Defying Democratic demands for a troop withdrawal from Iraq, President Bush marked the Fourth of July on Wednesday by saying U.S. forces must stabilize the war-torn nation before leaving.
“Withdrawing our troops prematurely based on politics, not on the advice and recommendation of our military commanders, would not be in our national interest,” Bush told members of the National Guard in West Virginia. “It would hand the enemy a victory and put America’s security at risk – and that’s something we’re not going to do.”
On his fourth Independence Day visit to West Virginia since becoming president, Bush compared U.S. troops fighting the war on terror to “the brave citizen-soldiers of our Continental Army” more than two centuries ago.
“Those who wear the uniform are the successors of those who dropped their pitchforks and picked up their muskets to fight for liberty,” he said. “Like those early patriots, you’re fighting a new and unprecedented war – pledging your lives and honor to defend our freedom and way of life.”
Under mounting pressure to end the four-year-old Iraq war, Bush reminded soldiers that it took longer to win America’s independence from Britain.
“Our first Independence Day celebration took place in a midst of a war – a bloody and difficult struggle that would not end for six more years before America finally secured her freedom,” he said in a mid-morning speech. “It is hard to imagine the Revolutionary War coming out any other way – but at the time, America’s victory was far from certain.”
Bush returned to the White House later in the morning to celebrate the Fourth of July and his 61st birthday (two days early) with friends and family, including his parents and twin daughters.
