Bush spoke in the face of increasing
American concern about the rising casualty toll among U.S. troops. At
least 23 American servicemen have been killed by hostile fire since Bush
declared major combat operations over on May 1.
''There are some who feel like that conditions are such that they
can attack us there,'' Bush told reporters at the White House. ''My answer
is: Bring them on. We have the force necessary to deal with the
situation.''
New Jersey Democratic Sen.
Frank Lautenberg sharply criticized Bush for the ''bring them on''
comment.
''I am shaking my head in
disbelief. When I served in the army in Europe during World War II, I
never heard any military commander -- let alone the commander in chief --
invite enemies to attack U.S. troops,'' said Lautenberg in a statement.
A senior Pentagon official said Army Gen.
John Abizaid, who will take charge of the U.S. Central Command next week,
was studying whether to add forces, reposition them or use different types
of troops in Iraq.
The United States blames
the resistance on ousted President Saddam Hussein's Baath party loyalists,
militants from the Ansar al-Islam group who have relocated to operate in
the Sunni Muslim ''heartland'' of Iraq, and groups tied to al Qaeda
associate Ayman al-Zawahiri.
''There's
people there that (would) like to run us out of there, create the
conditions where we get nervous and decide to leave. We're not going to
get nervous,'' Bush said.
CHEMICAL WEAPONS
He said it was
''just a matter of time'' before evidence was found of Iraqi weapons of
destruction programs. The president had justified the invasion partly on
the imminent threat such weapons posed, but so far none have been
discovered.
Trying to blunt criticism from
some Democratic presidential candidates that Bush misled the public on the
issue, White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, at his daily briefing, read a
1998 statement from the Senate floor from one of those candidates,
Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman.
Lieberman
spoke of fears that Saddam would use weapons of mass destruction that ''we
know he has.''
In any event, Bush said,
Saddam was a threat to his own people based on the mass graves containing
the remains of Saddam opponents that have been found. ''We have uncovered
some unbelievable scenes,'' he said.
A USA
Today/CNN/Gallup poll this week found that the share of Americans who said
things were going well for U.S. forces in Iraq had dropped to 56 percent
from 70 percent a month ago.
Bush, who on
Tuesday said the United States faced a massive and long-term undertaking
in Iraq, said Washington welcomed troop contributions from other countries
but that the force there now was enough ''to make sure the situation is
secure.''
Fleischer said it was unclear how
long U.S. troops would remain in Iraq except that it will be as long as it
takes to restore security. Some members of Congress say U.S. troops could
be there five years.
The United States and
its allies have about 150,000 troops in Iraq and the Pentagon is
considering whether it might need to increase that force.
Complete coverage