President Bush said Tuesday night (early Wednesday Middle East time) he is willing to send more American soldiers to Iraq. He said he was confident the nation would support him despite "gut-wrenching" televised images of fallen Americans.
Bush rejected suggestions that Iraq was becoming another Vietnam. "I think that analogy is false," he said. "I also happen to think that analogy sends the wrong message to our troops and sends the wrong message to the enemy."
Bush said a recent spike in violence is neither a civil war nor a popular uprising. "The violence we've seen is a power grab by...extreme and ruthless elements" from inside Iraq and from outside.
The US leader noted the United States would stick to a June 30 deadline for handing over political power to Iraqis. He said a U.N. envoy would help decide which Iraqis would be placed in charge.
According to Bush, America's yearlong involvement in Iraq "seems like a long time to the loved ones whose troops have been overseas. But when you think about where the country has come from, it's a relatively short period of time."
Bush said Gen. John Abizaid, the commander of U.S. forces in the Middle East, indicated he need more forces in Iraq. "If that's what he wants, that's what he gets," Bush said. "And we'll need to be there for a while."
Bush said he had ordered military commanders "to make every preparation to use decisive force if necessary to maintain order and to protect our troops."
Bush said the United States was demanding the capture of Muqtada al-Sadr, a Shiite leader whose supporters have fought U.S. forces in southern Iraq. He said he had instructed the military to use decisive force if necessary to crush the "insurgency."
Before Bush's comments, four bodies have been found in Iraq, possibly the remains of private contractors missing since an attack on their convoy outside Baghdad.
A State Department official on Tuesday confirmed the discovery of the bodies. Initial reports said the four bodies were mutilated, but those reports were not confirmed, the official said, according to The AP.
NBC News reported that the four bodies were in a shallow grave between Fallujah and Abu Ghraib, scene of the convoy attack, and that U.S. officials were led to the grave by an Iraqi.
Two U.S. soldiers and seven employees of Halliburton subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root have been missing since their convoy was attacked Friday on the main highway west of Baghdad, between the district of Abu Ghraib and the central city of Fallujah. (Albawaba.com)
© 2004 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
