Posted on 08/31/2004 8:28:30 AM PDT by NormsRevenge
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - President Bush (news - web sites) said Tuesday "we will win" the war on terror, seeking to quell controversy and Democratic criticism over his earlier remark that victory may not be possible.
In a speech to the national convention of the American Legion, Bush said, "We meet today in a time of war for our country, a war we did not start yet one that we will win.
"In this different kind of war, we may never sit down at a peace table," Bush said. "But make no mistake about it, we are winning and we will win."
Those statements differed from Bush's earlier comment, aired Monday in a pre-taped television interview, that "I don't think you can win" the war on terror. That had Democrats running for the cameras to criticize Bush for being defeatist and flip-flopping from previous predictions of victory.
"What if President Reagan had said that it may be difficult to win the war against communism? What if other presidents had said it'd be difficult to win the war — the Cold War?" Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards (news - web sites) said on ABC's "Nightline" program. "The war on terrorism is absolutely winnable."
U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) looks back and acknowledges veterans as he speaks at the American Legion National Convention in Nashville, Tennessee, August 31, 2004. Bush is campaigning in key electoral states this week in the run-up to his speech on Thursday at the Republican National Convention in New York City. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque US ELECTION
U.S. President George W. Bush (news - web sites) greets Senator John McCain (R-Az) as he steps from Air Force One in Nashville, Tennessee, August 31, 2004. McCain and Bush appeared together at the American Legion National Convention here today. Bush is campaigning in key electoral states this week in the run-up to his speech on Thursday at the Republican National Convention in New York City. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque US ELECTION
UPDATED Article from original short posting..
NASHVILLE, Tenn. - President Bush (news - web sites) said Tuesday "we will win" the war on terror, seeking to quell controversy and Democratic criticism over his earlier remark that victory may not be possible.
In a speech to the national convention of the American Legion, Bush said, "We meet today in a time of war for our country, a war we did not start yet one that we will win." That statement differed from Bush's earlier comment, aired Monday in a pre-taped television interview, that "I don't think you can win" the war on terror.
That had Democrats running for the cameras to criticize Bush for being defeatist and flip-flopping from previous predictions of victory.
"What if President Reagan had said that it may be difficult to win the war against communism? What if other presidents had said it'd be difficult to win the war — the Cold War?" Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards (news - web sites) said on ABC's "Nightline" program. "The war on terrorism is absolutely winnable."
Bush's comment — and the ensuing criticism — took attention away from the carefully crafted image of Bush being broadcast from the Republican National Convention in New York, as a decisive wartime commander in chief who is securing America's safety and sure of the course on which he has set the nation.
As Bush continued a pre-convention journey through one closely contested state after another, aides scrambled to clarify the president's remark and contain the story. And in Tuesday's speech before the American Legion, with popular Republican Sen. John McCain (news, bio, voting record) of Arizona by his side, Bush himself sought to hit back.
"In this different kind of war, we may never sit down at a peace table," Bush said. "But make no mistake about it, we are winning and we will win."
Bush also defended his decision to remove Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) from power. Though no weapons of mass destruction have been found, he said Saddam had the capability to make them.
"Knowing what I know today I would have taken the same action," he said. "America and the world are safer with Saddam Hussein sitting in a prison cell."
Bush's war on terror remark wasn't the latest in a string of recent comments in which the president seemed to backpedal previous certainties.
In a flurry of interviews timed to coincide with this week's convention, Bush acknowledged a "miscalculation" about what the United States would encounter in postwar Iraq (news - web sites) after the fall of Saddam Hussein's regime and said the "catastrophic success" of a swift military victory there helped produce the still-potent insurgency.
"First George W. Bush said he miscalculated the war in Iraq, then he called it a catastrophic success and blamed the military," Kerry spokeswoman Allison Dobson said. "Now he says we can't win the war on terror. Is that what (chief Bush political strategist) Karl Rove means when he calls for steady leadership?"
The campaign professed not to be worried that the president had gone off-message.
"The American people have watched the president lead the war on terror decisively for three years," Bush-Cheney spokesman Steve Schmidt said. "The people of this country know what his leadership is."
But Bill Carrick, a California-based Democratic consultant, said the comments — even if they were merely unfortunately phrased expressions of mostly obvious truths — are politically dangerous because they speak to the very heart of the president's re-election pitch.
