By: John F
The President just talked about Iraq as a center of the war on terror. Iraq was not even close to the center of the war on terror before the President invaded it. The President made the judgment to divert forces from under General Tommy Franks from Afghanistan before the Congress even approved it, to begin to prepare to go to war in Iraq. And he rushed to war in Iraq without a plan to win the peace.
Now, that is not the judgment that a President of the United States ought to make. You don't take America to war unless you have a plan to win the peace. You don't send troops to war without the body armor that they need. I've met kids in Ohio, parents in Wisconsin, places, Iowa, where they're going out on the Internet to get the state of the art body gear to send to their kids -- some have got them for a birthday present. I think that's wrong. Humvees, 10,000 out of 12,000 humvees that are over there aren't armored. And you go visit some of those kids in the hospitals today who were maimed because they don't have the armament.
This President just -- I don't know if he sees what's really happened out there. But it's getting worse by the day. More soldiers killed in June than before; more in July than June; more in August than July; more in September than in August. And now we see beheadings. And we've got weapons of mass destruction crossing the border every single day, and they're blowing people up. And we don't have enough troops there
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| George W
We've got the capability of doing both. As a matter of fact, this is a global effort. We're facing a -- a group of folks who have such hatred in their heart, they'll strike anywhere with any means. And that's why it's essential that we have strong alliances, and we do. That's why it's essential that we make sure that we keep weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of people like al Qaeda, which we are. But to say that there's only one focus on the war on terror doesn't really understand the nature of the war on terror.
Of course, we're after Saddam Hussein -- I mean, bin Laden. He's isolated. Seventy-five percent of his people have been brought to justice. The killer in -- the mastermind of the September the 11th attacks, Khalid Shaykh Muhammad, is in prison. We're making progress. But the front on this war is more than just one place.
The Philippines -- we've got help -- we're helping them there to bring -- to bring al Qaeda affiliates to justice there. And, of course, Iraq is a central part of the war on terror. That's why Zarqawi and his people are trying to fight us. Their hope is that we grow weary and we leave. The biggest disaster that could happen is that we not succeed in Iraq. We will succeed. We've got a plan to do so. And the main reason we'll succeed is because the Iraqis want to be free.
I had the honor of visiting with Prime Minister Allawi. He's a strong, courageous leader. He believes in the freedom of the Iraqi people. He doesn't want U.S. leadership, however, to send mixed signals, to not stand with the Iraqi people. He believes, like I believe, that the Iraqis are ready to fight for their own freedom. They just need the help to be trained. There will be elections in January. We're spending reconstruction money. And our alliance is strong. That's the plan for victory. And when Iraq is free, America will be more secure. |
