Amid a political crisis over a war many say has been mismanaged from the start, President George W. Bush received a warm welcome from veterans at American Legion Post 177 in Fairfax.
The president arrived at the post Tuesday, April 10, around 10:20 a.m. and delivered a stern speech about what he called an urgent need for more funding and additional troops in Iraq. He criticized Democrats in the House of Representatives and Senate for trying to pass legislation that "makes a political statement" in a time when he said American troops desperately need emergency funding.
"Congress’ failure to fund our troops will mean military families will have to wait longer for their loved ones to return from the front lines," said Bush. "This is unacceptable."
Bush not only threatened a veto of what he described a politically motivated bill, he guaranteed it. And the Fairfax veterans in the room liked what they heard.
"Politics shouldn’t get involved," said Bob Sussan, Post 177’s commander, after the speech. "We have troops over there risking their lives; we need to support them."
The speech was a first for the post and for the entire American Legion organization, said Sussan. A standing president has never come to a post before to speak to its members, he said, so the Fairfax members were "honored and excited."
Suzanne Owings, a city resident, lost her nephew, 22-year-old Gordon Misner II, to the Iraq War last year. She said he had re-enlisted after having completed a tour in Iraq because he believed in what he was doing. She still supports Bush’s strategy of sending in an additional 21,000 troops to finish the job, but Gordon Misner, her brother and the father of Gordon Misner II, just wants to do what it takes to bring the troops home safely.
"I’m watching the second Vietnam of my life now," he said.
Post 177 member Tom DeShazo, a 46-year resident of the city and a World War II veteran, said he does not second-guess the president’s strategy.
"He is the president; he is the chief," said 84-year-old DeShazo.
WHILE VETERANS who attended Bush’s speech seemed to generally support him, not all veterans stand by the president’s strategy. Kevin McCarron, a member of the DC/Northern Virginia chapter of Veterans for Peace, said people shouldn’t support lies based on who is telling those lies.
"I don’t think it’s rational behavior; I don’t think it’s good citizenship," said McCarron, a Washington, D.C. resident.
Veterans for Peace is an organization dedicated to abolishing war as an instrument of national policy. McCarron said if Bush’s excuse for sending more troops is to accelerate the pull-out of all troops, he should just end the war.
According to Marcia Wheatley, president of the Virginia American Legion Auxiliary based out of Woodbridge, the soldiers recovering just want to get better so they can go back.
"None of them want to start something and not see it finished," said Cindy Kikernak, the 17th District president of the Virginia Department of the American Legion Auxiliary, in Linden, Va.
Bush referred to his father’s experience fighting the Japanese in World War II as evidence that "liberty can transform enemies into allies." He stood by his conviction that the work the American armed forces are doing in Iraq "will yield peace for generations to come."
The price for that peace is high, though, and many argue it is not worth it.
"Civil war has already broken out; it’s madness over there," said McCarron. "I don’t see how it could get any worse, but it could get better if foreign occupiers could leave."
But a lack of American security in Iraq and Afghanistan would create opportunity for extremists to move in, said Bush, citing that those extremists could control oil revenues and use them as blackmail.
"As commander in chief, you must listen to your military and trust their judgment in military matters," he said.
The two main points Bush wanted to make clear on Tuesday were that doctrine matters, and a failed state "can lead to severe consequences for the American people." He does not blink at the thought of sending in more troops, citing the need to spread the American ideology of freedom and liberty to nations that spread oppression.
Bush told the American Legion members that the mission is more than just a military one. The Iraqi people need to respond politically, which Bush said they have begun to do by showing up at the polls to vote.
Citing the 64-days since the president asked Congress for more military funding, Bush said the longer it delays, the worse the impact will be on American troops. He said he hopes to have a bill he can sign by mid-May.
"We have no time to waste; it’s time to get the job done," said Bush.