President Bush said Thursday that any fundamental change in America’s policy toward Iraq will have to come from future presidents because he is committed to bringing democracy to the war-torn nation.
While emphasizing that he will continue to change tactics in Iraq, Bush made clear that he will never abandon his core conviction that U.S. forces must remain there until the fledgling democracy can stand on its own.
“It’s akin to the Cold War, in many ways,” he said during a joint news conference with British Prime Minister Tony Blair. “There’s an ideological clash going on. And the question is: Will we have the resolve and the confidence in liberty to prevail?
“That’s really the fundamental question we’re facing — it’s not going to face this government or this government, because we made up our mind,” he added, gesturing to Blair. “We’ve made that part clear.
“But it’ll face future governments. There will be future opportunities for people to say, ‘Well, it’s not worth it. Let’s just retreat. I would strongly advise a government not to accept that position because of the dangers inherent with isolationism and retreat.”
By warning future presidents not to alter the objective he has laid out in Iraq, Bush made clear that he will spend the last two years of his presidency continuing his aggressive pursuit of terrorists in Iraq and the broader Middle East.
“Should they succeed, history will look back on our time with unforgiving clarity and demand to know: What happened? How come free nations did not act to preserve the peace?” he said.
Bush seemed increasingly focused on his own legacy as he enters the final phase of his presidency. He alluded to the topic again while sketching out a nightmare scenario in which radicals topple governments throughout the Middle East and use nuclear weapons “to blackmail Great Britain or America or anybody else who doesn’t kowtow to them.”
“Historians will look back and say: ‘How come Bush and Blair couldn’t see the threat?’ That’s what they’ll be asking,” he said. “And I want to tell you, I see the threat. And I believe it is up to our governments to help lead the forces of moderation to prevail.”
While acknowledging that “it’s bad in Iraq,” the president insisted the rising violence will not culminate in a defeat of U.S. forces.
“We will prevail,” he vowed. “One way to assure failure is just to quit, is not to adjust and say it’s just not worth it. If we were to fail, that failed policy will come to hurt generations of Americans in the future.”
Having compared the war on terrorism to the Cold War, Bush also likened it to World War II, noting that the U.S. was drawn into that conflict by the attack on Pearl Harbor.
“Sixty-five years ago this day, America was jolted out of our isolationism and plunged into a global war that Britain had been fighting for two years,” he said. “There were difficult moments during that war, yet the leaders of our two nations never lost faith in the capacity to prevail.”
“We will stand firm again in this first war of the 21st century. We will defeat the extremists and the radicals. We will help a young democracy prevail in Iraq. And, in so doing, we will secure freedom and peace for millions, including our own citizens.”
