Bush’s Gulf Goal: New Moral Order : War: The President invokes memory of Roosevelt in talk with lawmakers at the Capitol.

President Bush today invoked the memory of another wartime President, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and said the goal of the Persian Gulf War is the triumph of a new “moral order” in the world.

“We ask God to bless us, to guide us and to help us through whatever dark nights we still may face,” the President told lawmakers at the Capitol.

Bush made no mention in his brief speech of the deaths of 12 Marines in a battle with Iraqi troops a few miles inside Saudi Arabia today.

Bush was “very saddened” by the deaths, spokesman Marlin Fitzwater said afterward.

Fitzwater said the fighting did not represent the start of the ground war. He indicated that Bush has not ordered U.S. forces to launch that effort yet.

He said Bush on Friday will visit three southern bases that deployed troops in the gulf: Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station in Havelock, N.C., Seymour Johnson Air Force Base in Goldsboro, N.C., and Ft. Stewart, Savannah, Ga. In addition to making public remarks, Bush will meet privately with the families of soldiers missing in action.

In his speech, Bush noted that 50 years ago, with the United States on the verge of World War II, Roosevelt articulated four freedoms--freedom of expression, freedom of worship, freedom from want and freedom from fear.

“No one knew better than President Roosevelt what hard work freedom really is,” he said.