| We hope you enjoy your visit. You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free. Join our community! If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features: |
| George W. Bush Gives Final Defense for Iraq War | |
|---|---|
| Topic Started: Jan 16 2009, 03:39 AM (78 Views) | |
| Sayf Udeen Ismaeel | Jan 16 2009, 03:39 AM Post #1 |
Icon by meagan_chelsea @ LJ
|
George W. Bush defends record in final address as US president
GEORGE W. Bush had said he did everything he could to keep the US safe from terrorist attacks in his final address as the country's president. In his farewell speech after eight divisive years in office, the vastly unpopular Mr Bush urged agreement - on his success in thwarting attacks like those of September 11, 2001, on the need for global US leadership and on the historic nature of swearing in the first black US president. Mr Obama is "a man whose story reflects the enduring promise of our land", Mr Bush said his 8pm (1200 AEDT ) address, his last public appearance before welcoming his successor to the White House on January 20. "This is a moment of hope and pride for our whole nation. And I join all Americans in offering best wishes to president-elect Obama, his wife Michelle, and their two beautiful girls," said the outgoing president. Mr Bush also admitted to unspecified "setbacks" and things he "would do differently" today as he mounted an all-out defence of two terms defined by the devastation of September 11. "While our nation is safer than it was seven years ago, the gravest threat to our people remains another terrorist attack," he said, underlining that if others led normal lives after the 2001 attacks, "I never did." "We must resist complacency. We must keep our resolve. And we must never let down our guard. At the same time, we must continue to engage the world with confidence and clear purpose," he said. Rejecting charges that the Iraq war and interrogation practices widely seen as torture have blunted US moral standing, Mr Bush warned: "If America does not lead the cause of freedom, that cause will not be led." President defends terrorism policy And Mr Bush forcefully defended many of his controversial anti-terrorism policies, alluding to expanded spying on Americans and wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which have sharply divided the US public. "There is legitimate debate about many of these decisions. But there can be little debate about the results. America has gone more than seven years without another terrorist attack on our soil," he said. Where a long-ago predecessor, Thomas Jefferson, vowed an isolationism-tinged foreign policy to avoid "entangling alliances", Mr Bush bluntly warned the US that "retreating behind our borders would only invite danger". Mr Bush, his presidency scarred by the failure to find weapons of mass destruction at the core of the public case for war in Iraq and the botched government response to killer Hurricane Katrina in 2005, took a rare personal tone to admit: "I have experienced setbacks." "There are things I would do differently if given the chance," he said, adding: "You may not agree with some tough decisions I have made. But I hope you can agree that I was willing to make the tough decisions." Mr Bush's speech was to be the culmination of a weeks-long campaign to polish his record, including frequent defences of the Iraq war and a sharp focus on the global war on terrorism he declared after September 11, 2001. http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24920364-2,00.html |
 |
 
|
| 1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous) | |
| « Previous Topic · Iraq · Next Topic » |
4:11 PM Nov 25
