Bush: U.S. must cut dependence on Mideast oil

WASHINGTON - A politically weakened President Bush declared Tuesday night that America must break its long dependence on Middle East oil and rebuked critics of his stay-the-course strategy for the unpopular war in Iraq.

“America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world,” Bush said as he sought to drive the election-year agenda in his annual State of the Union address.

Rejecting calls for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, Bush said, “There is no peace in retreat.” He also slapped at those who complain he took the country to war on the erroneous grounds that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.

“Hindsight alone is not wisdom,” Bush said. “And second-guessing is not a strategy.”

In an unscripted moment, anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a fallen soldier in Iraq, was taken into custody by police in the House gallery just before Bush spoke to a joint session of Congress. She was escorted from the visitors gallery after she caused a disruption, a Capitol Police official said.

Partisanship prevails
With Congress facing midterm elections in November, there was a partisan mood in the chamber as Bush, hampered by big budget deficits, offered a modest program.

Democrats stood and cheered when Bush said that Congress did not act a year ago “on my proposal to save Social Security.” Bush shook his finger and continued, “yet the rising cost of entitlements is a problem that is not going away.”

Switching gears, Bush asked lawmakers to join him in naming a commission to examine the impact of Baby Boom retirements on Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid spending.

He declared that the “the state of our union is strong” despite Americans’ anxieties about the war in Iraq, the economy and soaring energy costs. Oil prices are inching toward $70 a barrel, throwing a cloud over the economy and pinching Americans’ pocketbooks.

Bush called for increased federal research into alternative fuels such as ethanol made from weeds or wood chips instead of corn.

Democrats hit back
Virginia Gov. Timothy M. Kaine, chosen to deliver the response for the Democrats, scolded Bush on the soaring national debt, the frustrated effort to rebuild the hurricane-battered Gulf Coast, Medicaid cuts and other issues. On Iraq, Kaine said that Americans were given “inaccurate information about the reasons for invading” and that troops were given body armor that was inadequate.

“The federal government should serve the American people,” the newly elected governor said. “But that mission is frustrated by this administration’s poor choices and bad management.

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