From CBSNews.com – President Bush on Thursday defended the slow pace of progress in Iraq, asserting “it is not foot-dragging” as Iraqi politicians try to reach agreement on political, security and economic goals.

Bush derided calls from Congress for troop withdrawals or deadlines so that the military could focus more on the anti-terror battle elsewhere. “This argument makes no sense,” he said.

###

Makes no sense for whom? Haliburton?, Blackwater? The oil companies? The Taliban is still headquartered where? Not Iraq. If we are going to fight terrorists (and we should), we need to fight them in the right place. Picking a fight with Iran via the insurgents (and calling them al Qaeda) in Iraq doesn’t solve the problem of al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan and Pakistan. This administration will, to its dying day, put Iraq and al Qaeda in every sentence they speak about terrorists .

“No matter what shortcomings these critics diagnose, their prescription is always the same: retreat,” Bush said. “They claim that our strategic interest is elsewhere and if we would just get out of Iraq, we could focus on the battles that really matter.”

“If America’s strategic interests are not in Iraq, the convergence point for the twin threats of al Qaeda and Iran, the nation Osama bin Laden’s deputy has called the place for the greatest battle, the country at the heart of the most volatile region on earth, then where are they?”

Here at home…

Comments are closed.