Bush Takes Aim At Iraq Critics

President Bush fired back at critics of the war in Iraq on Friday, accusing them of trying to rewrite history and charging that their actions "send the wrong signal to our troops."

In a combative Veterans Day speech at an Army depot in Pennsylvania, Mr. Bush said "The stakes in the global war on terror are too high and the national interest is too important for politicians to throw out false charges."

Mr. Bush's remarks came in response to allegations that he twisted pre-war intelligence to justify the invasion of Iraq, and amid waning public support for the war, in which at least 2,059 U.S. troops have died. Mr. Bush's own approval rating is also at an all-time low in many polls.

"While it's perfectly legitimate to criticize my decision or the conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began," the president said.

He spoke to an audience of veterans and active duty personnel at the Tobyhanna Army Depot from a stage decorated with posters that said "Strategy for Victory."

In a stinging response, CBS News correspondent Bob Fuss reports Democratic Sen. Edward Kennedy said the president misused a day dedicated to honoring veterans for a "campaign-like attempt to rebuild his own credibility by tearing down those who seek the truth."

Kennedy, D-Mass., said Mr. Bush needed to come clean about the manipulation of facts to justify the Iraq war but instead has only "further tarnished the White House."

Other Democrats also criticized the president's speech, including Sen. John Kerry, Mr. Bush's challenger in last year's election. Kerry, D-Mass., accused the president of dishonoring the nation's veterans on Veterans Day by playing "the politics of fear and smear."

In his speech, the president offered a forceful defense of the war, saying it is the central front in the war on terror and that extremists are trying to establish a radical Muslim empire extending from Spain to Indonesia.

"We will never back down. We will never give in. We will never accept anything less than complete victory," Mr. Bush said.

Mr. Bush's appearance came as his primary justification for the 2003 invasion — that Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction — has come under fresh attack on Capitol Hill. Democrats have seized on the indictment of a now-resigned senior White House aide in the CIA leak case to shine the spotlight on how the president and other officials used intelligence about Iraq in the weeks and months leading up to the war.

A congressional inquiry into the administration's handling of prewar intelligence is pending.

Mr. Bush said that foreign intelligence services and Democrats and Republicans alike were convinced at the time that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.

"Some Democrats and anti-war critics are now claiming we manipulated the intelligence and mislead the American people about why we went to war," Mr. Bush said.

He said those critics have made those allegations although they know that a Senate investigation "found no evidence" of political pressure to change the intelligence community's assessments related to Saddam's weapons program.
Mr. Bush also said they know the United Nations passed more than a dozen resolutions citing Saddam's development and possession of weapons of mass destruction.

"More than 100 Democrats in the House and the Senate who had access to the same intelligence voted to support removing Saddam Hussein from power," he said.

Mr. Bush did not single out any critics by name but said many of them had supported Kerry. The president said the criticism has taken a toll on U.S. forces.

"These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our troops and to an enemy that is questioning America's will," Mr. Bush said.

"As our troops fight a ruthless enemy determined to destroy our way of life, they deserve to know that their elected leaders who voted to send them to war continue to stand behind them," the president said. "Our troops deserve to know that this support will remain firm when the going gets tough. And our troops deserve to know that, whatever our differences in Washington, our will is strong, our nation is united and we will settle for nothing less than victory."

Mr. Bush said the United States and its allies are determined to keep weapons of mass destruction out of the hands of extremists and prevent them from gaining control of any country.

Mr. Bush singled out Syria for particular criticism, saying its government had taken "two disturbing steps" in recent days. He cited the arrest of Syria pro-democracy activist Kamal Labwani and a "strident speech" by President Bashar Assad. In that speech, Assad said his government would cooperate with a U.N. investigation that implicated Syrian officials in the killing of a Lebanese leader, but warned he would no longer "play their game" if Syria "is going to be harmed."

Mr. Bush said Syria "must stop exporting violence and start importing democracy."

Mr. Bush's political adviser Karl Rove, who is still under the cloud of the CIA leak investigation, hopped Air Force One to attend the speech.

The president's appearance came as Vice President Dick Cheney spoke at Arlington National Cemetery, where the president traditionally goes on Veterans Day.

Cheney laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns and told a crowd of 6,000 at the cemetery's Memorial Amphitheatre that U.S. forces have toppled two dictatorships and liberated 50 million people.

"Difficult missions are still to come and we cannot know every turn that lies ahead," he said. "Yet we can be certain that by the resolve of our country, by the rightness of our cause...we will prevail."