WASHINGTON - President Bush is invoking the memory of the Sept. 11 victims killed five years ago to argue for a continued military campaign in Iraq before a skeptical American public, drawing protests from Democrats who say he has politicized a national day of mourning.
In a prime-time speech broadcast on Monday's anniversary of the terror attacks, the president described a brutal enemy still determined to kill Americans, perhaps with weapons of mass destruction if they get the chance.
"If we do not defeat these enemies now, we will leave our children to face a Middle East overrun by terrorist states and radical dictators armed with nuclear weapons," Bush said. "We are in a war that will set the course for this new century and determine the destiny of millions across the world."
---
"The president should be ashamed of using a national day of mourning to commandeer the airwaves to give a speech that was designed not to unite the country and commemorate the fallen but to seek support for a war in Iraq that he has admitted had nothing to do with 9/11," Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (news, bio, voting record), D-Mass., said in a statement. "There will be time to debate this president's policies in Iraq. September 11th is not that time."
No comments:
Post a Comment