Bush reverses statement on defeating terror

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – President Bush rushed Tuesday to reverse his assertion that the war on terrorism cannot be won, as his campaign sought to limit the damage from a statement that Democrats had used to paint the commander in chief as defeatist.

“Make no mistake about it: We are winning and we will win,” Bush told the annual convention of the American Legion as he continued his journey toward the Republican National Convention in New York City for his acceptance speech Thursday night.

“We will win by staying on the offensive,” he said. “We will win by spreading liberty. We believe that liberty can transform nations from tyranny into peaceful nations.” Earlier in the speech, he said, “We meet today at a time of war for our country, a war we did not start, yet one that we will win.”

In tone and substance, the remarks differed sharply from the more contemplative words he offered on NBC’s “Today” show Monday. Asked about “this war on terror” during that interview, Bush said: “I don’t think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world. Let’s put it that way.”

The statement Monday was at odds with his own statements about having a plan to defeat terrorism, and ran counter to his campaign’s strategy of portraying the president as optimistic and resolute. It drew an immediate attack from Democrats, who have been on the defensive in recent weeks over attacks on presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry’s Vietnam War record and position on Iraq.

Kerry’s campaign gleefully responded to Bush’s American Legion speech Tuesday with a news release headlined, “Bush Flip-Flops on Winning the War on Terror,” then with another echo of a Republican attack on the Massachusetts senator, “Bush: Against Winning the War on Terror Before He Was for It.”

After speaking in Nashville, Bush flew to Alleman, Iowa, to speak at a farm-equipment show and told conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh in a telephone interview from there that he “should have made my point more clear.”

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