Bush calls Iraq 'central front' in war on terror

0 Comments | Asian Political News, Sept 9, 2003

WASHINGTON, Sept. 7 Kyodo

President George W. Bush called Iraq the ''central front'' in the U.S. war on terrorism Sunday and urged United Nations members such as Japan to expand cooperation in the effort.

In a nationally televised address on current U.S. actions in Iraq and Afghanistan, Bush said the U.S. will do and spend what is needed to win the war against terror and asked his nation to be patient as work in the two countries continues.

To keep up the ''difficult and costly'' undertaking, he said he will soon submit to Congress a request for $87 billion to cover ongoing military and intelligence operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and other pertinent locations for the next year.

''Two years ago, I told the Congress and the country that the war on terror would be a lengthy war, a different kind of war, fought on many fronts in many places. Iraq is now the central front,'' Bush said.

He noted that Japan, Europe and Middle Eastern states ''should contribute'' to the success of freedom in Iraq and Afghanistan through funding and other kinds of involvement in the U.S.-led campaigns.

''Members of the United Nations now have an opportunity and the responsibility to assume a broader role in assuring that Iraq becomes a free and democratic nation,'' the president said.

Bush said the U.S. will soon introduce a new U.N. Security Council resolution authorizing the creation of a new U.S.-led multinational force in Iraq to enable more countries to send troops to join it.

''I recognize that not all our friends agreed with our decision to enforce the Security Council resolutions and remove Saddam Hussein from power,'' he said in the speech, made four days before the second anniversary of the terrorist attacks on New York and outside Washington.

''Yet, we cannot let past differences interfere with present duties,'' he said. ''Terrorists in Iraq have attacked representatives of the civilized world, and opposing them must be the cause of the civilized world.''

Bush said the fight will require time and sacrifice but emphasized it will go on.

''We will do what is necessary, we will spend what is necessary to achieve this essential victory in the war on terror, to promote freedom, to make our nation more secure,'' he said.

Bush said the U.S. will help rebuild Iraq just as it helped Japan and Germany get back on their feet after their defeats in World War II. He expressed hope that Washington's ties with Baghdad will be friendly as its relations with Tokyo and Berlin have been.