WARNING!!! Can produce the gag reflex!!!
Bush Cites Churchill in Defending Iraq War
Wed February 04, 2004 06:03 PM ET
By Randall Mikkelsen
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Casting himself and British Prime Minister Tony Blair as the spiritual heirs of Winston Churchill, President Bush defended their decision to go to war against Iraq, despite the unraveling of U.S. and British claims relating to Iraq's banned weapons.
Bush called the Iraq war pivotal to his vision of a democratic transformation in the Middle East and compared it with the challenges Churchill faced in World War II and the early stages of the Cold War.
"In some ways, our current struggles or challenges are similar to those Churchill knew," Bush said in a speech at a Library of Congress exhibit honoring Britain's famous war-time prime minister.
"We are the heirs of the tradition of liberty, defenders of the freedom, the conscience and the dignity of every person."
Bush and Blair both said this week they would launch injuries into inaccurate prewar intelligence on Iraqi weapons programs after the failure to find any stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction after the war.
Accusations that deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein had stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons and programs to develop nuclear weapons were at the heart of Bush and Blair's case for taking their countries to war in Iraq.
Today's challenge was the Middle East, where "the stakes could not be higher," Bush said. "When the leaders of reform ask for our help, America will give it."
Referring to Iraq, Bush said, "because we acted, nations of the Middle East no longer need to fear reckless aggression from a ruthless dictator who had the intent and capability to inflict great harm on his people and people around the world."
Bush frequently refers to Churchill as a hero and on Wednesday he called him "a rallying voice of the Second World War, and a prophet of the Cold War."
"I keep a stern looking bust of Sir Winston in the Oval Office, Bush said. "He watches my every move."
Bush also cast Blair -- who faces domestic criticisms over his staunch support for the U.S.-led war on Iraq -- in Churchill's image.
"I see the spirit of Churchill in Prime Minister Tony Blair," Bush said.
Bush and Blair have both been heavily criticized over the failure to find any unconventional weapons in Iraq.
David Kay, the former chief U.S. weapons hunter in Iraq, said in congressional testimony last week that he had found no evidence of stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons and that prewar intelligence was almost all wrong.
U.S. soldiers are dying at a rate of nearly one a day in Iraq, and Washington's plans for a transition of power to Iraqis have run into strong opposition from Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, Iraq's most influential Shi'ite Muslim cleric.
But Bush said the United States would not be swayed by the difficulties. "We will do what it takes. We will not leave until the job is done."
reuters.com |
