In a televised speech Tuesday (Wednesday Middle East Time), US President Bush rejected calls for a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq or sending more forces.
"Is the sacrifice worth it? It is worth it," Bush told the American nation about the 27-month-old war that has killed more than 1,700 U.S. soldiers. Bush defended the Iraq war by evoking memories of the Sept. 11 attacks.
Calling the operation in Iraq "difficult and dangerous," Bush said "the lessons of September 11" require Americans to stand firm against an enemy that ignores the rules of conventional warfare. "The war reached our shores on September the 11th, 2001," Bush tstated. "Iraq is the latest battlefield in this war," he continued. "Many terrorists who kill innocent men, women, and children on the streets of Baghdad are followers of the same murderous ideology that took the lives of our citizens in New York, in Washington and Pennsylvania. There is only one course of action against them - to defeat them abroad before they attack us at home."
"We fight today because terrorists want to attack our country and kill our citizens, and Iraq is where they are making their stand. So we will fight them there, we will fight them across the world and we will stay in the fight until the fight is won."
Democrats and other critics said more specifics are needed. "You can't just present a rosy scenario as if everything is going to be all right." said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., a Vietnam combat veteran.
