Bush pledges ‘no retreat’ from Iraq

ST. LOUIS — President Bush yesterday vowed “no retreat” from guerrilla attacks on American soldiers in Iraq and criticized world leaders for opposing U.S. efforts to rid the world of terrorism, saying “no nation can be neutral in the struggle between civilization and chaos.”

Declaring the current struggle in Iraq a “point of testing in the war on terror,” the president told a group of war veterans that “the more progress we make in Iraq, the more desperate the terrorists will become.”

“They have declared war on the entire civilized world,” he said, alluding to last week’s deadly attack on the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad.

“The civilized world will not be intimidated. Retreat in the face of terror would only invite further and bolder attacks. There will be no retreat. We are on the offensive,” he said, drawing applause from thousands gathered for the 85th annual convention of the American Legion.

Reiterating a tenet of the Bush Doctrine, which he laid out shortly after the September 11 attacks, the president said the United States must take the battle to terrorists around the world, despite the risk to U.S. soldiers.

“We’ve adopted a new strategy for a new kind of war,” he said. “We will not wait for known enemies to strike us again. We will strike them in their camps or caves or wherever they hide, before they hit more of our cities and kill more of our citizens.”

Addressing critics on Capitol Hill who have begun to suggest the United States pull troops out of Iraq, Mr. Bush said such a move would jeopardize the safety of Americans.

“The stakes could not be greater for the American people,” he said. “Our military is confronting terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan and in other places so our people will not have to confront terrorist violence in New York, or St. Louis or Los Angeles,” he said.

The president also had harsh words for international opponents of the war in Iraq — which include France, Germany and Russia, each of which continues to oppose new efforts to spread the work in rebuilding the nation.

“Every nation that stands on the side of freedom and the value of human rights must condemn terrorism and act against the few who would destroy the hopes of the many,” Mr. Bush said, drawing loud applause.

The president’s comments came amid calls by liberal Democrats and news pundits for the United States to either pull troops out of Iraq or bolster deployments there.

Newspapers, networks and wire agencies also stated yesterday that the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq since May 1 — when Mr. Bush declared the end of major combat — now surpasses the number killed during the six-week war.

The numbers, however, are only partially accurate. While 141 U.S. soldiers have been killed since May 1, just 63 were killed in action; 78 died in nonhostile incidents. Between March 19 — when Mr. Bush first sent in troops — and May 1, 112 U.S. service members were killed in action. Twenty-five died in nonhostile incidents in that period.

A new poll released yesterday showed continued public support for the administration’s stance. An ABC survey found nearly 60 percent of all Americans back the war in Iraq. Almost seven in 10 said U.S. forces should stay in Iraq until civil order is restored.

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