FORT LEWIS – President Bush capped his brief visit to Washington state Friday with an early-morning morale-boosting address to 6,000 soldiers, their families and invited guests shoehorned into a base hangar.
Soldiers, many who arrived two hours before the 8 a.m. speech, cheered loudly when Bush praised them for their sacrifice and service, and roared when he assured them that they are defeating terrorism and “extending the reach of freedom” in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Bush’s appearance, the first visit to Fort Lewis by a president since 1932, emboldened the spirit of Pvt. Guillermo Marti, 21, who recently received his papers for deployment to Iraq.
“I feel better, because the president has personally said I’m backing you up,” said Marti, a native of Puerto Rico who is engaged to be married. “I have a lot of mixed emotions. I want to go to fight for our country. But I don’t want to go because of my family.”
Sgt. Garnett Brooks of New York City said he came to see “my commander-in-chief.”
He insisted it was no letdown to hear Bush reiterate the dominant themes of comments delivered at other military bases this year. “It was a wonderful speech. It builds our morale.”
U.S. Sen. John McCain, R.-Ariz., who introduced Bush, received a loud and extended welcome from the crowd he greeted with, “I’m in the company of heroes.”
McCain’s unannounced appearance should quell rumors that he might join the ticket of Democratic presidential candidate Sen. John Kerry. More importantly, it should make clear that whatever differences the two men have on the conduct of the war in Iraq, they are united on its purpose.
“It’s a fight between right and wrong. It’s a fight between good and evil,” McCain said. The aim is to protect the values of freedom and vanquish terrorism, he said, and Bush has “led the country with a moral clarity of what stakes are involved. He has not wavered. You will not yield. Nor will he.”
Bush, as he has become accustomed to doing, traced the path from Sept. 11, 2001, to his decisions to go to war in Afghanistan and Iraq. He reiterated that those nations and their leaders – the Taliban and Saddam Hussein – harbored, trained or fostered a culture in which terrorists thrived.
The president insisted that life in Iraq is getting better. Schools are being built, newspapers are being started, businesses are running and power is being provided to homes, he said. He pledged to abide by the June 30 date for the United States to cede sovereignty to the Iraqi Governing Council. He did not say if he would hand over Hussein at that time.
Bush said “thugs” won’t disrupt the plan. “They don’t understand our resolve,” Bush said. “Terrorists will fail, because Iraqi people will not accept a return to tyranny.”
Hector Cortez, who did a tour in Vietnam with the Army from 1968 to 1970 and is now a reservest out of McChord Air Force Base, said, “I’m just very proud to be in the service under his command. He carries my moral values. I just pray he wins.”
McCain mentioned Nathan Chapman, the first American soldier killed in combat in Afghanistan, and Pat Tillman, the former NFL player also killed in Afghanistan. Both were based at Fort Lewis, which has lost about two dozen soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq over the past 21/2 years.
After speaking, base officials said Bush met with surviving spouses of some of those killed in combat. He also went to Madigan Army Medical Center to meet with recovering soldiers and hand out Purple Heart medals.
Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@ heraldnet.com
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