Bush Ends Break to Fight Economic, Foreign Threats
2 hours, 50 minutes ago
URL:http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=564&ncid=71...
By Saul Hudson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) returned to Washington Sunday to face the triple threat of a defiant Iraq, a nuclear-ambitious North Korea (news - web sites) and a U.S. economy that refuses to spark.
Reuters
Slideshow: President Bush
Bush Rallies Troops at Texas Army Base
(AP Video)
Ending a 10-day winter break of walks and brush-clearing, Bush swapped his quiet family ranch in warm Texas for the White House in the snowy capital for a month of intense challenges which have already forced him to scrap plans to visit Africa.
He had to hit the ground running, immediately condemning an apparent suicide bombing in Tel Aviv that killed at least 15 people and once again put the focus on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
With his foreign policy focus on Iraq and North Korea, Bush's critics complain he is too little involved in the Middle East conflict. White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said the bombings, which occurred while Bush was in the air, would not deter him from pursuing Middle East peace.
The president has a hectic January that culminates with a United Nations (news - web sites) assessment of Iraq's weapons programs and the his keynote State of the Union address. But he aims first to tackle the economy with stimulus initiatives costing up to $600 billion over 10 years.
Monday, he is scheduled to meet with his Cabinet as he hammers out the details of a plan he will unveil a day later that is centered on tax cuts beyond those enacted in 2001.
Bush's re-election ambitions could hinge on his economic performance and Democrats are ratcheting up criticism of rising unemployment and falling stock values in an economy that has generally labored during his two years in office.
His father, former President George Bush, failed to win a second term mainly because of a sagging economy -- despite prosecuting the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites) that was heralded a success.
TROOPS FOR IRAQ, DIPLOMATS FOR KOREA
Bush is also on the offensive on the military front, overseeing an intensifying troop buildup around Iraq.
"This war, like other wars, will not be won on the defensive," he told soldiers at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas Friday. He was referring to the war on terrorism which he has linked to destroying President Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s alleged nuclear, chemical and biological weapons programs.
Bush declared the United States was ready to win a war against Iraq if Saddam continued to defy demands to stop its alleged arms programs.
By Jan. 27, U.N. arms inspectors must submit a report on Iraq's compliance with U.N. disarmament demands. Iraq has readmitted weapons inspectors but has continued to be defiant, vowing to spill American blood in a war.
Bush has been quieter on North Korea. In his 20-minute speech at Fort Hood, the commander-in-chief devoted a single sentence to Pyongyang's renewed pursuit of nuclear weapons, pledging to diplomatically resolve the crisis.
He said he would continue to negotiate with U.S. partners -- Russia, China and South Korea (news - web sites) -- to pressure the Communist state but he has not ruled out the military option.
When a reporter asked Bush Thursday about going to war, he said, "With which country?"
South Korea is engaged in an intensive initiative to resolve the crisis over the Communist north, and a delegation from Seoul is due to present proposals for compromise in talks with U.S. and Japanese officials in Washington Monday.
U.S. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly will travel to Seoul later in the week |
