Says US must prevent oil fields from falling into hands of terrorists
President Bush answered growing antiwar protests yesterday with a fresh
reason for US troops to continue fighting in Iraq: protection of the
country's vast oil fields, which he said would otherwise fall under the
control of terrorist extremists.
The president, standing against a backdrop of the USS Ronald Reagan,
the newest aircraft carrier in the Navy's fleet, said terrorists would
be denied their goal of making Iraq a base from which to recruit
followers, train them, and finance attacks.
''We will defeat the
terrorists," Bush said. ''We will build a free Iraq that will fight
terrorists instead of giving them aid and sanctuary."
Appearing at Naval Air Station North Island to commemorate the
anniversary of the Allies' World War II victory over Japan, Bush
compared his resolve to President Franklin D. Roosevelt's in the 1940s
and said America's mission in Iraq is to turn it into a democratic ally
just as the United States did with Japan after its 1945 surrender.
Bush's V-J Day ceremony did not fall on the actual anniversary. Japan
announced its surrender on Aug. 15, 1945 -- Aug. 14 in the United
States because of the time difference.
Democrats said Bush's leadership falls far short of Roosevelt's.
''Democratic
Presidents Roosevelt and Truman led America to victory in World War II
because they laid out a clear plan for success to the American people,
America's allies, and America's troops," said Howard Dean, Democratic
Party chairman. ''President Bush has failed to put together a plan, so
despite the bravery and sacrifice of our troops, we are not making the
progress that we should be in Iraq. The troops, our allies, and the
American people deserve better leadership from our commander in chief."
The speech was Bush's third in just over a week defending his Iraq
policies, as the White House scrambles to counter growing public
concern about the war. But the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina
in the Gulf Coast drew attention away; the White House announced during
the president's remarks that he was cutting his August vacation short
to return to Washington, D.C., to oversee the federal response effort.
After
the speech, Bush hurried back to Texas ahead of schedule to prepare to
fly back to the nation's capital today. He was to return to the White
House on Friday, after spending more than four weeks operating from his
ranch in Crawford.
Bush's August break has been marked by problems in Iraq.
It has been an especially deadly month there for US troops, with the
number of those who have died since the invasion of Iraq in March 2003
now nearing 1,900.
The growing death toll has become a regular
feature of the slightly larger protests that Bush now encounters
everywhere he goes -- a movement boosted by a vigil set up in a field
down the road from the president's ranch by a mother grieving the loss
of her soldier son in Iraq.
Cindy Sheehan arrived in Crawford
only days after Bush did, asking for a meeting so he could explain why
her son and others are dying in Iraq. The White House refused, and
Sheehan's camp turned into a hub of activity for hundreds of activists
around the country demanding that troops be brought home.
This
week, the administration also had to defend the proposed constitution
produced in Iraq at US urging. Critics fear the impact of its rejection
by many Sunnis, and say it fails to protect religious freedom and
women's rights.
At the naval base, Bush declared, ''We will not
rest until victory is America's and our freedom is secure" from Al
Qaeda and its forces in Iraq led by Abu Musab alZarqawi.
''If
Zarqawi and [Osama] bin Laden gain control of Iraq, they would create a
new training ground for future terrorist attacks," Bush said. ''They'd
seize oil fields to fund their ambitions. They could recruit more
terrorists by claiming a historic victory over the United States and
our coalition."
On the day after Hurricane Katrina was declared to be not as bad as
originally feared, it became clear that the effects of the storm had
been, after all, beyond devastation. Homeowners in Biloxi, Miss.,
staggered through wrecked neighborhoods looking for their loved ones.
In New Orleans, the mayor reported that rescue boats had begun pushing
past dead bodies to look for the stranded living. Gas leaks began
erupting into flames, and looking at the city, now at least 80 percent
under water, it was hard not to think of last year's tsunami, or even
ancient Pompeii.
Disaster has, as it almost always does, called up American
generosity and instances of heroism. Young people helped the old onto
rafts in flooded New Orleans streets, and exhausted rescue workers
refused all offers of rest, while people as far away as Kansas and
Arizona went online to offer shelter in their homes to the refugees. It
was also a reminder of how much we rely on government to imagine the
unimaginable and plan for the worst. As the levees of Lake
Pontchartrain gave way, flooding New Orleans, it seemed pretty clear
that in this case, government did not live up to the job.
But
this seems like the wrong moment to dwell on fault-finding, or even to
point out that it took what may become the worst natural disaster in
American history to pry President Bush out of his vacation. All the
focus now must be on rescuing the survivors. Beyond that lies a long
and painful recovery, which must begin with a national vow to help all
the storm victims and to save and repair New Orleans.
People who think of that graceful city and the rest of the
Mississippi Delta as tourist destinations must have been reminded,
watching the rescue operations, that the real residents of this area
are in the main poor and black. The only resources most of them will
have to fall back on will need to come from the federal government.
Those
of us in New York watch the dire pictures from Louisiana with keen
memories of the time after Sept. 11, when the rest of the nation made
it clear that our city was their city, and that everyone was part of
the battle to restore it. New Orleans, too, is one of the places that
belongs to every American's heart - even for people who have never been
there.
Right now it looks as if rescuing New Orleans will be a
task much more daunting than any city has faced since the San Francisco
fire of 1906. It must be a mission for all of us.
President Bush answered growing antiwar protests yesterday with a fresh
reason for US troops to continue fighting in Iraq: protection of the
country's vast oil fields, which he said would otherwise fall under the
control of terrorist extremists.
On the day after Hurricane Katrina was declared to be not as bad as
originally feared, it became clear that the effects of the storm had
been, after all, beyond devastation. Homeowners in Biloxi, Miss.,
staggered through wrecked neighborhoods looking for their loved ones.
In New Orleans, the mayor reported that rescue boats had begun pushing
past dead bodies to look for the stranded living. Gas leaks began
erupting into flames, and looking at the city, now at least 80 percent
under water, it was hard not to think of last year's tsunami, or even
ancient Pompeii.
