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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: GUSTAVE JAEGER who wrote (247215)	8/24/2005 2:30:44 PM
From: Brasco One	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1572101

Bush Pledges to Stay Course in Iraq War By DARLENE SUPERVILLE, Associated Press Writer 24 minutes ago NAMPA, Idaho - President Bush, rebutting critics who are calling for the U.S. to pull out of Iraq, pledged that as long as he is president "we will stay, we will fight and we will win the war on terrorism." ADVERTISEMENT In a speech to members of the Idaho National Guard and their families, the second this week by the president in an effort to rebuild support for the war, Bush emphasized the sacrifices military families make. He noted that Idaho has the highest percentage of National Guard troops serving in Iraq. "We'll complete our work in Afghanistan and Iran," Bush said. "An immediate withdrawal of our troops in Iraq, or the broader Middle East, as some have called for, would only embolden the terrorists and create a staging ground to launch more attacks against America and free nations." "So long as I am president we will stay, we will fight and we will win the war on terrorism," he declared. Bush said the country faced a clear choice after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 — either hunker down and retreat or "bring the war to the terrorists, striking them before they could kill more of our people." "I made a decision. America will not wait to be attacked again," he said. "We will confront emerging threats before they fully materialize." After the speech, Bush was meeting privately with some relatives of military families before returning to his Texas ranch in the evening. Among the families scheduled to meet with Bush was 18-year-old Stevie Bitah. Her father father, Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Virgil R. Case, died June 1 from non-combat related wounds in Iraq. "At first, I was kind of scared to do it — I didn't know what to expect. There's been lots of anger and sadness," Bitah said. "If I met with him, I think he'd know that this person I lost was important to me — not only to me, but to my entire family." Bitah said she does not share the anti-war views of Cindy Sheehan, the California woman who lost a son in Iraq and has given momentum to the peace movement by holding a vigil near Bush's ranch. But Bitah said she hopes American forces will return soon to spare other families the loss she endured. "I don't think he intended to go over there and have people lose family members. He's doing it for specific reasons; he's doing it to protect our country," Bitah said of Bush. "My dad chose to go over there and that's something he was proud of, and our family was proud of him." Bush is trying to rebuild support for the Iraq mission in the face of a growing opposition led by Sheehan, who first met the president after her son's death in Iraq last year and is now pressing for a follow-up meeting. Addressing reporters Tuesday at a resort in Donnelly in the mountains north of Boise, Bush talked specifically about Sheehan. "She expressed her opinion. I disagree with it," he said. "I think immediate withdrawal from Iraq would be a mistake" and a "policy that would weaken the United States." Bush said he appreciates Sheehan's right to protest and that he understands her anguish because he has met with a lot of grieving families of the war dead. But he said, "She doesn't represent the view of a lot of the families I have met with." Bush said U.S. troops in Iraq are keeping the country safe by taking the fight to the terrorists and that Iraqi progress toward establishing democracy would help too. After the president spoke Tuesday, more than 100 anti-war protesters gathered at a park across from the Idaho Statehouse to read the names of the more than 1,800 U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq and to erect hundreds of tiny crosses in their memory. Laura McCarthy of Eagle, Idaho, whose son, Gavin, 21, is in Iraq with the Idaho Army National Guard's 116th brigade, said Bush "probably breathed a sigh of relief" when he got to Idaho, a state he won easily in the 2000 and 2004 presidential elections. "Guess what?" McCarthy said. "He's going to find a Cindy Sheehan in every community across the U.S." The visit by the president and first lady Laura Bush to the mountain getaway was sandwiched between two speeches to rally support for the war. Bush spoke Monday in Salt Lake City at the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Bush met Sheehan last year during a similar meetings with other families of the war dead. But she says developments since then make another meeting necessary. Her vigil outside Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas, has fueled the anti-war movement. Even some of the president's fellow Republicans have called for an end to U.S. involvement in Iraq. Sheehan flew to Los Angeles last week after her 74-year-old mother had a stroke, but was expected to return to Texas to resume her vigil before Bush ends his five-week vacation and returns to the White House at the beginning of September. ___ `