President George W. Bush, capping a day of ceremonies marking the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, said the war against terrorists that began that day must be won in Iraq and elsewhere to ensure that future generations will live in freedom.
Victory will require “the determined efforts of a unified country,” the president said in a nationally televised speech tonight. Bush appealed for support for the continued presence of U.S. troops in Iraq, which he said has become the focal point of the battle with terrorists.
“Whatever mistakes have been made in Iraq, the worst mistake would be to think that if we pulled out, the terrorists would leave us alone,” Bush said. “The safety of America depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad.” The president’s speech was aimed at assuring Americans that he has made them safer since Sept. 11, 2001, while reminding them of the continued danger of another attack. Many of the points he made were drawn from a series of addresses he delivered over the past week. He sought again to persuade the public that Iraq is a vital link in the broader war, even as polls show increasing numbers of America view it as a separate conflict.
He cited al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as saying Iraq represented World War Three, and said terrorists were streaming into the country to drive the U.S. out of the Middle East.
Threat to the Future “If we do not defeat these enemies now, we will leave our children to face a Middle East overrun by terrorist states and radical dictators armed with nuclear weapons,” Bush said. The war will not end “until either we or the extremists emerge victorious.” While Bush and his aides insist tonight’s address isn’t political, the politics of national security are inescapable as the president’s party fights to hold its congressional majority in the November elections by emphasizing the issue to voters.
Administration officials this year decided the president would have to address the anniversary as part of a series of speeches given over the last week on the threat of terrorism and the Iraq war, White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said.
“From the early planning meetings, we saw, in general, an understanding that it was important to talk about both the war in Iraq and the war on terror,” Snow said in an interview. “We didn’t think all the facts were getting out, and so we made a decision to start talking about them.” Political Impact Republican political consultant Rich Galen said Bush can’t escape the political implications of tonight’s speech, even if none are intended. If the anniversary fell May or June, “no one would raise an eyebrow,” he said.
“He’s kind of damned if he does, damned if he doesn’t,” Galen said. “The fact that this is happening in September of a very close election year obviously gives this a different slant.” Democrats directly accuse the administration of trying to politicize national security and the war on terrorism, even as they try to use the issue, and the war in Iraq, against Republicans.
“We have not pursued the war on terror with the vigor that we should have because we’ve gotten bogged down in this civil war in Iraq,” said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean yesterday on “Fox News Sunday.” “Osama bin Laden has not been captured five years later. That’s a big problem.” Terrorism as an Issue Dean said the president’s recent speeches show that Republicans “think they can’t win the elections unless they talk about terrorism all the time.” Earlier in the day, Bush and his wife, Laura, participated in somber ceremonies at all three sites scarred by the attacks of Sept. 11, when al-Qaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners. The planes slammed into the World Trade Center towers in New York, a field in rural Pennsylvania and the Pentagon outside Washington. Almost 3,000 people were killed.
“For many of our citizens, the wounds of that morning are still fresh,” Bush said tonight. “Out of this suffering, we resolve to honor every man and woman lost. And we seek their lasting memorial in a safer and more hopeful world.”
-With reporting by Richard Keil, Kristin Jensen and Janine Zacharia in Washington and Tony Capaccio in Arlington.
