David Paul Kuhn (Salon): Mission continued

[Jack Rabbit]

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Dated Tuesday June 28

Mission continued
Facing a public opinion quagmire, President Bush stuck to his guns on Iraq Tuesday night -- but offered no clear plan for winning.
By David Paul Kuhn

As the American public increasingly questions the war in Iraq, and with a growing chorus of critics calling for a clear exit strategy, President Bush stuck to his guns in a speech at Fort Bragg Tuesday night. He stayed with his core theme of fighting the terrorists for the sake of freedom, and asked Americans to stay the course in Iraq.

Bush said that the war there is “difficult and dangerous,” that he sees the “images of violence and bloodshed” and that “every picture is horrifying and the suffering is real" -- but the president failed to explain how he hopes to end that bloodshed, and at what point the enemy is overcome enough to declare victory and bring U.S. soldiers home.

There was little reference to the war's length, now at two years and three months. Bush spoke respectfully of the more than 2,000 Iraqi security forces lost in the line of duty, though he did not mention by number the more than 1,700 American lives lost since the war's onset, nor the far greater tally of U.S. injuries and Iraqi civilian fatalities . . . .

Senator Russ Feingold wanted to know how America was going to win, and how victory would be defined. Watching from his home in Washington D.C., the Wisconsin Democrat and longtime critic of the commander in chief's war strategy, was discouraged.

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