Bush: ‘We will win’ war on terrorism 

updated 8:53 p.m. ET Aug. 24, 2005

NAMPA, Idaho - President Bush, rebutting critics who are calling for the U.S. to pull out of Iraq, pledged that as long as he is president “we will stay, we will fight and we will win the war on terrorism.”

In a speech to members of the Idaho National Guard and their families, the second this week by the president in an effort to rebuild support for the war, Bush emphasized the sacrifices military families make. He noted that Idaho has the highest percentage of National Guard troops serving in Iraq.

“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 said.

“So long as I am president we will stay, we will fight and we will win the war on terrorism,” he declared.

'I made a decision'
Bush said the country faced a clear choice after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 —either hunker down and retreat or “bring the war to the terrorists, striking them before they could kill more of our people.”

“I made a decision. America will not wait to be attacked again,” he said. “We will confront emerging threats before they fully materialize.”

After the speech, Bush was meeting privately with some relatives of military families before returning to his Texas ranch in the evening.

Among the families scheduled to meet with Bush was 18-year-old Stevie Bitah. Her father father, Army National Guard Staff Sgt. Virgil R. Case, died June 1 from non-combat related wounds in Iraq.

“At first, I was kind of scared to do it — I didn’t know what to expect. There’s been lots of anger and sadness,” Bitah said.  “If I met with him, I think he’d know that this person I lost was important to me — not only to me, but to my entire family.”

Sadness and pride
Bitah said she does not share the anti-war views of Cindy Sheehan, the California woman who lost a son in Iraq and has given momentum to the peace movement by holding a vigil near Bush’s ranch. But Bitah said she hopes American forces will return soon to spare other families the loss she endured.

“I don’t think he intended to go over there and have people lose family members. He’s doing it for specific reasons; he’s doing it to protect our country,” Bitah said of Bush. “My dad chose to go over there and that’s something he was proud of, and our family was proud of him.”

Bush is trying to rebuild support for the Iraq mission in the face of a growing opposition led by Sheehan, who first met the president after her son’s death in Iraq last year and is now pressing for a follow-up meeting.

Addressing reporters Tuesday at a resort in Donnelly in the mountains north of Boise, Bush talked specifically about Sheehan.

“She expressed her opinion. I disagree with it,” he said. “I think immediate withdrawal from Iraq would be a mistake” and a “policy that would weaken the United States.”

Bush said he appreciates Sheehan’s right to protest and that he understands her anguish because he has met with a lot of grieving families of the war dead.

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