Bush Sees Success as Iraq War Turns 5

Bush says the war must be won
By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 19, 2008 7:00 AM CDT
Bush Sees Success as Iraq War Turns 5
A U.S. Bradley M2A2 from the 3rd Infantry Division of the U.S. Army prepares for the invasion of Iraq in 2003.   (KRT Photos)

On the fifth anniversary of launching the shock-and-awe assault that toppled Saddam Hussein's regime in Iraq, President Bush will make a major speech at the Pentagon today, CNN reports. In excerpts from the speech he acknowledges that "the fight in Iraq was faltering," but praises the progress in the last year. "The surge has done more than turn the situation in Iraq around; it has opened the door to a major strategic victory in the broader war on terror."

"In Iraq, we are witnessing the first large-scale Arab uprising against Osama bin Laden," the president will say. CNN notes that 4,000 American troops have died in Iraq, and estimates of what the war will end up costing the US run as high as $3 trillion, a figure Bush calls "exaggerated" in the speech. He says the Democratic presidential candidates "can no longer credibly argue that we are losing in Iraq, so now they argue the war costs too much."  (More Iraq stories.)

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