Bush Criticized Over Speech About Iraq War - Yahoo! News
One person put it best- "It's official, the Bush administration has jumped the shark." The same tired lines over and over...but instead of just changing the channel, we will be stuck with this show for a long, long time to come. As much as I like to see George choke on his own pretzel, I'm incredibly sad this morning, knowing that the shit we are in just keeps getting deeper.

WASHINGTON - Democrats are criticizing President Bush for raising the Sept. 11 attacks while he defends his plan to keep U.S. troops in Iraq as long as it takes to ensure peace in the country.

The president, urging patience on an American public showing doubts about his Iraq policy, mentioned the deadly 2001 terrorist attacks five times during a 28-minute address Tuesday night at Fort Bragg, N.C.

Some Democrats accused him of falsely reviving the link that he originally used to help justify launching strikes against Baghdad.

"The president's frequent references to the terrorist attacks of September 11 show the weakness of his arguments," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi said. "He is willing to exploit the sacred ground of 9/11, knowing that there is no connection between 9/11 and the war in Iraq."

Bush first mentioned the terrorist attacks on the Pentagon and the World Trade Center at the beginning of his speech, delivered at an Army base that has 9,300 troops in Iraq. He acknowledged that Americans are disturbed by frequent deaths of U.S. troops at the hands of insurgents, but tried to persuade an increasingly skeptical public to stick with the mission.

"The war reached our shores on September the 11th, 2001," Bush told a national television audience and 750 soldiers and airmen in dress uniform who mostly listened quietly as they had been asked to do.

"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."

Bush said he understands the public concerns about a 27-month-old war that has killed more than 1,700 Americans and 12,000 Iraqi civilians and cost $200 billion. He said the sacrifice "is worth it and it is vital to the security of our country."

"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."

Perhaps we should have asked the Iraqis whether or not they would mind us using their country so "we wouldn't have to fight them over here".

"Hi Iraq! Is it OK if we invade and draw the "terrorists" into your country so we don't have to mess up ours? Gee, thanks!"

Gag.

Republican Sen. John McCain defended Bush's call to stop terrorism abroad before it reaches the U.S. shore in an appearance on CNN's "Larry King Live" program. He said those spreading violence in Iraq "are the same guys who would be in New York if we don't win in Iraq."

"I'm John McCain, and I'm running for President." That's it, John. You cuddle right up to this rationale. It will make great soundbites for the ads of 2008.

*sigh*

We are so screwed.