INTERVIEW OF THE PRESIDENT
BY STEVE SCULLY, C-SPAN
P resident Bush is convinced that his decision to go to war in Iraq will be a success.
In his interview with Steve Scully, political editor of C-SPAN, President Bush said, “If the definition of success is the emergence of a stable societythat's beginning to reconcile and do the political work necessary, then I think we'll succeed.”
He said that victory in Iraq means creating a society where commerce and entrepreneurial spirit will flourish, constitution that had been voted on will be the cornerstone of the law.
President said that the real challenge in Middle East “is to confront extremists and not allow the extremists to bully and marginalize and use their weapon of terror to gain safe haven and/or to gain an ideological advantage over the millions who want to live in peace.”
He said that is critical for America to stay in Iraq, otherwise we will give a chance to someone else to kill additional Americans. “Failure in Iraq emboldens an enemy, which has caused us harm in the past and wants to do so again,” said Bush.
He agreed that violence and criminality will still exist in Iraq, “but they will see a country in which the security forces are better equipped and better adapt at dealing with the extremists. They will see a political process that is working toward reconciliation.”
He said when troops leave, Iraqi people would be thankful to America for bringing stability for coming generations. “The new government will create conditions so that a mother can raise their child in peace,” said President Bush.
Bush said that options of not going to war at all or withdrawing from Baghdad, “would create chaos, violence and would make it much more difficult for us to have an ally in this war on terror, and much easier for the enemy to promote their hatred,” said Bush.
Bush cautiously said that media is not covering the full picture of Iraq, since they are only focusing on Baghdad and Anbar province. “The reports I get are people are beginning to live a normal life. If you're a correspondent in a war zone, it's a little difficult to travel around the country on a free basis,” said Bush.
He is inspired by the book called "Abraham," by Bruce Feiler, he said that Abraham can be considered a “unifying factor,” since all three religions Christianity, Judaism and Islam “started from the same source, which means it's possible to reconcile differences.” |
