steven
August 12th, 2005, 02:53 PM
CRAWFORD, Texas - Outside President Bush's sprawling ranch, Cindy Sheehan of California sat on the road with a growing group of war protesters. Sheehan's son, Casey, was killed five days after he arrived in Iraq last year at age 24.
Sheehan has been there since Saturday, declaring she would stay for the entire month that Bush plans to remain in Texas if he won't meet with her. Since then, dozens of other activists have traveled from across the country to join her, including at least three other parents who have lost children in the war.
"The president says he feels compassion for me, but the best way to show that compassion is by meeting with me and the other mothers and families who are here," she said. "All we're asking is that he sacrifice an hour of his five-week vacation to talk to us, before the next mother loses her son in Iraq."
Bush said Thursday he sympathizes with war protesters like Sheehan, but he said he believes it would be a mistake to bring U.S. troops home now.
He said he had "heard the voices of those saying, "Pull out now.' "
"I've thought about their cry and their sincere desire to reduce the loss of life by pulling our troops out. I just strongly disagree," he said.
"Pulling the troops out would send a terrible signal to the enemy," he told reporters between meetings with his military and foreign affairs advisers.
More than 1,840 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the war in March 2003.
The White House released a list of all the meetings that Bush has had with families of the war dead - 900 relatives of 272 people who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Bush said reports that the Pentagon may increase or decrease troop levels in Iraq next year are simply "speculation and rumors." However, he noted that the United States had sent more soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan before elections and was considering doing so again before another round of Iraqi elections in December.
Gen. George Casey, the top commander in Iraq, has said repeatedly that "fairly substantial" reductions are expected after the election if the political process stays on track, if the insurgency does not expand and if the training of Iraqi security forces proceeds as planned.
Bush said he would make any decision to remove troops based on recommendations by Casey, who gave a briefing by videolink during the president's ranch meeting with advisers.
Bush said Casey reported that Iraqi security units were becoming more capable, although he acknowledged they were not ready to work alone . He described the Iraqis' progress as improving from "raw recruit" to "plenty capable."
"I know it's hard for some Americans to see that progress," he said. "But we are making progress."
On another topic, Bush indicated that the new Iranian president will receive a U.S. visa to attend an annual U.N. gathering next month in New York.
Bush said U.S. investigators still have not yet determined what role Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may have played in the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Six former hostages have identified Ahmadinejad as one of their captors.
Even so, Bush said, the United States has separate obligations to other countries as the host nation for the United Nations.
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050812/1052540.asp
Sheehan has been there since Saturday, declaring she would stay for the entire month that Bush plans to remain in Texas if he won't meet with her. Since then, dozens of other activists have traveled from across the country to join her, including at least three other parents who have lost children in the war.
"The president says he feels compassion for me, but the best way to show that compassion is by meeting with me and the other mothers and families who are here," she said. "All we're asking is that he sacrifice an hour of his five-week vacation to talk to us, before the next mother loses her son in Iraq."
Bush said Thursday he sympathizes with war protesters like Sheehan, but he said he believes it would be a mistake to bring U.S. troops home now.
He said he had "heard the voices of those saying, "Pull out now.' "
"I've thought about their cry and their sincere desire to reduce the loss of life by pulling our troops out. I just strongly disagree," he said.
"Pulling the troops out would send a terrible signal to the enemy," he told reporters between meetings with his military and foreign affairs advisers.
More than 1,840 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the war in March 2003.
The White House released a list of all the meetings that Bush has had with families of the war dead - 900 relatives of 272 people who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Bush said reports that the Pentagon may increase or decrease troop levels in Iraq next year are simply "speculation and rumors." However, he noted that the United States had sent more soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan before elections and was considering doing so again before another round of Iraqi elections in December.
Gen. George Casey, the top commander in Iraq, has said repeatedly that "fairly substantial" reductions are expected after the election if the political process stays on track, if the insurgency does not expand and if the training of Iraqi security forces proceeds as planned.
Bush said he would make any decision to remove troops based on recommendations by Casey, who gave a briefing by videolink during the president's ranch meeting with advisers.
Bush said Casey reported that Iraqi security units were becoming more capable, although he acknowledged they were not ready to work alone . He described the Iraqis' progress as improving from "raw recruit" to "plenty capable."
"I know it's hard for some Americans to see that progress," he said. "But we are making progress."
On another topic, Bush indicated that the new Iranian president will receive a U.S. visa to attend an annual U.N. gathering next month in New York.
Bush said U.S. investigators still have not yet determined what role Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad may have played in the 1979 takeover of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Six former hostages have identified Ahmadinejad as one of their captors.
Even so, Bush said, the United States has separate obligations to other countries as the host nation for the United Nations.
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050812/1052540.asp