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US vows âno retreatâ from Iraq
US President George W Bush has said there will be no retreat from Iraq or from the war against terror. Mr Bush was speaking to US military veterans as the number of American deaths since the end of major combat operations on 1 May surpassed the number killed during the war. Mr Bush told the gathering in St Louis, Missouri, that it was a choice between "civilisation and A US soldier was killed and two others wounded on Tuesday in an attack on a convoy in the town of Hamariya - about 25 kilometres north-west of Baghdad. Figures released by the Pentagon showed that the number of deaths since 1 May had risen to 139, of whom 62 were killed by hostile fire. Up until 1 May, 138 US troops had died in Iraq. May your souls rest in peace, damn those who have sent you there The BBCâs Justin Webb in Washington says President Bushâs speech has failed to quell the growing debate in the US about his administrationâs Iraq policy. Do I wonder why? Sensing public concern about Iraq, the Democrats seized upon the speech and attacked it with unusual vigour, our correspondent notes. Damned Democrats, if you are not with us you are against us, you Saddam sidekicks! Democratic presidential hopeful Bob Graham called the speech "the same old fluff, the same old empty rhetoric, the same old sugar coating of a very bad situation". Dick Gephardt, another potential candidate who supported the war, said it was incomprehensible that more was not being done to get other nations to share the burden of bringing about peace. Such criticism is a sign that the situation in Iraq is to become an issue if the president seeks re-election in just over a yearâs time, says our correspondent. Mr Bush cited the examples of post-war Germany and Japan, arguing that while their reconstruction had taken years, not months, the effort had been worth it. Aha, ok I start to understand why they call Bush and Blair together, dumb and dumber. Any moron can see a world of difference between Germany/Japan with Iraq. First Germany/Japan where superpowers unlike the still backward tribal divided Iraq, secondly they already had the technological knowhow to setup an economic/social full working system. May I ask whether you regard the Germany/Japan reconstruction equal to the reconstruction of for example Afghanistan? Mr Bush said that out of the 55 Iraqâs "most wanted", some 42 had been captured or killed. He added that almost two-thirds of al-Qaeda militants had been captured or killed but their network remained a threat to the US. Posted by: Murat 2003-08-27 |
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