President Bush

President Bush said the videotaped threats are meant to force the United States to pull its troops out of Iraq and abandon broader efforts to bring peace to the Middle East.

"He is saying, 'leave'. As I have told the American people, people like Zawahiri have an ideology that is dark, dim, backwards," said the president. "They don't appreciate women, if you don't agree with their narrow view of a religion, you will be whipped in the public square. That's their view. And they have tactics to help spread that view."

President Bush said he will stay the course in Iraq and complete the job there, only withdrawing U.S. troops once Iraqi forces are better able to handle more of their own security.

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MAY 24, 2004

How Long To "Stay The Course" In Iraq?
Approval for the Bush Administration's open-ended commitment is eroding

How long will America's commitment to its Iraq mission last? In the year since the U.S. invasion, that question has received little scrutiny. For Republicans and most Democrats, the mantra has been simple: "Stay the course." With Saddam Hussein in jail and Iraq's potential as a haven for weapons of mass destruction neutralized, both parties willingly backed an open-ended troop commitment to install a stable, democratic government in Baghdad and, in Bush Administration dreams, throughout the Islamic world.

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CAMP DAVID (ILNS) — President Bush once again mocked calls for U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq as “election-year politics from cut and run liberals who can’t seem to remember 9/11 so they would endanger our security and disrespect our brave men and women just to make personal attacks against me. It's bad policy. I know it may sound like good policy politically to some who would cut and run, but it will endanger our country to pull out of Iraq before we accomplish the mission, which is to stay the course. As long as we stay the course, we’ll leave that decision [of when to withdraw] to our military commanders on the ground."

White House "Stay The Course" Demand Dooms Vulnerable GOP Incumbents

by Steve Soto

As we suggested late last week, in the aftermath of the “success” in killing al-Zarqawi, Bush is back to Cowboy George mode with regards to Iraq, telling his troops in Congress to buck it up, start talking Victory in Iraq, and to bash Democrats who don’t share such “last throes” optimism as being quitters, unpatriotic, and worse. The New York Times runs a story today about how the White House and GOP are now grasping at making Iraq a campaign positive this fall, when just a few weeks ago the midterm election plan was to ramp down any talk of Iraq and to talk up the economy.

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Staying the course? So did the Titanic!

Less than a year ago, George Bush spoke to reporters at the White House about his strategy for dealing with insurgency in Iraq.  In a moment of embarrassing bravado he snarled to the world: Bring ‘em on!    And guess what... they came.

They came from every quarter: the Shia who hated Saddam and the Sunis who supported him. They came from newly recruited terror groups, and from across unguarded borders. Roadside explosions and suicide bombs took their daily toll, and Iraq gradually spiraled into a region of greater and greater chaos and death.  Today, as new battles erupt each day, and no one knows for certain the face of the insurgency, the quagmire deepens.  Today, close to 900 coalition troops and thousands of Iraqis have died, and so very, very many have been maimed for life.

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Stay the course, Bush says

Asserts reelection would bring gains in war on terror

By Pete Yost, Associated Press     July 21, 2004

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa -- President Bush said yesterday his reelection will ensure safety for Americans as well as for those in the rest of the world in the war against terrorism.

''After four years more in this office I want people to look back and say, 'The world is a more peaceful place,' " Bush told supporters at a community college in Iowa. ''Four more years and America will be safer and the world will be more peaceful."

In justifying having gone to war in Iraq, the president said: ''You can't just hope for the best. You have to lead."

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The Independent October 28, 2003

Defiant Bush vows to 'stay the course'

By Andrew Buncombe

President Bush said the US would "stay the course" in Iraq yesterday as the latest wave of violence raised questions about America's timetable for withdrawal of its forces.

Mr Bush and officials sought to blame "desperate" insurgents for the bombings, claiming that America's success in rebuilding Iraq was motivating such attacks.

"The more progress we make on the ground, the more free the Iraqis become, the more electricity that's available, the more jobs are available, the more kids that are going to school, the more desperate these killers become," he said after a meeting at the White House with his senior administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer. "[They] can't stand the thought of a free society. They hate freedom. They love terror. They love to try to create fear and chaos." He added: "It's in the national interest of the United States that a peaceful Iraq emerges, and we will stay the course in order to achieve this."

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