Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Bush fights uphill battle for war plan

The Iraq war came to Nevada on Tuesday.

President Bush offered a vigorous defense of the conflict, speaking before veterans at an American Legion convention in Reno. Anti-war groups held protests to challenge support for the war by Nevada Republican Reps. Jon Porter and Dean Heller.

Bush's speech was his second to veterans in a week. The protests, by Americans Against Escalation in Iraq, were the culmination of a 10-week campaign targeting congressional representatives in 15 states and 40 districts.

The activity comes as Congress completes the last days of its August recess, a time in which lawmakers meet with and listen to constituents for a reality check before heading back to Washington. This year, their September agenda includes a crucial moment in the war. Gen. David Petraeus, the top military commander in Iraq, and U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker plan to give their assessment of conditions in the country.

The argument for continuing large - scale U.S. involvement will be a tough sell to the country, according to public opinion polls showing that Americans' opposition to the war has been fixed for months.

A Pew Research Center poll this month found public attitudes about the war have changed little in recent months. A majority of Americans believe the war was a mistake and that the military effort is not going well. An overwhelming majority - 63 percent of those polled - want their congressional representative to vote for a bill that calls for withdrawal from Iraq next year.

In Nevada, a Las Vegas Review-Journal poll in May, the most recent in-state survey on the war, found that a majority of Nevadans opposed the surge and supported a troop withdrawal that would begin by October.

A Reno Gazette-Journal poll this week found that the Iraq war is the single most important issue to Nevada voters in determining their choice for president. Although the newspaper did not poll on overall voter support for the war, there is one indicator of Nevada sentiment: Sixty-seven percent of those polled opposed or strongly opposed deploying National Guard troops to Iraq. A similar share opposed combat deployments to Afghanistan and other fronts.

Bush's visit on Tuesday was part of a broader effort to defend the administration's war policy. Withdrawing U.S. troops, he said, would destabilize the Middle East - and set the stage for a nuclear arms race in the region.

"Our allies in the region would be under greater siege by the enemies of freedom," he told an estimated 10,000 delegates at the American Legion national convention.

"The challenge in Iraq comes down to this: Either the forces of extremism succeed, or the forces of freedom succeed," he said. "Either our enemies advance their interests in Iraq, or we advance our interests. The most important and immediate way to counter the ambitions of al-Qaida and Iran and other forces of instability and terror is to win the fight in Iraq."

The president argued that the troop " surge " is showing signs of progress. "The momentum is now on our side. The surge is seizing the initiative from the enemy - and handing it to the Iraqi people."

The veterans applauded vigorously and afterward, many voiced support for Bush's policies. "We have got to stand and fight until it's over if we are going to win," said Bob Werner, a World War II veteran from Kansas. Bush "knows a lot more than we do" about the situation in Iraq, Werner said.

Outside the convention, about 50 protesters carried signs, including "Impeach Bush" and "Who would Jesus bomb?"

Among the protesters was former Nevada Veterans Affairs Commissioner Chuck Fulkerson, a career soldier who served two combat tours in Vietnam. Between the start of Vietnam peace talks in 1968 and the end of U.S. involvement five years later , American troops suffered "38,000 more casualties, and what do you think they accomplished?" Fulkerson said.

For Porter and Heller, the stakes are high. They have been targeted by Democratic and Republican groups with expensive ad campaigns intended to influence them about the war.

The bad news from Iraq almost toppled Porter in 2006, when he narrowly defeated a young congressional aide with no experience running for office.

Heller fared only a little better, running in an open seat in a reliably Republican district. Voters across the country in 2006 lashed out at the Republican Party, which they identify with the war, and both Nevada districts have seen an uptick in Democratic voter registration since the general election.

Porter's office said Tuesday that he could not be reached for comment because he was returning from his fourth trip to Iraq. Matt Leffingwell, his spokesman, said the congressman and others in a bipartisan delegation met with Petraeus on the two-day trip and will continue to withhold judgment on the troop level increase until the general delivers his assessment to Congress.

As for a town hall meeting in Henderson Tuesday, Leffingwell said the event had the air of a political stunt.

"We gave the organization fair warning that the congressman would not be able to attend," Leffingwell said. "If the group was interested in the congressman attending, they would have been more flexible on their date."

Religious leaders, Vietnam veterans and families of troops now in Iraq were among the roughly 75 people who showed up at the Painters Union hall in Henderson. Speakers addressed remarks to an empty chair they said symbolized the congressman.

"Porter can't let thousands more die because he is too stubborn to admit that Bush made a mistake," said James Baker, who was in the Air Force in Vietnam and spent a career in military intelligence. Baker said he was a Republican for 30 years before switching his registration last year because of the war.

Christopher Gallagher, a Marine who served three tours in Iraq, said Porter "has refused to look reality in the face." Congressional trips to Iraq such as the one Porter is returning from are "a sanctioned dog-and-pony show" in which troops do not level with lawmakers because that is not the way military culture works, Gallagher said.

Afterward, protesters laid candles in the shape of the number 3,731 , the number of U.S. troops killed in the war.

Heller attended Bush's speech in Reno, where his wife, Lynne, sang the national anthem. Heller spokesman Stewart Bybee said the congressman was unavailable for comment, but offered the following statement on Heller's behalf:

"Our military is doing an incredible job in Iraq and there are signs that the surge is working. However, I am deeply concerned about the lack of political progress in the country. I will continue to support this particular surge until General Petraeus reports to Congress in September and I have had time to review his report."

Bybee said Heller's office had notified the anti-war group of the scheduling conflict.

Nevada Democrats were sharply critical of Bush's policy. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid called the increase in troops "a flawed strategy has mired our troops in a civil war in Iraq and diverted our attention as Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida grow stronger."

Reid added: "In the coming weeks, Democrats will once again press Republicans to join the fight to make that change - a change that is essential for America's national security."

Reid spokesman Jon Summers said the vast majority of calls received by Reid's office urged an end to American involvement in Iraq.

"People are frustrated we haven't been able to bring a quicker end to the war, but everything we do in the Senate requires 60 votes," Summers said. Democrats hold just 51 of 100 seats. "Republicans have been citing the Petraeus report. We'll see what happens after that."

Rep. Shelley Berkley, through a spokesman, said she wasn't surprised to see the president's visit greeted by protests, given the opposition she hears from constituents on a regular basis.

"While the report on the surge is not due until mid-September, there is little reason to believe that the situation across Iraq will be any different in a few short weeks than it is today," spokesman David Cherry said.

Sun reporter Cy Ryan in Reno contributed to this report.

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