrifter
03-19-04, 08:34 AM
One Year Later, Iraqi Invasion Remains a Question Mark
By SCOTT LINDLAW
Mar 19, 2004, 06:52
One year after ordering the first military strikes against Iraq, President Bush marks the anniversary with a fresh defense of his actions for a voting public that remains split over his decision and international allies who are growing weary of continued postwar violence in that country.
Bush's speech Friday in the East Room of the White House ends a weeklong administration effort to boost support for the war on terrorism at a time when cracks are forming in the U.S.-led alliance that toppled Saddam Hussein from power.
The president was offering a favorable progress report and issuing a call for support in a "time of testing."
Aides said Bush's remarks would echo the warning he delivered Thursday at Fort Campbell, Ky., when he said the deadly train bombings in Madrid showed that terrorists kill innocent people "without conscience, without mercy."
"They cause suffering and grief and they rejoice in it," Bush said. "This terrorist enemy will never be appeased, because death is their banner and their cause."
That message, aides said, was also a caution against the kind of decision Spanish voters made Sunday in the wake of the bombings when they ousted the government of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, one of Bush's staunchest allies in the anti-terror war, and elected someone who opposes the Iraq war as their new leader.
Bush's speech was also given added impetus by rising criticism from Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and Bush's expected opponent in the November election.
Kerry marked the anniversary on Wednesday, two days early, by accusing Bush of stubbornly holding to policies that he said have driven away potential allies at the cost of lives and money, "with no end in sight."
"Today we know that the mission is not finished, hostilities have not ended, and our men and women in uniform fight on almost alone with the target squarely on their backs," Kerry said. "Every day they face danger and death from suicide bombers, roadside bombers, and now, ironically, from the very Iraqi police they are training."
In a gesture of unity despite Spain's threatened defection from Bush's "coalition of the willing," dozens of ambassadors from countries closely aligned with the United States were attending Bush's speech. Spain's new leader, Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has said he will withdraw 1,300 Spanish troops from Iraq unless the United Nations takes control of peacekeeping.
Bush's effort was dealt another blow Thursday when Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, another key U.S. ally, said his country was "misled" about whether Saddam's regime had weapons of mass destruction and said he may withdraw his country's 2,400 troops early from Iraq.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush was framing the shadow of terrorism as "a time of testing."
"The terrorists are trying to shake our will, but the terrorists are finding out that they cannot shake our will and resolve," McClellan told reporters Thursday.
Bush was to highlight progress in Iraq, but less than eight months before the presidential election he's also still working to erase doubts about the wisdom of going to war.
The National Annenberg Election Survey this month found Americans divided on whether they approve of the way Bush is handling Iraq, with 47 percent saying "yes" and 49 percent saying "no." The survey also found they were split on whether the Iraq situation merited going to war.
As of Thursday, 568 U.S. service members had died in Iraq since military operations began on March, 19, 2003, with most of those killed during combat. More than three-fourths of the dead, or 430, were killed after May 1, when Bush flew to the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln and declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq.
Billions of U.S. dollars have been spent on the operation, and the Bush administration looks anxiously ahead to a June 30 deadline for handing over control of the country to an interim Iraqi government, one without Saddam at the helm. The deposed Iraqi leader was captured in December and remains in U.S. custody.
But the postwar violence continues.
A deadly car bomb exploded Thursday in the southern city of Basra, three Iraqi journalists were killed in a drive-by shooting near Baghdad and three U.S. soldiers died in mortar attacks. Seven people died Wednesday in a bombing at a Baghdad hotel.
After the speech, Bush and first lady Laura Bush were to visit with soldiers and their families are Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
© 2004 The Associated Press
© Copyright 2004 by Capitol Hill Blue
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_4258.shtml
Ellie
By SCOTT LINDLAW
Mar 19, 2004, 06:52
One year after ordering the first military strikes against Iraq, President Bush marks the anniversary with a fresh defense of his actions for a voting public that remains split over his decision and international allies who are growing weary of continued postwar violence in that country.
Bush's speech Friday in the East Room of the White House ends a weeklong administration effort to boost support for the war on terrorism at a time when cracks are forming in the U.S.-led alliance that toppled Saddam Hussein from power.
The president was offering a favorable progress report and issuing a call for support in a "time of testing."
Aides said Bush's remarks would echo the warning he delivered Thursday at Fort Campbell, Ky., when he said the deadly train bombings in Madrid showed that terrorists kill innocent people "without conscience, without mercy."
"They cause suffering and grief and they rejoice in it," Bush said. "This terrorist enemy will never be appeased, because death is their banner and their cause."
That message, aides said, was also a caution against the kind of decision Spanish voters made Sunday in the wake of the bombings when they ousted the government of Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, one of Bush's staunchest allies in the anti-terror war, and elected someone who opposes the Iraq war as their new leader.
Bush's speech was also given added impetus by rising criticism from Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee and Bush's expected opponent in the November election.
Kerry marked the anniversary on Wednesday, two days early, by accusing Bush of stubbornly holding to policies that he said have driven away potential allies at the cost of lives and money, "with no end in sight."
"Today we know that the mission is not finished, hostilities have not ended, and our men and women in uniform fight on almost alone with the target squarely on their backs," Kerry said. "Every day they face danger and death from suicide bombers, roadside bombers, and now, ironically, from the very Iraqi police they are training."
In a gesture of unity despite Spain's threatened defection from Bush's "coalition of the willing," dozens of ambassadors from countries closely aligned with the United States were attending Bush's speech. Spain's new leader, Prime Minister-elect Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, has said he will withdraw 1,300 Spanish troops from Iraq unless the United Nations takes control of peacekeeping.
Bush's effort was dealt another blow Thursday when Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, another key U.S. ally, said his country was "misled" about whether Saddam's regime had weapons of mass destruction and said he may withdraw his country's 2,400 troops early from Iraq.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Bush was framing the shadow of terrorism as "a time of testing."
"The terrorists are trying to shake our will, but the terrorists are finding out that they cannot shake our will and resolve," McClellan told reporters Thursday.
Bush was to highlight progress in Iraq, but less than eight months before the presidential election he's also still working to erase doubts about the wisdom of going to war.
The National Annenberg Election Survey this month found Americans divided on whether they approve of the way Bush is handling Iraq, with 47 percent saying "yes" and 49 percent saying "no." The survey also found they were split on whether the Iraq situation merited going to war.
As of Thursday, 568 U.S. service members had died in Iraq since military operations began on March, 19, 2003, with most of those killed during combat. More than three-fourths of the dead, or 430, were killed after May 1, when Bush flew to the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln and declared the end of major combat operations in Iraq.
Billions of U.S. dollars have been spent on the operation, and the Bush administration looks anxiously ahead to a June 30 deadline for handing over control of the country to an interim Iraqi government, one without Saddam at the helm. The deposed Iraqi leader was captured in December and remains in U.S. custody.
But the postwar violence continues.
A deadly car bomb exploded Thursday in the southern city of Basra, three Iraqi journalists were killed in a drive-by shooting near Baghdad and three U.S. soldiers died in mortar attacks. Seven people died Wednesday in a bombing at a Baghdad hotel.
After the speech, Bush and first lady Laura Bush were to visit with soldiers and their families are Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
© 2004 The Associated Press
© Copyright 2004 by Capitol Hill Blue
http://www.capitolhillblue.com/artman/publish/article_4258.shtml
Ellie