Bush: We can't jeopardize gains in Iraq

Five years after launching the invasion of Iraq, President Bush strongly signaled Wednesday that he won't order troop withdrawals beyond those already planned because he refuses to "jeopardize the hard-fought gains" of the past year. As anti-war activists demonstrated around downtown Washington, the president spoke at the Pentagon to mark the anniversary of a war that has cost nearly 4,000 U.S. lives and roughly $500 billion. The president's address was part of a series of events the White House planned around the anniversary and next month's report from the top U.S. figures in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. That report will be the basis for Bush's first troop-level decision in seven months.

"The battle in Iraq has been longer and harder and more costly than we anticipated," Bush said.

But, he added, before an audience of Pentagon brass, soldiers and diplomats: "The battle in Iraq is noble, it is necessary, and it is just. And with your courage, the battle in Iraq will end in victory."

"With the war in Iraq entering its sixth year, Americans are rightly concerned about how much longer our nation must continue to sacrifice our security for the sake of an Iraqi government that is unwilling or unable to secure its own future," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. "Democrats will continue to push for an end to the war in Iraq and increased oversight of that war."

Bush repeatedly and directly linked the fight there to the global battle against the al Qaida terror network.

"With the war in Iraq entering its sixth year, Americans are rightly concerned about how much longer our nation must continue to sacrifice our security for the sake of an Iraqi government that is unwilling or unable to secure its own future,"..........HUH? Is she really that dumb? Hey Nancy, the WOT doesn't stop if we leave Iraq but it will sure speed it up here in America.

Ms. Pelosi doesn't mind the ten years we've spent in Kosovo?...and we're still there.

This is not “an honest difference of opinion about war.”

Pres. Bush has to say that - he's the leader of all the American people, including the anti-war raving loser lunatics on the left. Unlike a "president" Obama or Hillary, who would be the leader only of the socialist, Marxist, raving nutter lunatics who hate America.

Bill Clinton and Congress declared in 1998 “the policy of the U.S. to seek to remove the regime of Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq and to promote the emergence of a democratic government to replace the regime”. General Petraeus leads remarkable military progress “to improve the security for the people of Iraq in order to give Iraqi leaders the time and space they need to come to grips with the tough political issues which must be resolved”. Spiritual, tribal and political leaders, who can prod legislators towards compromises, can refocus thoughts dominated by assassins continually stalking their families.

In 2002 Congress authorized the President “to use the Armed Forces of the U.S. as he determined necessary and appropriate in order to defend the national security of the U.S. against the continuing threat posed by Iraq; and enforce all U.N. Security Council resolutions regarding Iraq”. Ongoing “material and unacceptable breach of international obligations” caused Hussein’s regime removal. David Kay next confirmed war “absolutely prudent” against an Iraq “far more dangerous than even we thought it was before the war”.

These resolution objectives merged as bin Laden declared Iraq victory condition precedent to Caliphate emergence. Representative government delivers al Qaeda ruinous, irreparable defeat. Persisting for Iraq victory emboldens Islamic moderates elsewhere to eject Wahhabi jihadists from their societies. Then terrorists find no safe haven for planning a technologically advanced Dark Age. Then the 2001 Congressional resolution “to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the U.S.” can be realized.

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