Bush sees more ‘sacrifices’ in Iraq

WASHINGTON – US President George W Bush warned on Tuesday that the increasingly unpopular war in Iraq “will require more sacrifice,” as the official death toll among US forces there reached 2 000.

Bush, who ruled out a swift US withdrawal, also praised Iraqi voters for their “courageous” approval of a new constitution that Washington hopes will sap support away from a deadly insurgency. With a new poll showing most Americans say the March 2003 invasion was a bad decision, Bush used a lengthy speech to military families here to try to contain potential political damage from the rising US casualty rate.”This war will require more sacrifice, more time and more resolve,” he said in remarks at Bolling Air Force Base here.”The best way to honour the sacrifice of our fallen troops is to complete the mission.”Fatalities among US troops reached the milestone when the Pentagon announced that a US soldier injured in Iraq had died from his wounds in Texas.The US president also called on the United Nations to punish Syria, which he accused of serving as a base for terrorists in Iraq and linked to the February assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri.”The United Nations must act, and Syria and its leaders must be held accountable for their continuing support of terrorism, including any involvement in the murder of Prime Minister Hariri,” he said.Bush, his poll numbers at their worst level since he took office in January 2001, pointed to the growth of fledgling security forces and the approval of a new constitution as hopeful signs of progress in Iraq.”With their courageous vote, the Iraqi people have once again proved their determination to build a democracy united against extremism and violence,” he said of the recent constitutional referendum.The country’s first post-Saddam Hussein charter passed by a simple majority after opponents failed to muster the two-thirds majority in three of Iraq’s 18 provinces necessary to block ratification.Seeking to shore up waning support for the war in Iraq, Bush linked it to the war on terrorism he declared after the September 11, 2001 attacks by Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network, and warned against leaving the country in the hands of the terrorists’s frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.”Some observers also claim that America would be better off by cutting our losses and leaving Iraq now.This is a dangerous illusion, refuted by a simple question: Would the United States and other free nations be more safe or less safe with Zarqawi and bin Laden in control of Iraq?” said the president.Bush also rejected warnings that the invasion and occupation of Iraq had served as a recruitment tool for Islamists and that the ongoing US occupation served to radicalise more Muslims.”Some have argued that extremism has been strengthened by the actions of our coalition in Iraq,” he said.”I would remind them that we were not in Iraq on September the 11th, 2001, and al Qaeda attacked us anyway.”Bush later met with Massud Barzani, president of northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish zone.”We express our sympathy to the families of your brave men and women in uniform, those who have sacrificed their lives in order to make other people free and liberated,” Barzani said through an interpreter.In his speech, Bush rejected worries that Iraq could fracture along Kurdish, Sunni and Shi’ite lines, saying that Iraq’s new constitution and elections set for December will give them all “a stake and a voice in the future of their country.”US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on a trip to Canada, downplayed the strong “no” vote from the Sunnis, who are thought to be fuelling the bloody insurgency there.She said the referendum confirmed the Sunnis “are now really involved in the process” and stressed that the new parliament to be elected in December would be able to make further changes to the constitution.- Nampa-AFPWith a new poll showing most Americans say the March 2003 invasion was a bad decision, Bush used a lengthy speech to military families here to try to contain potential political damage from the rising US casualty rate.”This war will require more sacrifice, more time and more resolve,” he said in remarks at Bolling Air Force Base here.”The best way to honour the sacrifice of our fallen troops is to complete the mission.”Fatalities among US troops reached the milestone when the Pentagon announced that a US soldier injured in Iraq had died from his wounds in Texas.The US president also called on the United Nations to punish Syria, which he accused of serving as a base for terrorists in Iraq and linked to the February assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafiq Hariri.”The United Nations must act, and Syria and its leaders must be held accountable for their continuing support of terrorism, including any involvement in the murder of Prime Minister Hariri,” he said.Bush, his poll numbers at their worst level since he took office in January 2001, pointed to the growth of fledgling security forces and the approval of a new constitution as hopeful signs of progress in Iraq.”With their courageous vote, the Iraqi people have once again proved their determination to build a democracy united against extremism and violence,” he said of the recent constitutional referendum.The country’s first post-Saddam Hussein charter passed by a simple majority after opponents failed to muster the two-thirds majority in three of Iraq’s 18 provinces necessary to block ratification.Seeking to shore up waning support for the war in Iraq, Bush linked it to the war on terrorism he declared after the September 11, 2001 attacks by Osama bin Laden’s al Qaeda network, and warned against leaving the country in the hands of the terrorists’s frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.”Some observers also claim that America would be better off by cutting our losses and leaving Iraq now.This is a dangerous illusion, refuted by a simple question: Would the United States and other free nations be more safe or less safe with Zarqawi and bin Laden in control of Iraq?” said the president.Bush also rejected warnings that the invasion and occupation of Iraq had served as a recruitment tool for Islamists and that the ongoing US occupation served to radicalise more Muslims.”Some have argued that extremism has been strengthened by the actions of our coalition in Iraq,” he said.”I would remind them that we were not in Iraq on September the 11th, 2001, and al Qaeda attacked us anyway.”Bush later met with Massud Barzani, president of northern Iraq’s semi-autonomous Kurdish zone.”We express our sympathy to the families of your brave men and women in uniform, those who have sacrificed their lives in order to make other people free and liberated,” Barzani said through an interpreter.In his speech, Bush rejected worries that Iraq could fracture along Kurdish, Sunni and Shi’ite lines, saying that Iraq’s new constitution and elections set for December will give them all “a stake and a voice in the future of their country.”US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, on a trip to Canada, downplayed the strong “no” vote from the Sunnis, who are thought to be fuelling the bloody insurgency there.She said the referendum confirmed the Sunnis “are now really involved in the process” and stressed that the new parliament to be elected in December would be able to make further changes to the constitution.- Nampa-AFP