Bush Aligns Nation’s Past and Present Wars

Invoking the memory of more than 270 service members buried at Arlington National Cemetery who have died in combat since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, President Bush vowed Monday to honor them by “completing the mission for which they gave their lives.”

Speaking at Arlington after laying a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns as part of annual Memorial Day remembrances, Bush drew parallels between the forces felled in Iraq and Afghanistan and their predecessors who were killed in Korea, Vietnam and the two world wars, saying they all died fighting enemies abroad so the United States would not have to face them at home.

“In this place where valor sleeps, we are reminded why America has always gone to war reluctantly, because we know the costs of war,” Bush said. “We have seen those costs in the war on terror we fight today.”

Bush added that even as Americans mourned the deaths of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States would continue the fight, saying the country could best honor those killed “by defeating the terrorists, by advancing the cause of liberty, and by laying the foundation of peace for a generation of young Americans.”

As of Monday, 2,466 U.S. soldiers have died in Iraq and 292 in Afghanistan, according to Defense Department figures.

Speaking on a hot, cloudless day, Bush was greeted warmly by friends and relatives of fallen soldiers and by the veterans in attendance. The loudest applause came when he told the story of Army Lt. Col. Joseph J. Fenty Jr., who was buried at Arlington last week after being killed in a helicopter crash in Afghanistan before ever meeting his newborn daughter.

One of Fenty’s soldiers described his unit as being in awe of its leader, said Bush, adding he shared that feeling. “I am in awe of the men and women who sacrifice for the freedom of the United States of America,” the president said to loud cheers.

Bush’s remarks came on the same day that car bombs in Iraq killed at least 33 people, including one American soldier and two CBS journalists embedded with the U.S. military. The president’s comments were preceded by short addresses from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, both of whom thanked the soldiers who had died and offered strong endorsements of Bush’s stewardship.

Pace said Bush and Rumsfeld were providing soldiers “the very finest” leadership, and Rumsfeld called Bush “a historic leader, a selfless leader.”

Rumsfeld also indirectly addressed public criticism of the war in Iraq, arguing that although naysayers had existed during most American wars, the U.S. military had always done its duty professionally and with honor.

“In whatever era they lived, it was said by some that America was a fading nation; in whatever era they fought, it was said by some that their fighting was not worth the cost,” Rumsfeld said of the generations of soldiers buried at Arlington. “Yet every time, in every era, these citizen-soldiers answered those who doubted our country’s cause with grit and gallantry.”

The strong backing of Bush comes as his handling of the war in Iraq has increasingly been questioned by the American public. In an ABC News/Washington Post poll released this month, 66% of those surveyed said they disapproved of his handling of the war, the highest percentage to date.

Bush also used Memorial Day to sign two pieces of legislation aimed at helping military personnel and their families. One bill revises the Internal Revenue Service code to allow service members to deposit tax-free combat pay into individual retirement accounts, and the other bans some demonstrations at government-run cemeteries.

The ban was passed by Congress last week in response to a Topeka, Kan., church group that has been demonstrating near funerals of soldiers killed in Iraq, holding placards claiming that God was punishing the U.S. for its tolerance of homosexuals. Ban violators face up to a $100,000 fine and up to a year in prison.