BUSH: TERRORIST CONVERGING ON IRAQ, US MUST STAY

President Bush tries to express ideas

Crawford,Tx (WPI) - President George W. Bush said on Wednesday terrorists had converged on Iraq and that pulling U.S. troops out would only embolden them. Bush’s admission that the US invasion of Iraq is the motivating factor in attracting and nurturing insurgents break ranks with the denials asserted across the Republican/Conservative political spectrum.

“Bush is wrong!” declared Senate Majority leader, Tom Delay. “I have said all along, and the Defense Department agrees, that the rise in the insurgency has nothing to do with America’s struggle against global terrorism.”

Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumfeld agreed. “My generals tell me that the insurgents are all homegrown Iraqis. To suggest that they are coming in from other countries, that they are flooding in because of the presence of American forces is, well, just wrong headed.”

Rumsfeld continued, “By this logic, if the US were to withdraw then the insurgency would wither. That’s just stupid.”

Bush’s comments come just two days after he offered a different rational for maintaining the war. On Tuesday the president said that the US should stay in Iraq so that more soldiers can die as a way to honor those who have already died. Speaking to a stupefied VFW audience Bush said, “ We owe them something. We will finish the task that they gave their lives for ... by staying on the offensive against the terrorists, and building strong allies in Afghanistan and Iraq that will help us win and fight -- fight and win the war on terror.''

Conservative news and talk shows immediately went on the offensive against the president. Rush Limbaugh said on his daily radio program, “What is the man saying? I mean, what is he really saying, that terrorism is WORSE because we are in Iraq?” Adding, “ Where does he get his information from, Cindy Sheehan?” referring to the mother of a soldier slain in Iraq who is protesting the war outside the President’s ranch in Crawford Texas.

Bush's remarks, coming with the announcement that 1,500 more troops were headed to Iraq in coming weeks, is part of an effort to counter increased anti-war sentiment which has contributed to a huge decline in his approval ratings.

A Harris poll on Wednesday showed Bush's approval rating dropping to 40 percent, while 58 percent of Americans had a negative opinion of his job performance. This is a startling decline of 5% in just six weeks. The previous Harris poll in June had Bush's approval rating at 45 percent, versus 55 percent disapproval.

Forty-one percent of those polled said Iraq was the most important issue facing the country, up from 24 percent in June. Other recent polls have shown growing unease among Americans with the Iraq war.

Bush said foreign fighters from Saudi Arabia, Syria, Iran, Egypt, Sudan, Yemen, and Libya were targeting Iraqi civilians with car bombs and suicide attacks.

"An immediate withdrawal of our troops in Iraq or the broader Middle East, as some have called for, would only embolden the terrorists and create a staging ground to launch more attacks against America and free nations," Bush declared. “Wait a minute, didn’t I just say that it was the US presence that was creating the insurgency?” The President asked an aide standing behind him.

Returning to his prepared text he concluded weakly, "So long as I'm the president, we will stay, we will fight, and we will win the war on terror,"