Bush Arrives on Carrier for Iraq Speech

The Associated Press ^ | Thursday, May 1, 2003; 8:46 PM | SCOTT LINDLAW

[ThreePuttinDude]

Bush Arrives on Carrier for Iraq Speech

By SCOTT LINDLAW
The Associated Press
Thursday, May 1, 2003; 8:46 PM

ABOARD THE USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN - President Bush arrived on an aircraft carrier homebound from the war in Iraq on Thursday, ahead of his prime-time TV address to the nation.

In his speech, prepared to be delivered from the deck of the USS Abraham Lincoln at 9 p.m. EDT, Bush is expected to tell the nation that "we have difficult work to do in Iraq" to rebuild Iraq and promote democracy - and to find Saddam Hussein and any weapons of mass destruction.

"Our coalition will stay until our work is done," an excerpt of the president's address read.

Bush flew out to the carrier on a small jet and made a screeching stop as his plane was snagged by a cable stretched across the deck. It was an apparent presidential first; traditionally they use helicopters to visit aircraft carriers.

The ship, returning from the Persian Gulf, was about 30 miles from San Diego when Bush landed. A former pilot, he got a turn at the controls, flying about a third of the way. Bush emerged in a green flight suit, carrying his helmet, and shouted to reporters, "Yes, I flew it!" He said he had only steered the plane "straight ahead" and wasn't tempted to try to land it.

It was a made-for-television day sure to be replayed during Bush's re-election campaign. With a wide grin, the president lingered on the deck with crew members, shaking hands and posing for pictures. "Good job," he shouted to sailors. The ship was slowed so Bush could spend the night on board before it docked on Friday, officials said. He watched dozens of fighters roar off the ship one last time on the way to home bases.

The president's speech was to mark the end of combat in Iraq and a refocusing on the ailing economy at home.

In his prime-time speech, Bush is expected to say, "We have difficult work to do in Iraq. We are bringing order to parts of that country that remain dangerous. We are pursuing and finding leaders of the old regime, who will be held to account for their crimes. We have begun the search for hidden chemical and biological weapons, and already know of hundreds of sites that will be investigated."

Bush's speech is expected to add, "We are helping to rebuild Iraq, where the dictator built palaces for himself instead of hospitals and schools for the people. The transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time, but it is worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until our work is done."

The president was seeking to give the nation a closure to the fighting while avoiding a sweeping claim of victory. Thursday morning brought fresh reminders that the hostilities had not ceased: Seven U.S. soldiers were wounded in a grenade attack in Fallujah.

Moreover, central questions remain unanswered. Saddam is unaccounted for, no weapons of mass destruction have been found and there is no new evidence that Saddam's government had ties to al-Qaida.

The president has cast the Iraq war as but one phase of the overall fight against terrorism. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld announced during a visit Thursday to Afghanistan that major combat activity in that country had come to an end, long after U.S.-led forces drove the Taliban regime from power.

"From Pakistan to the Philippines to the Horn of Africa, we are hunting down al-Qaida killers," Bush is expected to say in his speech. "The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror. We have removed an ally of al-Qaida and cut off a source of terrorist funding."

Earlier Thursday, Bush spoke to Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia about the "road map" the administration offered a day earlier for ending Israeli-Palestinian hostilities. "We are committed to freedom in Afghanistan, in Iraq and in a peaceful Palestine," Bush said in his prepared remarks. "The advance of freedom is the surest strategy to undermine the appeal of terror."

The Lincoln, which was commissioned in 1989 by Vice President Dick Cheney, then defense secretary, was returning from a 10-month deployment, the longest ever by a nuclear-powered carrier.

Its aircraft dropped nearly 1.2 million pounds of ordnance on Iraq, about 40 percent of the firepower that U.S. carriers and their jets rained down.

The president was spending the night in the quarters that the ship's captain usually uses when the carrier is in port.

Overnight, the carrier was heading close enough to its San Diego destination that Bush could helicopter back to land on Friday morning.

In keeping with his practice in recent weeks, Bush was using a defense contractor as the setting for a speech Friday on both national security and the economy. He was visiting the Silicon Valley offices of United Defense Industries, developer of the Bradley fighting vehicle.

The valley is on the fringe of the strongly Democratic San Francisco Bay area, a cradle of the anti-war movement.

Later Friday, Bush was to pick up Australian Prime Minister John Howard for a weekend summit at Bush's Texas ranch. The president was swinging through Arkansas on his way back to Washington on Monday.

© 2003 The Associated Press

[ThreePuttinDude]

That was one smooth landing.