Bush vows to ‘stay on offensive’

FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. — President Bush yesterday said the United States and its allies will “stay on the offensive” in the war against terrorism, one year after he ordered U.S. troops into Iraq to disarm dictator Saddam Hussein.

“In one year’s time, Saddam Hussein has gone from a palace to a bunker to a spider hole to jail,” the president said to cheers from more than 10,000 soldiers from the 101st Airborne Division.

Mr. Bush, seeking to neutralize the election-year issue of Iraq and the continuing terrorist attacks there, said the world — including nations that opposed the U.S.-led coalition’s invasion — has learned that “when America makes a pledge, we keep our word.”

“By speaking clearly, by speaking consistently and by meaning what we say, it is more likely the world will be more peaceful,” he told the soldiers gathered in a muddy field on a bright, sunny day.

“Because of your service, because of your bravery, because of your dedication, the world is better off and the American people are more secure.”

But Mr. Bush acknowledged that terrorists who attacked Baghdad yesterday and Madrid last week, killing more than 200 civilians, are trying to break the will of the coalition and spawn fear across “the civilized world.”

“The murderers in Madrid have revealed once again the agenda and the nature of the terrorist enemy. They kill the innocent. They kill children and their mothers,” he said.

Yet they will “never be appeased,” a stark fact that the president said requires all nations to stand strong against a foe that seeks to destabilize the world.

“There is no safety for any nation in a world that lives at the mercy of gangsters and mass murderers. Eventually, there is no place to hide from the planted bombs or the far worse weapons that terrorists seek.

“For the civilized world, there’s only one path to safety. We will stay united, and we will fight until this enemy is broken,” the president said to thunderous applause.

The war in Iraq, which began one year ago today, is taking center stage in the presidential election. The presumptive Democratic nominee, Sen. John Kerry of Massachusetts, is a decorated Vietnam veteran who asserts that the United States has become “bogged down” in Iraq by an administration that “stubbornly holds to failed policies that drive potential allies away.”

“What we have seen is a steady loss of lives and mounting cost in dollars with no end in sight,” Mr. Kerry said Wednesday.

But Mr. Bush continues to cast himself as a “war president” who can best lead the United States through continuing military conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. He has released a series of campaign commercials pointing out Mr. Kerry’s affirmative vote in the Senate last year to use force in Iraq and charging that the Massachusetts senator as president would weaken national security and the U.S. armed forces.

Across the nation, support for the war has ebbed steadily in the past year. A poll released yesterday by the Annenberg Public Policy Center showed 49 percent of those surveyed felt it was worth going to war, and 46 percent said it was not. That compares with a poll in January in which 53 percent said it was worth it and 41 percent said it was not. The percentage of supporters was in the high 70s last March.

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