Beijing – After more than a week of increasingly harsh rhetoric, President Bush sought Sunday to tone down the raging debate on Iraq and offered an olive branch to the pro-military Democratic lawmaker condemned by the White House for turning against the war last week.
Summoning reporters between meetings with Chinese leaders in Beijing, Bush said he welcomed the political battle over the war as a “worthy debate” and rejected attempts to question the patriotism of those who oppose the war. He also said he did not want the bitter conflict to degenerate into a partisan showdown.
“People should feel comfortable about expressing their opinions about Iraq,” the president said. “I heard somebody say, ‘Well, maybe so-and-so is not patriotic’ because they disagree with my position. I totally reject that thought. This is not an issue of who’s (a) patriot and who’s not patriotic. It’s an issue of an honest, open debate about the way forward in Iraq.”
Without being asked, Bush praised Rep. John Murtha, D- Pa., a decorated Vietnam War veteran and legislative hawk who last week said the United States needs to immediately withdraw troops from Iraq.
“Congressman Murtha is a fine man, a good man, who served our country with honor and distinction as a Marine in Vietnam and as a United States congressman,” Bush said. “He is a strong supporter of the United States military. And I know the decision to call for an immediate withdrawal of our troops by Congressman Murtha was done in a careful and thoughtful way. I disagree with his position.”
Meanwhile, the debate continued on Sunday morning television, where Murtha described his views in detail, and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld appeared on four talk shows to rebut them.
In an interview with Tim Russert on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the congressman was conciliatory, but if anything even more emphatic about what he views as the futility of American military operations in Iraq.
“I’m very hopeful that my proposal is something they’ll take seriously, that he’ll (Bush) get a few of us to the White House and talk to us about this,” Murtha said.
But he went on to say: “I’m absolutely convinced that we’re making no progress at all. … Until we turn it over to the Iraqis, we’re going to continue to do the fighting. … They’ll have to work this out themselves.”
The tenor of Bush’s remarks contrasted sharply with the White House message since before the president left for Asia.
