meanwhile, back at the ranch..

Bush defends cost of Iraq war; Sunday, August 21, 2005 ; Japan Today

CRAWFORD — U.S. President George W Bush, besieged at his ranch by relatives of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq, on Saturday launched a five-day campaign to defend the war to an increasingly sceptical U.S. public. In his weekly radio address from his Prairie Chapel property, Bush said that the war would help avert another attack like the Sept 11 terrorist strikes and that the best way to honor fallen troops was to defeat global terrorism. "We must finish the task that our troops have given their lives for and honor their sacrifice by completing their mission," said Bush, whose approval ratings have slipped to some of the lowest levels of his presidency.

More than 1,800 US soldiers have been killed in Iraq and thousands more wounded in a conflict with a price tag in the tens of billions of dollars. A recent poll found that a majority of Americans — 57% — believe that the war has made the United States more vulnerable to terrorist attacks, despite Bush's frequent arguments that the conflict has made them safer....

The president said he would commemorate the 60th anniversary of the end of fighting in the Pacific theater of World War II — a conflict he frequently compares to the war on terrorism. "Like previous wars we have waged to protect our freedom, the war on terror requires great sacrifice from Americans," especially those serving in the armed forces, said Bush.

http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&cat=8&id=346893