Bush Tries to Quell Waning Support of War, But is it Too Little Too Late?
Black America Web.com, News Report, Monica Lewis, Posted: Jun 29, 2005
“We will stay in the fight until the fight is won.”
Those were the words of President George W. Bush, determined not to let his critics or the rising number of U.S. military dead deter his plans to continue the conflict in Iraq.
Despite the apropos setting of the Fort Bragg military base, Bush’s words, spoken during a primetime address Tuesday evening, did little to change the minds of people like Ron Walters, the noted University of Maryland political scientist. Walters told BlackAmericaWeb.com that Bush did nothing more than give a speech, failing to send a clear message as to how and when the conflict will be resolved.
“What happened was essentially rhetoric,” Walters said, adding that nothing new was stated in the address, which lasted approximately 30 minutes. “The American people are witnessing events on the ground [in Iraq] which has a more positive effect than the president’s rhetoric. As long as there is a steady, unrelenting violence [in Iraq], than I think people will have doubts about the ability of the United States to defeat terrorism.”
Defeating terrorism and establishing a fair democracy in Iraq are two reasons why the invasion of Iraq took place some 27 months ago, Bush said, adding that the end result would mean "a safer America."
With more than 1,700 lives lost, Bush refused to establish a timeline as to when the 135,000-plus U.S. troops would be withdrawn from Iraq. Bush said the military is now dedicated to preparing Iraqi security forces to stand strong against insurgents, embed U.S. transition teams inside Iraqi units and intensify management training to fortify Iraq’s Defense and Interior ministries.
U.S. Rep. John Lewis, a member of the newly-formed Out of Iraq Caucus, released a written statement to BlackAmericaWeb.com last night lambasting the president and his stance on the war.
“The President of the United States should stop deceiving the American people. The evidence is clear -- Saddam Hussein and the nation of Iraq had nothing to do with 9/11,” wrote Lewis, one of nearly 60 Democratic members of Congress calling for Bush to set a timeline to pull out of Iraq.
“This war was ill-conceived. It was not necessary. It was wrong to go into Iraq two years ago, and it is wrong to stay there now. How many more of our young men and women will die? How many more of our young men and women will be wounded? How many dollars will we continue to spend on an unnecessary conflict?”
Bush said he believes there are enough troops stationed in Iraq to get the job done, knocking down criticism that U.S. troops are overwhelmed. U.S. Senator Joseph Biden (D-Del.) appeared on CNN immediately following Bush’s speech and suggested that the president’s stances weren’t necessarily true.
“I was a little disappointed that the president wasn’t a little bit more candid with the time he was going to need,” Biden said, estimating that it could be another nine months to a year before any real progress is made.
“We should set benchmarks [to get out of there],” said Biden, who was in Iraq as recently as Memorial Day and met with military leaders living on the frontlines. “I didn’t find a single general or flag officer who said they had enough troops.”
Calling withdrawal of troops or the implementation of a timeline a mistake, Bush said there has been triumph amidst the bloodshed. He cited advances in the year since sovereignty was passed to the Iraqis, including the elections in January that drew 5,000 men and women voters; improvements to roads, schools, health clinics and basic services like sanitation, electricity and water.
Despite insisting that the war was started to avenge the attacks of September 11, 2001 and to remove a tyrannical leader like Saddam Hussein, many now believe that Bush was eager to start a conflict in oil-rich Iraq. Recent revelations such as the Downing Street memo, a written correspondence between British intelligence officials, supports the idea that Bush was intent on going to war with Hussein. The 2002 document quotes a British official saying American “intelligence and facts were being fixed around the policy.” The memo was leaked to the London Times in early May, but has just recently made headlines here in the U.S.
Walters said the memo certainly gives credence to the belief that the motivation to go to war had little to do with the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia, incidents that Bush referred to in his speech. Bush, Walters said, seems to have been bent on getting revenge against Saddam Hussein for his father, former president George H.W. Bush, and to help generate business for his corporate big-wig friends who gave generously to his presidential run six years ago.
“War was a convenient way to pay back a lot of his friends,” Walters said, pointing to the mass amount of work companies like Halliburton have secured since the war began. “One would have to be very naive to think that this is just about securing democracy in Iraq.
“This whole project is really an illusion and in order to deal with any problem successfully, one has to conceptualize it correctly,” Walters added, suggesting that Bush failed to do that from the beginning.
Now in his second term, Bush doesn’t have to worry about gaining political clout for reelection, nor does he have to work to get his vice president to succeed him since Dick Cheney is not considered to be a serious candidate for the 2008 presidential race. However, the growing discontent amongst Democrats and some Republicans may have a negative effect on Republicans looking to capture victory in the mid-term congressional elections next year, as well as Bush’s legacy, Walters said.
“The [declining], poll numbers show an eroding political support and that is going to affect the bi-elections and the attempts of Republicans to get reelected. It’s going to weaken their case,” Walters said. “If that happens, and there is a political shift, there’s really an important political effect that will certainly weaken Bush's ability to pursue his policy.”
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