Bush Says Leaving Iraq Early Risks Wider Bloodshed (Update3)
By Hans Nichols and Roger Runningen
Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush laid out his argument for maintaining the U.S. presence in Iraq, asserting that an early pullout would lead to the kind of bloodshed Southeast Asia experienced after American forces left Vietnam.
The president also added a reaffirmation of his confidence in Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki after comments he made yesterday that suggested a softening of administration support for Iraq's government. ``Prime Minister Maliki's a good guy, a good man with a difficult job, and I support him,'' he said.
Bush, who in the past has drawn distinctions between the conflict in Iraq and the Vietnam war, said the situation in the Middle East is comparable to that in Southeast Asia before the U.S. left Vietnam in 1975.
``One unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like `boat people,' `re-education camps,' and `killing fields,''' Bush said in Kansas City in a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the largest U.S. veterans' group.
Today's address at the VFW convention, combined with another speech planned next week to the American Legion, is part of a White House campaign to rally support for staying in Iraq and fending off attempts by Congress to set a timetable for withdrawing the 160,000 U.S. military personnel in the country.
Iraq Assessment
It also precedes an assessment that General David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador, are scheduled to give Congress next month on the impact of the extra troop deployments announced in January and the political progress being made by Iraq's government.
The additional 30,000 soldiers and Marines sent to Iraq this year are having an impact, Bush said, resulting in Sunnis joining in the battle against al-Qaeda, clearing out terrorists and permitting some semblance of ``normal life'' for the first time.
``Our troops are seeing the progress being made on the ground,'' Bush told the veterans group. ``Will their elected leaders in Washington pull the rug out from under them just as they are gaining momentum and changing the dynamic on the ground in Iraq? Here's my answer: We will support our troops, we will support our commanders, and we will give them everything they need to succeed.''
He said the U.S. effort in Iraq and against terrorism was akin to that in World War II and Korea, saying that democracy flourished in Asia even though some at the time doubted that could be achieved.
Critics of Policy
Democratic Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts, a decorated Vietnam veteran who ran against Bush in 2004, said the president's analogy ignores ``the realities'' of both conflicts.
``Half of the soldiers whose names are on the Vietnam Memorial wall died after the politicians knew our strategy would not work,'' Kerry said in a statement. ``The lesson is to change the strategy, not just to change the rhetoric.''
Kerry's fellow Massachusetts Democrat, Senator Edward Kennedy, said Bush was ``drawing the wrong lesson from history.''
``America lost the war in Vietnam because our troops were trapped in a distant country we did not understand supporting a government that lacked sufficient legitimacy with its people,'' Kennedy said in a statement.
While he previously has cited the slaughter that followed the American pullout from Vietnam, Bush in April said there are ``many differences'' with the conflict in Iraq.
`Significant' Parallel
Calling the Vietnam war a ``complex and painful subject for many Americans,'' Bush said in Kansas City that there is one parallel that has ``particular significance today.''
``Then, as now, people argued the real problem was America's presence, and that if we would just withdraw the killing would end,'' he said. History proved that in Vietnam the argument was wrong, Bush said.
The other legacy of Vietnam, Bush said, was that today's terrorists are emboldened by the idea that the U.S. would withdraw. ``We must listen to the words of the enemy,'' he said.
Presidential historian Robert Dallek, a professor at Boston University, said Bush was ``playing the fear card'' by raising the prospect of a disaster should the U.S. leave Iraq. His remark suggests a ``long-term occupation of Iraq,'' Dallek said, and that ``is a confession of the failure of Iraqization.''
The president also sought to dispel suggestions of a rift with the Maliki government.
Iraqi Government
Bush yesterday said there is ``frustration with the leadership'' in Iraq because political progress has been slow. He was responding to a question about remarks by Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat, that Maliki is incapable of bringing about political unity and should be voted out of office by the country's parliament.
``It's not up to the politicians in Washington, D.C., to say whether he will remain in his position,'' Bush said today. ``That is up to the Iraqi people who now live in a democracy and not a dictatorship.''
Maliki, ending a three-day trip to Syria, today said U.S. officials have no right to impose timetables on his government and that Iraq could find other allies, the Associated Press reported from Damascus.
Gordon Johndroe, spokesman for Bush's National Security Council, said Bush's comments yesterday were ``misreported.'' U.S. officials in Baghdad have conveyed the president's continued backing to Maliki. The administration's position on the Iraqi government ``remains unchanged,'' he said.
Bush inserted an expression of support for Maliki into the speech in light of the interpretation of his comments yesterday.
To contact the reporter on this story: Hans Nichols in Kansas City at Hnichols2@bloomberg.net ; Roger Runningen in Washington at rrunningen@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: August 22, 2007 16:47 EDT |
