Bush Backs Iraqi Leader in Speech to US Veterans (3/3)

Opposition Democrats say the president is wrong to compare Iraq with past conflicts in Asia because he is ignoring fundamental differences.

In a written statement, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the Bush administration misled the American people into the war under the false pretense of weapons of mass destruction, leading to what Reid calls "one of the worst foreign policy blunders in our history."

The president says there are certainly differences between the last century's fighting in East Asia and the current battle against terrorism. But he says at their core, they are all struggles of ideology.

"The militarists of Japan and the Communists in Korea and Vietnam were driven by a merciless" class="hjdict" word="merciless" target=_blank>merciless vision for the proper ordering of humanity, they killed Americans because we stood in the way of their attempt to force their ideology on others. Today, the names and places have changed, but the fundamental character of the struggle has not changed."

The president is hoping to rebuild public support for the war ahead of a report to Congress next month. The U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker, and the top U.S. commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, will report on the impact of the president's January decision to send more troops to Iraq.