Bush in Idaho

BOISE, Idaho (AP) -- President Bush says he has listened to but disagrees with Iraq war critics who want U.S. troops brought home immediately, saying to pull out now would hurt that country's fledgling democracy and the United States too.

He was likely to deliver that message again Wednesday in a speech in the suburb of Nampa to military personnel and families of some of those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. He also was to meet privately with the relatives before returning to his Texas ranch in the evening.

The President will meet with more families of the fallen. That's as it should be.

Where do Sheehan and her cronies get off thinking that she deserves more of the President's time when she already had her opportunity to meet with Bush?
Bush left Texas this week to build support for the mission in the face of a growing opposition led by Cindy Sheehan, a California woman who first met the president after her son's death in Iraq last year and is now pressing for a follow-up meeting.

Addressing reporters Tuesday at a resort in Donnelly in the mountains north of Boise, Bush talked about Sheehan, who had kept a vigil outside his ranch.

"She expressed her opinion. I disagree with it," he said. "I think immediate withdrawal from Iraq would be a mistake" and a "policy that would weaken the United States."

Bush said he appreciates Sheehan's right to protest and that he understands her anguish because he has met with a lot of grieving families of the war dead.

But he said, "She doesn't represent the view of a lot of the families I have met with."

Of course she doesn't.

It just appears that way because the liberal anti-Bush, anti-war media are acting like only parents that are critical of the President get their attention.

Bush said U.S. troops in Iraq are keeping the country safe by taking the fight to the terrorists and that Iraqi progress toward establishing democracy would help too.

He urged patience as the Iraqi government tries to complete a constitution, saying to do so takes a lot of effort and the willingness of people to work for the common good.

"That's what we're seeing in Iraq and that's a positive development," Bush said.

We don't hear about the MANY positive developments in Iraq because they run counter to the MSM's agenda.
After the president spoke, more than 100 anti-war protesters gathered at a park across from the Idaho Statehouse to read the names of the more than 1,800 U.S. soldiers who have died in Iraq and to erect hundreds of tiny crosses in their memory.

"Nothing is going to justify my husband's death," said Melanie House, 27, of Simi Valley, Calif., whose husband, Navy medic John House, was killed in a January helicopter crash.

"Why are we there? What is President Bush trying to get out of this? Why must my son be fatherless?" she told the crowd, referring to her 8-month-old son.

I'm terribly sorry for Melanie House's loss.

I do wonder, however, when she says, "Nothing is going to justify my husband's death," if she would say the same thing if he had been killed in Afghanistan.

Do these protesters support our military efforts there?

That's the question.

Is fighting the War on Terror a noble cause?