Bush resumes drumbeat against Iraqi president

President gives update on nation's anti-terror campaign

MIKE ALLEN, THE WASHINGTON POST

Originally published Thursday, April 18, 2002

LEXINGTON, Va. -- President Bush on Wednesday resumed building a case for ousting Iraqi President Saddam Hussein and said it is the duty of democratic countries to confront rogue states.

The Israeli-Palestinian violence has caused many potential allies for a U.S. strike against Iraq to withhold support out of fear that it could provoke unrest in the Arab world. But senior administration officials said Bush is continuing to plan an offensive against Hussein, although these officials stressed that no timetable has been set.

Bush cited the threat of a nuclear attack from the "axis of evil" -- which he did not name Wednesday but has previously identified as Iraq, Iran and North Korea -- as justification for building a missile defense system.

"A small number of outlaw regimes today possess and are developing chemical and biological and nuclear weapons," Bush told cadets at the Virginia Military Institute. "In their threat to peace, in their mad ambitions, in their destructive potential and in the repression of their own people, these regimes constitute an axis of evil and the world must confront them."

Bush did not name Iraq, but an aide said his comments were directed primarily at Saddam.

Afghanistan

In a speech billed as an update on the war on terrorism, Bush said military operations will continue in Afghanistan for the foreseeable future and said the al-Qaida network hasn't yet been vanquished.

"As the spring thaw comes, we expect cells of trained killers to try to regroup, to murder, create mayhem, and try to undermine Afghanistan's efforts to build a lasting peace," Bush said.

"We know this from not only intelligence but from the history of military conflict in Afghanistan. It's been one of initial success followed by long years of floundering and ultimate failure. We're not going to repeat that mistake."

Bush, who as a presidential candidate condemned "nation-building," said the United States would remain involved in modernizing Afghanistan, likening his ambition to the Marshall Plan to rebuild Europe after World War II. He said the United States was helping Afghanistan develop a stable government, train a national army and build a school system for boys and girls.

"We will work to help Afghanistan to develop an economy that can feed its people without feeding the world's demand for drugs, and we will help the Afghan people recover from the Taliban rule," he said.

Aides said his plans did not violate his pledge against nation-building because he will not use U.S. soldiers as social workers or police officers.

Bush was speaking to the ROTC Award Seminar of the George C. Marshall Foundation, named for Army Gen. George C. Marshall, a member of the VMI class of 1901 who became Army chief of staff and masterminded the postwar reconstruction of Europe as secretary of state.

"Marshall knew that our military victory against enemies in World War II had to be followed by a moral victory that resulted in better lives for individual human beings," Bush said.

In Bush's warning about rogue states, he said he "will proceed with missile defenses to protect the American people" and said the United States "will take the necessary actions to oppose emerging threats."

The Olympian Copyright 2002

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