Bush: No More Troops For Iraq

President Rejects Timetable, Insists Enough Forces On Ground Now

(CBS/AP)  Mr. 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," Mr. 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.

Mr. 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. But he argued that the sacrifice "is worth it."

"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."

Polls show a majority of Americans now think the war was a mistake.

The latest CBS News/New York Times poll, found 51 percent said the U.S. should have stayed out of Iraq, versus 45 percent who said military action was the right thing to do.

Mr. Bush's approval rating has also suffered, falling to 42 percent in the CBS/NYT poll, compared to 51 percent who disapprove of the job he's doing.

Tuesday's speech marked the first anniversary of the transfer of power from the U.S.-led coalition to Iraq's interim government. The president cited advances in the past year, including the January elections, infrastructure improvements and training of Iraqi security forces.

He aimed to convince skeptical Americans that his "clear path forward" to victory needs only time — not any changes — to be successful.

But Democrats criticized the president for not offering more specifics about how to achieve success in Iraq along with his frequent mention of the Sept. 11 attacks.

"The president's numerous references to September 11 did not provide a way forward in Iraq," Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said. "They only served to remind the American people that our most dangerous enemy, namely Osama bin Laden, is still on the loose and al Qaeda remains capable of doing this nation great harm nearly four years after it attacked America."

Mr. Bush urged Americans to remember the lessons of Sept. 11 and protect "the future of the Middle East" from men like bin Laden. He repeatedly referred to the insurgents in Iraq as terrorists and said they were killing innocent people to try to "shake our will in Iraq, just as they tried to shake our will on September the 11th, 2001."

Beyond their criticism, Some Democrats said they thought Mr. Bush strengthened his credibility. "I think he told the American people why it's important," said Biden.

"If you're going to get the kind of support the president needs at home in order to sustain this effort over the next several years, then a lot more candor is necessary," Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., told The Early Show. "The president began that process last evening."