|
'America Will Never Run,' Bush Says of Iraq
One day after the deadliest attack against American forces since the fall of Baghdad, President Bush said on Monday that he would not be intimidated by the guerrilla campaign in Iraq and vowed again that the United States would stay there as long as it took to achieve stability. "The enemy in Iraq believes America will run, that's why they're willing to kill innocent civilians, relief workers, coalition troops," Mr. Bush said in a speech. "America will never run."
| Keep to that, G.W. Never back down... |
But a day after the missile attack that brought down an American helicopter and killed 16 Americans, Mr. Bush stuck to a strategy begun on Sunday of not explicitly mentioning the attack. He instead spoke in generalities about the nature of the insurgency in Iraq and the loss of American life, apparently in an effort to avoid being locked into a pattern of responding in detail to each new episode of bad news. "We mourn every loss," Mr. Bush said. "We honor every name. We grieve with every family. And we will always be grateful that liberty has found such brave defenders."
| Better to set the objectives and keep working toward them. Yes, we're going to take casualties. We all know that, except possibly the Dem presidential candidates. Casualties hurt. My heart bleeds for every dead or wounded American — any one of them could have been me 20 years ago, or one of my sons or my friends' sons today. But if we let Iraq to being a cesspool, then those lives are going to have been wasted, as will be the lives of the Iraqis who're on our side. We'll have let the Bad Guys win, and we'll end up fighting them again later, from a less advantageous position. |
The president's calibrated remarks, mixing resolve with tribute and sympathy, reflected his need both to shore up support for his Iraq policy at home and to assure Iraqis that he remains determined to establish a stable democracy in their country. The White House brushed aside any suggestion that large numbers of Iraqis were celebrating the downing of the helicopter and had turned against the American occupation.
| I don't care if they do or they don't, beyond the point that I think the bastards should be deported like the Assyrians used to do. |
"The Iraqi people overwhelmingly support coalition forces staying in Iraq until they finish their job," said Scott McClellan, the White House spokesman, citing, without being specific, "a number of indications the Iraqi people appreciate what we are doing to improve the security situation." Mr. McClellan said the American people recognized "that the president is providing strong leadership and taking decisive action to make the world a safer and better place and make America more secure."
Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-11-03 |
