Bush slams Howard Dean’s comments on Iraq

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President George W. Bush criticized
Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean on Tuesday for saying it
is wrong to think the United States will win in Iraq, calling
him a pessimist trying to score political points.

“I know we’re going to win, and our troops need to hear not
only that they are supported but that we have got a strategy
that will win,” said Bush, who is trying to restore American
confidence in his Iraq plan amid waning support for the war.

Dean stirred Republican wrath by telling San Antonio,
Texas, radio station WOAI that “the idea that we’re going to
win the war in Iraq is an idea which is just plain wrong.”

He predicted the Democratic Party would come together on a
proposal to withdraw National Guard and Reserve troops
immediately, and all U.S. forces within two years.

Bush said the scheduled Iraqi elections December 15 and the
trial of Saddam Hussein are proof of progress in Iraq.

He is to give a second speech on Wednesday looking ahead to
the Iraqi elections amid calls from some Democrats for a
timetable for an early withdrawal of U.S. troops.

“Oh, there’s pessimists, you know, and politicians who try
to score points. but our strategy is one that will lead us to
victory,” Bush said when asked about Dean’s remarks.

Bush said the Saddam trial is proof of the change that has
taken place in Iraqi society, compared to the days when Saddam
was in charge and opponents faced “death or torture” instead of
justice.

Dean is a former governor of Vermont who one point was a
top contender for the role of Democratic candidate for
president in 2004. His outspoken style has both admirers and
critics in and out of the party.

Bush has rejected setting a timetable for withdrawing U.S.
troops from Iraq, saying it would encourage the Iraqi
insurgency. His administration has recently gone on the
offensive against critics of the war by warning that calls to
withdraw could hurt the morale of U.S. troops there.

Dean called Iraq “the same situation we had in Vietnam.”

“Everybody then kept saying, ‘Just another year, just stay
the course, we’ll have a victory.’ Well, we didn’t have a
victory, and this policy cost the lives of an additional 25,000
troops because we were too stubborn to recognize what was
happening,” he said.