President promoting Iraq war policy to veterans group
While Bush has been secluded at his ranch in nearby Crawford since Aug. 13, anti-war protesters camped by the roadside have taken the limelight, complete with a Sunday evening concert by folk singer Joan Baez.
Meanwhile, Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., a prospective presidential candidate, said the war in Iraq has destabilized the Middle East and is looking more like the Vietnam conflict in which he fought a generation ago.
With so much attention focused on Iraq’s problems, Bush planned to deliver two speeches this week to reaffirm his plan to stay the course. The first was Monday at the Veterans of Foreign Wars’ national convention in Salt Lake City, followed by a speech Wednesday to a National Guard group in Nampa, Idaho.
The Salt Lake City speech was coming just as Iraqi officials faced a deadline for parliamentary approval of a new constitution. They missed the initial deadline last week.
In his weekly radio address Saturday, Bush said that as with past conflicts, the war on terror requires great sacrifice. He offered his condolences for the families of fallen soldiers.
He didn’t mention Cindy Sheehan, the grieving mother who started the protest vigil outside his ranch.
In an ad airing in Salt Lake City to coincide with Bush’s visit, Sheehan pleaded for a meeting with him and accused him of lying to the American people about Iraq’s development of weapons of mass destruction and its connection to al-Qaida terrorists.
One station, ABC affiliate KTVX, refused to run the ad, saying it could be offensive to the community.
An anti-war rally was planned near the convention site, but some VFW delegates said they considered it disrespectful to veterans.
Bush has strong support in Utah, where he received nearly 70 percent of the vote last fall. But nationwide polls find the public growing more skeptical about his handling of the war.
Hagel, who received two Purple Hearts and other military honors for his service in Vietnam, said Sunday the United States needs to develop a strategy to leave Iraq. He told ABC’s “This Week” that “stay the course” is not a policy.
“By any standard, when you analyze 2 1/2 years in Iraq … we’re not winning,” he said.
Other Republican senators appearing on Sunday news shows advocated remaining in Iraq until the mission set by Bush is completed, but they also noted that the public is becoming more and more concerned and needs to be reassured.
The Army’s top general, Chief of Staff Peter Schoomaker, told The Associated Press on Saturday that his service is planning for the possibility of keeping the current number of soldiers in Iraq — well over 100,000 — for four more years as part of preparations for a worst-case scenario.
Hagel described the Army contingency plan as “complete folly.”
“I don’t know where he’s going to get these troops,” the senator said. “There won’t be any National Guard left … no Army Reserve left … there is no way America is going to have 100,000 troops in Iraq, nor should it, in four years.”