Washington – President Bush warned Americans on Tuesday to expect more violence in Iraq over the next year but called it the price of progress as that country builds up its security forces and moves toward democracy.
Speaking to members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, Bush said that in the coming weeks, Iraq is likely to be the scene of “a good deal of political turmoil” as factions jockey for position and vie for power.
Rather than being alarmed by those developments, he said, “we should welcome this for what it is: freedom in action.”
“Out of the turmoil in Iraq, a free government will emerge that represents the will of the Iraqi people, instead of the will of one cruel dictator,” Bush said.
The president’s remarks to 425 VFW members came during a time of surging violence in Iraq, where more than 200 Iraqis and 16 U.S. soldiers have been killed since last Wednesday. It also marked the latest in a series of speeches he has given since December aimed at more specifically outlining the administration’s strategy for Iraq while sketching a picture of what it will take to earn victory in the unpopular war.
Bush said he expects Iraq to be a continuing source of political contention.
But, in a thinly veiled warning to his Democratic critics, he called on voters to demand a responsible debate “that brings credit to our democracy, not comfort to our enemies.”
“The American people know the difference between responsible and irresponsible debate when they see it,” he said. “They know the difference between honest critics who question the way the war is being prosecuted and partisan critics who claim that we acted in Iraq because of oil or because of Israel or because we misled the American people.”
In response, Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., said it was the White House that had twisted the Iraq debate by attacking critics and sidelining a general and a White House economic aide who had offered pre- war predictions that the invasion would require more troops and money than the administration estimated.
He said the administration has been “firing or ignoring those who spoke the truth about Iraq and rewarding those who manipulated the facts and were so obviously wrong about the war.”
The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.
