Democrat terror critics have fallen for enemy propaganda, says Bush
By Damien McElroy
(Filed: 30/09/2006)
From: PROLIFE 9/30/2006 9:23:19 AM
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President George W Bush yesterday denounced critics of his policies in fighting international terrorism as pawns of "enemy propaganda", hours after the American leader won a landmark battle to pass legislation endorsing military tribunals to try suspected terrorists.
President George W Bush speaks about his administration's war on terror
In a speech to military reservists, President Bush lashed out at Democratic Party leaders, who this week used a declassified intelligence report to suggest Islamic extremists are gaining ground as a result of the Iraq war, as representatives of a party of "cut and run".
It was wrong, he said, to suggest that conflict in Iraq had endangered the security of America's citizens. "This argument buys into the enemy's propaganda that the terrorists attack us because we're provoking them," he said. "You do not create terrorism by fighting terrorism."
The president was reacting to comments from top Democrats, such as Sen Ted Kennedy, suggesting that America was sliding to defeat in Iraq.
With his support reviving in the polls before November's mid-term elections, President Bush sought to tar his opponents as opportunists, seizing on bad news to suggest his war against Islamic terrorism was failing.
"Iraq is not the reason the terrorists are at war against us. They are at war against us because they hate everything America stands for," he said. "From the beginning, American people have heard the critics say we're failing. But the reasons keep changing.
"If that ever becomes the mindset of the policymakers in Washington, it means we'll go back to the old days of waiting to be attacked and then respond."
There was a pledge to overcome recent reverses in Afghanistan. Mr Bush held a series of meetings this week with his Afghan counterpart, Hamid Karzai. He said efforts to improve security there had been hampered by the poor performance of Afghan police. Taliban forces had regrouped, especially in the south, and as a consequence violence had risen. "The training of the Afghan police has not gone as smoothly as the army," he said. "We've made our concerns known. When we see a problem, we adjust, we change." The president hailed Nato's decision this week to assume command of all peacekeeping operations in Afghanistan.
Overnight the US Senate had supported establishing military tribunals to try detainees held in detention centres like Guantanamo Bay and approved President Bush's proposed guidelines for aggressively interrogating suspects without violating international prohibitions on prisoner abuse.
The negotiated compromise, worked out between the White House and leading senators, was backed by 65 of the chamber's 100 members.
In a further boost for President Bush, senators unanimously approved a record $447 billion Pentagon budget.
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