Carrick saw no hypocrisy in Democrats playing the issue, even though they have cried foul over similar attacks on Democratic presidential challenger John Kerry (news - web sites). For instance, Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) criticized Kerry for saying he could fight "a more effective, more thoughtful, more strategic, more proactive, more sensitive war on terror" by singling out for mockery his use of the word "sensitive."
"Turnabout is fair play on this," Carrick said. "Exploit this to the hilt."
Bush's campaign swing will land him in New York on Wednesday, a day before his convention speech accepting the GOP nomination for a second term. From Nashville, Bush travels to Alleman, Iowa, to attend a farm show and ends the long day of campaigning in another crucial state, Pennsylvania, where he makes a late-evening appearance at a picnic.
Also Tuesday, Bush said on NBC's "Today" show that he will continue pursuing diplomatic rather than military options to try to get Iran to halt its nuclear program. Earlier this month, Iran confirmed it had resumed building nuclear centrifuges, which can be used to enrich uranium to weapons grade, and declared it should have the right to advanced nuclear technology.
While he's "deeply concerned" by Iran's actions, Bush said diplomatic efforts are just beginning there and he's hopeful they will be successful.
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On the Net:
Bush campaign: http://www.georgewbush.com
Kerry campaign: http://www.johnkerry.com
I noticed that the prissy Breck Girl wasted no time in twisting the President's words.
As an ambulance-chasing tort lawyer, it's the only thing his perverted little brain knows how to do.
Had edwards been in office in the 80's, edwards would have been one of the idiots saying you could never defeat communism.
Get ready, breck girl - after november 2nd you won't be vice president and your time as a senator will draw to a close. I guess you'll have to go back to harrassing doctors for your blood money.
The meaning is clear: there will be no treaty signing when we are done, because it is not that sort of fight.
It really burns me when I see Edwards pounce and say that the President is "wrong" and that the war "is winnable". I have NO doubt that Kerry and Edwards would stop the fight within 6 months of taking office. Declare victory and go home. That's their exit strategy. Grrrrrr.
How will we know we won? People say there are new terrorists born every day...
That dynamic is that ANY reference to the War on Terror (even if Bush supposedly says the war "can't be won") is that it REMINDS AMERICANS THAT WE ARE IN A WAR!!!!!!
You have one of the political parties trying to act like it's September 10---like there is no war. So as soon as someone even quotes Bush, it REVIVES the whole War on Terror.
This is just like the Swiftboat ads that EVEN WHEN THE MEDIA attacks them, nevertheless raises the issue. I liken it to picking a scab.
Any conjunction of Bush with the War on Terror---ANY---reaffirms that only he (and not Kerry) is serious about fighting the war.
We can't win the war on terror, but we can win the mini-wars against specific terrorist organizations.
According to the AP that 155 mm binary sarin shell and the dozen other shells continue to be non events. Disgusting especially since the AP was one of the few organizations that reported confirmation of the binary shell in April and May, 2004.
I concur.
It's not a popular opinion to have, and one I've not expressed much publicly. Terrorists use fear to accomplish their goals. You can't fight fear, you can only fight the source of it. It's like a dark area in the parking lot that could generate fear in somebody walking to their car alone. You can't fight the fear, but you can put a light up or do something else to minimize it.
The war on terror is more like a war to minimize terror (but a "war on terror" sounds better for the soundbites). When Bush said we can't win it, I was thinking people will see that he is intelligent and understands exactly what this war is all about.
I worry mostly that we won't be able to tell when something should be a mini-battle, or an all out expensive war.
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PRESIDENT BUSH CALLS INTO LIMBAUGH; SAYS AMERICA WILL WIN WAR ON TERROR
I still have to ask how we will know if it's won..5yrs w/o an attack..15yr..20yrs??......or will we continually be told that the war is still going on?
So it's not that big a deal? We'll eventually get used to it, and not have to spend so much money, and terrorists will get elected to public office? We'll have TV shows about them?...I don't think it's very analogous.
Long Stifled, Iraqis Make Most of Chance to Vent on Talk Radio
They are already working on that in Iraq....
I never understood why or how the "war on terror" catchphrase came about. It probably came about because it was easier to get into a 30 second soundbite, than listing several objectives (say stopping the flow of WMDs, targeting specific terrorist organizations, and securing our borders).
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