| Bush vows to finish job in Iraq, pursue agenda (04/11/2004) |
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| WASHINGTON (AFP) Claiming a broad popular mandate, President George W. Bush vowed Thursday to battle terrorism, win back allies divided by the war in Iraq, and push ahead at home with controversial tax cuts and pension reform. "I've earned (political) capital in this election. I'm going to spend it for what I told the people I'd spend it on," Bush said in the first press conference of his second four-year term. With global and US public opinion polarized over the war in Iraq, Bush vowed to reach out to "those who share our goals" and pointed to the war on terrorism he declared after the September 11, 2001 attacks as a unifying force. "Whatever our past disagreements, we share a common enemy. And we have common duties: To protect our peoples, to confront disease and hunger and poverty in troubled regions of the world," the president said. "I'll continue to reach out to our frie nds and allies, our partners in the EU and NATO, to promote development and progress, to defeat the terrorists and to encourage freedom and democracy as alternatives to tyranny and terror," he said. But Bush flatly refused to change course on foreign policy and declined to say whether he would draw from opposition Democrats for his Cabinet or seek a consensus nominee for any vacancy on the US Supreme Court. He also did not fully endorse British Prime Minister Tony Blair's stated view that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was "the single most pressing" issue in world affairs or signal any shift in US efforts there. "I agree with him that the Middle East peace is a very important part of a peaceful world," Bush said, pointing to his call for an independent Palestinian state at peace with Israel and declaring: "My hope is that we'll make good progress." Informed of reports that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat had died, Bush replied: "My fi rst reaction is, God bless his soul. And my second reaction is is that we will continue to work for a free Palestinian state that's at peace with Israel." Bush said he had not yet decided on whether to boost US troop levels in Iraq ahead of elections scheduled for January or resolved how much more money to seek, calling media reports of planned increases in soldiers and costs "pure speculation." "We're on the path to stability," he said. "These elections are important, and we will respond to the requests of our commanders on the ground. And I've yet to hear from our commanders on the ground that they need more troops." Bush, who has held fewer solo press conferences than any recent president, frequently cut off reporters trying to ask follow-up questions, quipping he could do so "now that I've got the will of the people at my back." On the home front, the president vowed to press ahead with tax cuts, curbing lawsuits on health care issues, pursue educ ation reforms, overhaul the US tax code, and partially privatize the government-run Social Security pension system. Asked whether he would be able to rally Democrats behind his agenda, Bush replied: "I believe there will be good will, now that this election is over, to work together." "It's not easy, you know, these -- I readily concede, I've laid out some very difficult issues for people to deal with," he said. He said there would be changes to his cabinet but "I don't know who they will be." "It's inevitable there will be changes," he said. Bush said he would be going later Thursday to the presidential retreat at Camp David where he would "begin the process of thinking about the cabinet and the White House staff." | ||
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