US President Bush is aware of the cost that Iraq has demanded of the US. The toll in cash and in lives. He was alone in the world when he decided on the troop surge that was really a last hope. It turned out it was the right, and wise thing to do. But those haters who wanted the US to fail in Iraq can still sense that there is a possibility that their dreams can be made real. Perhaps by voting in Obama or Clinton.
When the US President was asked about surrender recently, he indicated the cost, and pointed out that to withdraw now would be a waste, but success would mean the cost had paid for something worthwhile. Heaven knows, the media really don't want another liberal democracy in the Middle East.
So the President's words are twisted to say something else. The media would have it that the President didn't care about life.
Meanwhile, Osama Bin Laden seems to want to forget about Iraq. Maybe he has given up too. Bin Laden has decided to get mean on cartoonists in Denmark. Did he forget the fifth anniversary?
Bush says no regrets over the war in Iraq
ReplyDeletefrom news.com.au
US President George W. Bush says he has no regrets about the war in Iraq despite the "high cost in lives and treasure" and has declared the US is on track for a major victory there.
Marking the fifth anniversary of the US-led invasion with a touch of the swagger he showed early in the war, Mr Bush said in a speech at the Pentagon: "The successes we are seeing in Iraq are undeniable."
His speech came as news broke that Osama bin Laden was issuing a new message coinciding with the fifth anniversary of the Iraq war.
The al-Qaeda leader threatened the European Union with grave punishment over cartoons of the Prophet Mohammad.
In an audio recording posted on the internet, Bin Laden said the cartoons, first published by a Danish newspaper, were part of a "crusade" in which he said the Catholic Pope Benedict was involved.
Sagging support
With less than 11 months left in office and his approval ratings near the lows of his presidency, Mr Bush is trying to shore up support for the Iraq campaign, which has damaged US credibility abroad and is sure to define his legacy.
But he faced the challenge of winning the attention of Americans more preoccupied with mounting economic troubles and increasingly focused on the race to pick his successor in the November election.
Mr Bush's Democratic critics used the anniversary as a chance to reassert accusations that he launched the invasion based on faulty intelligence, mismanaged the war and failed to put together an exit strategy.
"Five years into this battle, there is an understandable debate over whether the war was worth fighting, whether the fight is worth winning, and whether we can win it," Mr Bush said.
"The answers are clear to me: Removing Saddam Hussein from power was the right decision, and this is a fight America can and must win," he said.
'We can not retreat'
Appealing to war-weary Americans for patience, Mr Bush touted the security gains from a troop buildup or "surge" that he ordered early last year. He said retreat now would embolden al-Qaeda and Iran.
"The surge has done more than turn the situation in Iraq around - it has opened the door to a major strategic victory in the broader war on terror," Mr Bush said, referring to increased co-operation of Iraqi Sunnis in fighting al-Qaeda.
Such an assertion could come back to haunt Mr Bush if the situation deteriorates. War critics have roundly mocked him for his premature declaration in May 2003 that "major combat operations" in Iraq were over as he stood on the USS Abraham Lincoln under a banner reading "Mission Accomplished."
Possibly mindful of that, Mr Bush said, "No one would argue that this war has not come at a high cost in lives and treasure, but those costs are necessary when we consider the cost of a strategic victory for our enemies in Iraq," he said.
Not worth the cost
Not all anniversary assessments were as upbeat as Mr Bush's.
A Washington Post-ABC News poll showed nearly two-thirds of Americans believe the war was not worth waging.
Told about the poll result in an interview with ABC's Good Morning America, Vice President Dick Cheney, in Oman after a visit to Iraq, said: "So?"
"I think we cannot be blown off course by the fluctuations of the public opinion polls."
The war has cost the United States $US500 billion ($538bn). Tens of thousands of Iraqis have been killed and millions displaced. Nearly 4000 US soldiers have been killed, as well as 175 British troops and 134 from other countries.
According to Iraq Body Count the number of casualties in Iraq since the war began now stands as somewhere between 82,249 and 89,760.