US President George W. Bush is invoking the memory of the Sept. 11 attacks victims killed five years ago to argue for a continued military campaign in Iraq before a skeptical US public, drawing protests from Democrats who say he has politicized a national day of mourning.
In a speech broadcast on Monday's anniversary of the terror attacks, the president described a brutal enemy still determined to kill Americans, perhaps with weapons of mass destruction if they get the chance.
"If we do not defeat these enemies now, we will leave our children to face a Middle East overrun by terrorist states and radical dictators armed with nuclear weapons," Bush said. "We are in a war that will set the course for this new century and determine the destiny of millions across the world."
His address came at the end of a day in which he visited New York, Pennsylvania and the Pentagon to honor victims of the attacks that rocked his presidency and thrust the US into a costly and unfinished war against terror.
Bush began with a two-minute tribute to the 2,749 victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, but most of his 17-minute speech was devoted to justifying his foreign policy since that day. With his party's control of Congress at stake in elections less than two months away, Bush suggested that political opponents who are calling for withdrawal of US troops would be giving victory to the terrorists.
"Whatever mistakes have been made in Iraq, the worst mistake would be to think that if we pulled out, the terrorists would leave us alone," Bush said, with a photo of his twin daughters and the US flag behind him.
"They will not leave us alone. They will follow us. The safety of America depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad," he said.
While Democrats have been using public opposition to the Iraq war to argue for a change of leadership in Congress, Bush's address showed how he has been able to use the power of incumbency to command public attention and make his points.
"The president should be ashamed of using a national day of mourning to commandeer the airwaves," Senator Edward Kennedy, a Democrat, said.
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US remembers Sept. 11 victims
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