Stung by criticism, Bush calls for offensive 'across the world'
Pastor Dale Morgan
Sunday October 1, 2:47 AM
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Stung by criticism, Bush calls for offensive 'across the world'*
US President George W. Bush called for fighting America's enemies
"across the world" as he stepped up his counteroffensive following
charges that his policies were breeding a new generation of Islamic
terrorists.
The call, delivered in his weekly radio address, was aimed at countering
a rash of accusations that the Bush administration had seriously
mishandled the war in Iraq and created fertile ground for Islamic extremism.
The criticism was fueled by a new National Intelligence Estimate,
portions of which were declassified this past week. The document argues
that the war in Iraq had spawned a new generation of Islamic radicals
determined to strike against the United States.
Casting another cloud over the administration's policy was a new book by
veteran Washington Post journalist Bob Woodward, "State of Denial,"
which alleges a number of policy blunders committed in Iraq, amid bitter
feuding by the president and his closest aides and refusal to
acknowledge reality.
The controversy may have further dimmed the public's view of the war.
The latest CNN television poll showed 61 percent of Americans now
believed the war in Iraq was going either "very badly" or "moderately
badly," compared with 38 percent who thought it was going "very well" or
"moderately well."
But Bush insisted Saturday that claims that the 2003 US-led invasion of
Iraq was helping foster anti-American terrorism were tantamount to
buying "into the enemy's propaganda."
"The only way to protect our citizens at home is to go on the offense
against the enemy across the world," the president said. "So we will
remain on the offense until the terrorists are defeated and this fight
is won."
The Republican president, who just two days ago branded opposition
Democrats "the party of cut-and-run," argued an early withdrawal from
Iraq, as recommended by some Democrats, would only embolden terrorists.
"It would help them find new recruits to carry out even more destructive
attacks on our nation, and it would give the terrorists a new sanctuary
in the heart of the Middle East, with huge oil riches to fund their
ambitions," Bush stressed. "America must not allow this to happen."
He said that for Al-Qaeda and its allies, a safe haven in Iraq "would be
even more valuable than the one they lost in Afghanistan."
However, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, in an interview
published Saturday, offered a different rationale for continued US
military presence in Iraq, saying it was needed to counter the growing
influence of neighboring Iran.
"We just have to fight tooth and nail for the victory of the Iraqis who
do not want Iranian influence in their daily lives," she told The Wall
Street Journal. "We've got a chance to resist the Iranian push into the
region, but we'd better get about it."
The dissonant messages came against the backdrop of stinging criticism
from top Democrats, who have found in the intelligence estimate and the
Woodward book fresh fodder for attacks on the administration ahead of
the November 7 midterm congressional elections, in which they hope to
win back control of the House of Representatives and maybe even the Senate.
Democrats have long accused the White House of failing to foresee an
Iraqi insurgency, failing to create a viable international coalition
behind the invasion and sending too few soldiers to control the restive
country.
Now they are also charging that the president is in a state of denial.
"He doesn't want to see the facts. He doesn't want to acknowledge
reality," Carl Levin, the top Democrat of the Senate Armed Services
Committee, insisted Friday.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean called Bush's
political counteroffensive "the product of a desperate White House with
no credibility left with the American people."
And Tammy Duckworth, a former US military pilot in Iraq who is now a
Democratic congressional candidate, chimed in while giving the
Democrats' radio address on Saturday. Her helicopter was hit by a
rocket-propelled grenade and she lost both her legs; she is now running
for Congress in Illinois.
"As I went through my recovery, I started asking myself whether our
leaders in Washington are doing their duty," she said.
"After more than three years, more than 2,700 US deaths and tens of
thousands of wounded, this administration still lacks a plan for
securing Iraq. And the leaders of Congress still refuse to do their job
of holding the administration accountable," Duckworth added.
"Instead of a plan or strategy, we get shallow slogans like 'mission
accomplished' or 'stay the course.' Those slogans are calculated to win
an election. But they won't help us accomplish our mission in Iraq," she
said.