Bush praises Georgia division for long, hard service

FORT STEWART, Ga. – President Bush saluted a sea of tan-clad soldiers from the division that won some of the Iraq war’s main victories but also suffered stinging losses, telling them Friday they were helping America to prevail in the war on terror.

“We’re rolling back the terrorist threat, not on the fringes of its influence but at the heart of its power,” Bush said at the home of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division. The division launched the ground invasion that began the Iraq war and led the charge into Baghdad to oust President Saddam Hussein.

A hot sun beat down on about 15,000 soldiers and family members. The soldiers wore desert fatigues, and many of the family members carried newborns. The heat did not wilt their enthusiasm for Bush, who spent the day traveling to Georgia, Mississippi and Texas before heading back for a weekend at Camp David, Md.

Bush’s main focus was Iraq and the war on terror. He scarcely mentioned Saddam’s alleged weapons of mass destruction, for months the president’s primary rationale for war. Instead, he emphasized what he said was Iraq’s position as the central front in the global anti-terror battle.

“We are destroying the terrorists by swift and decisive action,” Bush said. “As democracy and freedom rise in Iraq, their ambitions will fall just like the statutes of Saddam Hussein.”

The U.S. casualty count in Iraq continued to climb. Two U.S. soldiers were killed in a firefight during a raid, and in a separate incident, U.S. forces mistakenly killed eight uniformed Iraqi police and a Jordanian security guard and wounded nine other people.

In Maine, meanwhile, officials are still awaiting word on how the Army’s decision to keep U.S. troops in Iraq for the next year will affect the approximately 156 Maine Army National Guard personnel who are deployed in Iraq.

Maj. Peter Rogers, who handles media relations for the Guard, said Wednesday that his office had been informed of the Army’s decision, but said there could be exceptions made depending on each unit’s role and the availability of replacement troops.

The first activation of Maine units occurred in February, but many were mobilized first to other military bases in the United States before actually being deployed to Iraq, Rogers said.

The last unit to be deployed was in July. No units, other than a few members of one Air National Guard unit from southern Maine, have returned from Iraq, he said, and none are expected to return any time soon.

Maine Army National Guard units deployed to Iraq include members of the 112th Medical Company from Bangor, the 1136th Transportation Company from Bangor, a small flight detachment unit from Bangor, E-Company 122nd Aviation Unit from Bangor, the 133rd Engineering Battalion from Gardiner and seven military police officers.

The White House, meanwhile, announced Bush would address the annual meeting of the U.N. General Assembly on Sept. 23.

The president is pushing for a resolution to build a multinational force to help U.S. troops with peacekeeping and to gain international help for Iraq’s reconstruction.

The president also saluted the 3rd Infantry’s sacrifices.

The division and affiliated units lost the most people in Iraq – more than 40.

It also faced repeated duty extensions that frustrated loved ones. The 3rd Infantry had expected to head home in April, but the last of its 16,500 troops sent to Iraq returned home just this month.

After his speech, Bush shared “hugs, laughs and tears” with relatives of 11 soldiers who didn’t return, a senior administration official said.

Bush brought a small consolation that won Army “Hoo-ah” cheers on the dusty field: the Presidential Unit Citation, the highest award given to a military unit.

Staff Sgt. Thomas A. Robbins, a tank maintenance supervisor just returned from Iraq, was delighted.

“It means your commander in chief has designated your unit to be the best in the Army,” he said. “That’s pretty damned important.”

Afterward, the president flew to Jackson, Miss., to raise money for Haley Barbour, former Republican Party chairman who is challenging Democratic Gov. Ronnie Musgrove in Mississippi. In a sign of the race’s importance, Barbour is the only GOP candidate this year to win campaign appearances by both Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney.

The last stop for the day was another fund-raiser – for the Power Center in Houston, a one-stop community development center founded 10 years ago in an abandoned Kmart by a Bush friend who delivered his inauguration benediction, the Rev. Kirbyjon Caldwell. