Posted on 10/06/2005 1:41:35 PM PDT by Mr. Mojo
President George W. Bush on Thursday rejected critics of the Iraq war who demand a U.S. pullout and cast the conflict as necessary to prevent Islamic militants from gaining a foothold for a sweeping empire.
"We will never back down, never give in and never accept anything less than complete victory," Bush said in a speech on Washington's war on terrorism.
Bush used new and more specific language in characterizing the opponents as part of an Islamic radical movement "with a clear and coherent ideology" and territorial ambitions, rather than dismissing them as the terrorist "evildoers" of his early speeches on the issue.
It was part of a White House effort to rebuild waning American support for the Iraq war amid an upsurge of violence ahead of a planned October 15 referendum on an Iraqi constitution.
Bush firmly rejected those who demand a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq, saying to pull out would leave the country's fledgling government exposed to supporters of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden and the group's leader in Iraq, Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
"Having removed a dictator and aided free peoples, we will not stand by as a new set of killers dedicated to the destruction of our own country seizes control of Iraq by violence," he said.
Bush sought to put the Iraq war in a global context, calling it a central front in the war on terrorism, and accusing al Qaeda militants and their supporters of seeking to overthrow moderate Arab governments and to attack U.S. targets.
He said the United States and its allies had disrupted 10 serious al Qaeda plots since the September 11, 2001, attacks, three inside the United States.
"EVIL BUT NOT INSANE"
Bush dwelt for a good part of his speech on the aspirations of militants as he tried a new approach to convincing Americans of the seriousness of the war on terrorism.
"The militants believe that controlling one country will rally the Muslim masses, enabling them to overthrow all moderate governments in the region and establish a radical Islamic empire that expands from Spain to Indonesia," Bush said.
Citing recent attacks in London, Sharm el-Sheikh and Bali, Bush said while the bombings appeared random, they serve a clear ideology, "a set of beliefs that are evil but not insane," and gave a new name for the ideology: Islamo-fascism.
A CNN/Gallup/USA Today poll last month said only 32 percent of Americans approved of Bush's handling of the war, which he launched in 2003 citing the threat of weapons of mass destruction possessed by Saddam Hussein's government.
Since such weapons were never found, and al Qaeda followers have spilled into Iraq to fight against the Americans, Bush now calls Iraq a central focus of the war on terrorism he launched after the September 11 attacks.
His remarks were aimed at an increasingly restive American public, which is weary of daily television images of bombings from Iraq and holding funerals for the more than 1,900 Americans killed in Iraq.
"Wars are not won without sacrifice, and this war will require more sacrifice, more time, and more resolve. The terrorists are as brutal an enemy as we have ever faced," he said.
Democrats did not hear what they wanted from Bush. Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, said Bush failed to outline a strategy for achieving military, political and economic success in Iraq.
"Instead, the president continued to falsely assert there is a link between the war in Iraq and the tragedy of September 11th, a link that did not and does not exist," he said.
Bush also gave an implicit warning to Syria and Iran, accusing them of supporting radical groups.
"State sponsors like Syria and Iran have a long history of collaboration with terrorists and they deserve no patience from the victims of terror. The United States makes no distinction between those who commit acts of terror and those who support and harbor them because they're equally as guilty of murder," he said.
There was a time when the name bin Laden rarely crossed Bush's lips publicly -- partly it seemed to avoid raising the issue of why the United States had failed to track him down -- but Bush invoked the name of the elusive al Qaeda leader several times in making the case against bin Laden's style of Islam.
"Bin Laden says his own role is to tell Muslims: 'What is good for them and what is not.' And what this man who grew up in wealth and privilege considers good for poor Muslims is that they become killers and suicide bombers. He assures them that this is the road to paradise, though he never offers to go along for the ride," Bush said.
Kind'a the way I feel about Bush's (And Congress') handling of the borders.
