Military Reporter Recalls Bush's Objections To Iraq Invasion On A Previous Veteran's Day

Military Reporter Recalls Bush's Objections To Iraq Invasion On A Previous Veteran's Day

By Joe Strupp

Published: November 12, 2007 1:00 PM ET

NEW YORK Sig Christenson, a founding member of Military Reporters and Editors who has worked five assignments in Iraq since the war began, reached back some 10 years for a Veteran's Day piece that noted President George Bush's early opposition to an Iraq invasion.

Christenson, who covers the military for the San Antonio (Tex.) Express-News, penned the piece for Sunday's paper that cited Bush's comments on Veteran's Day 1997 as governor of Texas. He pointed to Bush's defense of his father's decision durign the Gulf War not to remove Saddam Hussein.

"There are a lot of Americans (who say), 'Why didn't you go get him?'" Bush told the Express-News back in 1997, according to Christenson. "Well, I'm confident that losing men and women as a result of sniper fire inside of Baghdad would have turned the tide of public opinion very quickly," Bush added.

Today, Christenson observed: "That Veterans Day, Bush said efforts to ferret out Saddam from his many Baghdad hideouts would have transformed the battle from a desert conflict to an unpopular 'guerrilla war.' A decade later, proponents of the Iraq war, including President Bush and his father, dismiss those reservations, saying the 9-11 terrorist attacks forced the conflict."

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US Homeland Security: The U.S. military must remain in Iraq to keep al-Qaida out

The Associated Press
Published: November 12, 2007

AMMAN, Jordan: The United States military must remain in Iraq long enough to ensure that al-Qaida cannot reclaim the safehavens it has lost there, the U.S. Homeland Security secretary said Monday.

"It's very important to build on the progress that's been made and make sure al-Qaida can't regain ground that it's lost in Iraq," Michael Chertoff told reporters in neighboring Jordan.

"Were we to precipitously withdraw from Iraq and allow al-Qaida to start to regain ground... would have very negative consequences," Chertoff said. "Iraq is still a long and difficult process ahead of us," he said.

The Homeland Security chief reiterated U.S. intelligence information disclosed this summer that al-Qaida now had "operatives in the pipeline" to "carry out attacks in Europe or the U.S."

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Round-up of Daily Violence in Iraq-Monday 12 November 2007

By Mohammed Al Dulaimy | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Monday, November 12, 2007

The daily Iraq violence report is compiled by McClatchy Newspapers Special Correspondents in Baghdad from police, military and medical reports. This is not a comprehensive list of all violence in Iraq, much of which goes unreported. It's posted without editing as transmitted to McClatchy's Washington Bureau.

Baghdad

- Around 6:30 a.m. an IED exploded inside a house in Al Adhemiyah, a US military convoy was near the incident site closed the roads leading to it and investigated the incident, Iraqi police said.

- Around 7 a.m. A roadside bomb targeted civilians in Al Mansour neighborhood, injuring three civilians.

- Around 7:30 a.m. Three mortar shells slammed into Al Shaab neighborhood targeting a military base in the area.

- Around noon an IED detonated inside the car of an Iraqi army officer LC Salam Ismaeel as he was driving his car in Al Yarmouk neighborhood, Ismaeel was injured.

- Police found 5 dead bodies throughout Baghdad. 1 in Sadr, 1 in Shaab, 1 in Mansour, 1 in Amil, 1 in Doura.

Kirkuk

- Iraqi police said an American military convoy killed Khalaf Hussein and his wife Safra Ibraheem as he was approaching the convoy on a main road west of Kirkuk yesterday. The US military said the shooting was related to convoy operation adding that the Iraqi police fired from an outpost on a truck was coming against the traffic.

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