Bush to stake bid for reeelection on peace, security

WASHINGTON -- President Bush said yesterday that he would run for reelection on peace and security and declared that the world is "more peaceful and more free under my leadership" despite the increasingly deadly violence in Iraq.

Bush used the news conference, only the 10th of his presidency, to defend his policies and lay out what will be a central theme in his reelection bid. The tightly controlled news conference in the Rose Garden was also notable because it was held on the heels of some of the deadliest and most well-coordinated attacks during the US-led occupation of Iraq.

That violence, which now threatens civilian aid workers and Iraqis who are working with US-led forces, has emboldened critics of the White House's policies, particularly Democrats who are running for their party's presidential nomination. But rather than run from those policies, Bush said he will run on them.

"I will defend my record at the appropriate time and look forward to it," Bush said. "I'll say that the world is more peaceful and more free under my leadership, and America is more secure. And that will be how I begin describing our foreign policy."

Unlike the most recent presidential elections, in which domestic concerns were the focus of voter attention, foreign policy issues like Iraq and terrorism are likely to get more prominent attention. Democrats said they have no fear of the Bush record on foreign policy.

"The Bush administration's national security credibility gap widens by the day," said Senator John F. Kerry, the Massachusetts Democrat who is running for president.

Tony Welch, spokesman for the Democratic National Committee, said the war on terrorism "has not turned into the issue [White House political adviser] Karl Rove and the president had hoped it would be."

The Defense Department reported on Monday that 213 US military personnel have been killed since May 1, when Bush triumphantly landed on an aircraft carrier and declared an end to major combat operations. He spoke in front of a banner that declared "Mission Accomplished."

At the time, Bush was riding high. US-led troops had stormed Baghdad and toppled a statue of Saddam Hussein as international journalists recorded the scene. Bush's job approval rating stood at 70 percent, according to a Gallup Poll conducted in late April, and the picture of the commander in chief wearing a flight suit on the aircraft carrier was splashed across the front pages of newspapers throughout the country.

Frustrated Democrats mused aloud about the White House using the war on terrorism as a political weapon against them.

Now, however, Hussein remains at large, lurking in the shadows. Nearly 1,700 US soldiers have been injuredby guerrilla-style attacks in Iraq that are becoming only more brazen. Foreign terrorists have slipped into Iraq and are trying to recruit allies among the frustrated populace. Bush's job approval rating is down to 53 percent, according to a new Gallup Poll, which indicated that fewer than half of the Americans surveyed approve of the way the president is handling Iraq.

Bush said yesterday that his White House, usually diligent about ensuring that the setting for his presidential speeches is just right, had nothing to do with the "Mission Accomplished" sign.

White House officials said Bush had been considering a news conference for a couple of weeks and decided yesterday to go ahead after car bombings in Iraq on Monday killed 35 people.

Bush repeated his assertion that the bombings in Iraq show that progress is being made and that terrorists and Hussein supporters are becoming more desperate. He pledged to sign the ban on late-term abortion that Congress recently passed. He urged Congress to finalize its work on adding a prescription drug benefit to Medicare and called for the passage of his energy plan.

Near the end of the news conference, when Bush said he was about to go to lunch, the reporter he had just called on, Edwin Chen of the Los Angeles Times, asked whether the press could come.

"It depends on your question," Bush said.

When Chen asked Bush to square his repeated assertions that the political season has not begun with the fact of the Bush-Cheney campaign's record fund-raising, Bush joked, "You're not invited to lunch."