How does one assign the blame for the cost of Johnson's War on Poverty programs to his successors. Bush's successors are going to have to pay for his Big Medicaid boondoggle, and let's not forget that nearly all the Bush tax cuts have expiration dates.
The figures are relative to actual budget increases for the duration of term. It only accounts for items that have been budgeted, any additional costs over budget are not reflected.
You are your draft thing again, right? There won't be a draft reinstated under Bush, OK? Calm down for three years. Maybe next time, when Rangel buddies control the government.
I do too.
But you have to maintain good discourse when you speak.
You can not speak with anger and wind the battle.
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Storms of Stupidity in the Mainstream Media (MSM)
I read Tim West's op-ed this morning and smiled. Mr. West decided it was time to circle the wagons and have a heart-to-heart talk with his Naperville "opiners" about how to carry on a dialog with dignity. His acknowledgement of partisans regurgitating seminar talkers and talking points is the reason for my letter
The storms of inflammatory words flooding our ears and eyes from MSM radio, television, newspapers, and op-ed pages is deafening. Wolf Blitzer has already announced they don't report the news - they make the news! In the next breath, MSM cries, "We are not biased - we only report the facts."
Media consultants say those who script (slant) first win. They also say if you tell a lie often enough, it will be viewed as the truth to noncritical thinkers. The spin is furthered by seminar writers who cut and paste partisan website talking points into letters to the editor. These seminar writers should be embarrassed to sign their name.
On the other side of the message, viewers drink the message - not because they are thirsty but because have become robots, brainwashed and reprogrammed each day.
Morning coffee is diluted with kool-aide (robots) drinkers who blindly bugle the hate messages believing they are preaching the truth. Kool-aide drinkers are easy to spot because their words mirror those spewed the day before by spinners.
It is time for consumers to separate the hate speech - like wheat is separated from chaff - and challenge these charlatans to tell the truth. It is time to send these kool-aide cooks packing and reject their sour kool-aide. It is time to dismiss these purveyors of hate and bias.
This alarming shrill is damaging our civil discourse and our culture. Think about it next time you hear the words "we have unconfirmed reports", or "unnamed sources."
Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence. And there is evidence to begin with. Sorry pal.
and Stop giving the able bodies a free ride!!
Ahh, so I'm a DU troll because I'm angry at the direction the Pres and the GOP Congress have put us in, with their rampant spending, new entitlement programs, campaign finance reform, ad nauseum.
Um, no. Actually, this is a totally different topic.
But are you trying to say that the average American has sacrificed anything, or has even been asked to sacrifice anything for this war?
Can you define sacrifice, please.
Sorry, I am afraid I will not be available to process your response. Don't mean to be impolite, but I gotta go. Maybe next time.
And their loved ones.....Wive's, children, mom's and dads
Blue Blood, Your posting history spans the spectrum from liberal to leftist; your name and your state are both giveaways. Why do you bother to make your pointless points here, troll?
What about those of us -- like me -- who have family members there?
Things that make you say "HHHHMMMMMMM"
Not this let's-make-up-an-artificial-sacrifice for phoney warm fuzzies crap again. Should we have a paper drive? What about sending Spam (the edible kind) to the boys overseas? Buy Victory Bonds? What?
How about we do what they did in WW2 and let the necessary sacrifices present themselves to us so we're not pi$$ing away money pointlessly somewhere else when the real need DOES arrive?
There will be sacrifices aplenty when bombs start going off in city buses and strip malls -- and you know they will sooner or later. Life has a way of bringing the necessary sacrifices to your door without you having to go out and look for them.
What an assinine comment. What is a Chicago Farmer? You taking some kind of gubmint subsidy? Blackbird.
What an assinine comment. What is a Chicago Farmer? You taking some kind of gubmint subsidy for your high rise rooftop Rain Forest or something? Blackbird.
I think, it is time to stop looking at Islam as a religion which has 'taken over' by terrorist, by now it is evident by their silence, they are willing participants.
They are what the democrat party is to the clinton's.
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