MORE TUCSON REACTION TO THE BUSH SPEECH

I'd say the Bush speech didn't do much for his poll numbers.

George W. Bush was all over TV giving us a pep talk on Iraq. That can only mean one thing - his polls are down.
Time to strike up the band. It's time for another public relations blitz by the same guy who tried to sell us on a rotten Social Security scheme.
Isn't he the same guy who told us Sadaam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction?
And isn't he the guy who gave Condoleezza Rice a promotion for ignoring all of the 9/11 warnings?
And now he wants us to stay the course in Iraq.
Sorry, George, try making a good decision for a change so that we can back you. Fighting terrorism is a worthy cause, but the mess you've made of Iraq is just adding fuel to the fire. It's time to get out, and let Iraq rule itself.

Jim Waters
Tucson

"Iraq sacrifice worth it, Bush says" (June 29, 2005). What he did not say is he wants this sacrifice to continue with other people's children.
He, and the other podium warriors, praise our men and women in the military as brave and patriotic individuals engaged in a noble cause.
Definitely, our military women and men are worthy of our support; there is national unanimity on this. How we support them is the issue.
If the podium warriors believe the Iraqi war is a noble cause, then why do they not encourage their progeny to join this worthy cause?
Three and a half years from now Bush will be chain-sawing on his Crawford ranch while the brave and patriotic will still be dying for a "worthy" cause?
Bush is pregnant with false pride at the expense of other people's children. He needs to be held accountable for gross malpractice as commander-in-chief. George, keep your manipulative hands off my grandchildren!

Ruben Perez
Oracle

I feel sick today. Seventeen U.S. soldiers killed today on a remote hilltop in Afghanistan. But Bush says, "It's worth it." I ask, "For who?"
Seventeen young men and women dying for a lie Bush and his minions keep telling. Seventeen families that will have a car pull up in front of their house and be given the bad news.
Parents, wives, children devastated now and forever. I feel sick today. But Bush says, "It's worth it." Why don't I believe him?
Republicans need to feel sick and ashamed today, because it's not worth it.
I feel like I have a cancer or sickness or pain that won't go away. I feel dirty and disgusted by what I read and hear from Bush and his minions.
How could this all happen? It is a bottomless, hopeless pit of despair with no end in sight. I feel sick today.

Justin Wood
Republican, U.S. Marine Corps Vietnam 1968, Tucson