"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast" -Oscar Wilde |
"The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that watereth, shall be watered also himself." -- Proverbs 11:25 |
President Bush, framing the war against terrorism as "the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st Century" and the war in Iraq as its central front, launched a new, three-week initiative Thursday to reclaim straying public support for the conflict in Iraq.
As the Bush administration works to portray an American struggle with "radical" Islamic terrorists as the historic successor to 20th Century wars against fascism and communism, the president is pointing to the upcoming fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks as a reminder of when this 21st Century war came ashore in the U.S.
Yet observers say the president's new offensive appears more precisely timed for the start of a fall election campaign in which the war in Iraq has become a pivotal issue in congressional and Senate races as the Republican Party struggles to maintain control of Congress.
Renewing a declaration he made in the weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, the president vowed here that any nation that harbors terrorists also is "an enemy of the United States." And, directly accusing Iran of sponsoring terrorism in the Middle East, Bush pledged that Iran's "defiance" of demands to curtail its nuclear program will not go unpunished.
"The war we fight today is more than a military conflict," Bush told the annual convention of the American Legion. "It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st Century."
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While Bush has asked that people not read political motivations into this new series of addresses that will culminate with a speech to the United Nations on Sept. 19, analysts say he is playing to a keypolitical strength in the face of terrorism with a goal of rekindling fear among American voters as midterm elections near.
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For the curtain-raiser of his September campaign for support for the war, Bush chose the American Legion at the Salt Palace Convention Center.
He directly confronted the campaign criticism from Democrats and a growing number of Republicans: That the U.S. took its eye off the enemy after Sept. 11 with its invasion of Iraq.
"Some politicians look at our efforts in Iraq and see a diversion from the war on terror," Bush said. "That would come as news to Osama bin Laden, who proclaimed that the third world war is raging in Iraq."