Bush spoke in the face of increasing American concern about
the rising casualty toll. At least 23 U.S. troops have been
killed by hostile fire since Bush declared major combat
operations over on May 1.
"There are some who feel like that conditions are such that
they can attack us there," Bush told reporters at the White
House. "My answer is: Bring them on. We have the force
necessary to deal with the situation."
Democratic leaders were sharply critical of the remark.
"I am shaking my head in disbelief. When I served in the
army in Europe during World War II, I never heard any military
commander -- let alone the commander in chief -- invite enemies
to attack U.S. troops," said New Jersey Democratic Sen. Frank
Lautenberg.
Rep. Richard Gephardt (news, bio, voting record) of Missouri, a Democratic
presidential candidate, said: "I have a message for the
president: 'Enough of the phony, macho rhetoric. We should be
focused on a long-term security plan that reduces the danger to
our military personnel."'
A senior Pentagon (news - web sites) official said Army Gen. John Abizaid, who
takes charge of the U.S. Central Command next week, was
studying whether to add forces, reposition them or use
different types of troops in Iraq (news - web sites). Washington and its allies
have about 150,000 troops there.
The United States blames the resistance on ousted President
Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s Baath party loyalists, militants from the
Ansar al-Islam group who have relocated to operate in the Sunni
Muslim "heartland" of Iraq, and groups tied to al Qaeda
associate Ayman al-Zawahiri.
"There's people there that (would) like to run us out of
there, create the conditions where we get nervous and decide to
leave. We're not going to get nervous," Bush said.
SEEKING WEAPONS
He said it was "just a matter of time" before evidence was
found of Iraqi weapons of mass destruction programs. The
president had justified the invasion partly on the imminent
threat from such weapons, but none have yet been discovered.
Trying to blunt criticism from some Democratic presidential
candidates that Bush misled the public on the issue, White
House spokesman Ari Fleischer (news - web sites), at his daily briefing, read a
1998 statement from the Senate floor from one of those
candidates, Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman (news - web sites).
Lieberman spoke of fears that Saddam would use weapons of
mass destruction that "we know he has."
In any event, Bush said, Saddam was a threat to his own
people based on mass graves containing the remains of Saddam
opponents that have been found.
A USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll this week found that the share
of Americans who said things were going well for U.S. forces in
Iraq had dropped to 56 percent from 70 percent a month ago.
Bush, who said on Tuesday the United States faced a massive
and long-term undertaking in Iraq, said Washington welcomed
troop contributions from other countries but that the force was
now enough "to make sure the situation is secure."
Fleischer said it was unclear how long U.S. troops would
remain in Iraq except that it would be as long as it takes to
restore security. Some members of Congress say U.S. troops
could be there five years.