George on Iraq, Loud and Clear

Dubya returns to form, issuing a Veterans' Day speech that delivers a one-two punch of vindication and support of troops over a topic that disengenuous nay-sayers have controlled for some time now - Iraq pre-war intel.

President Bush Friday accused critics of the Iraq war of distorting the events that led to the U.S. invasion, saying Democrats viewed the same intelligence and came to similar conclusions.

"While it's perfectly legitimate to criticize my decision or the conduct of the war, it is deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began," the president said during a Veterans Day speech in Tobyhanna, Pennsylvania.

"Some Democrats and anti-war critics are now claiming we manipulated the intelligence and misled the American people about why we went to war," Bush said. "They also know that intelligence agencies from around the world agreed with our assessment of Saddam Hussein."

"These baseless attacks send the wrong signal to our troops and to an enemy that is questioning America's will," Bush said.

[snip]

"The terrorists regard Iraq as the central front in their war against humanity," the president said. "We must recognize the Iraq war as our central front against the terrorist."

Reid, Pelosi & Co. didn't miss the opportunity for redirect and to reiterate their pull-out plan demands, no news there. But in the wake of riots in France, Belgium and Germany, bombings in Jordan and elsewhere, Bush's message is the only one that addresses the problem: a determination to restore a just order. Look for him to gain ground in poll numbers if he keeps this up.

Via Colossus. CP @ GMC.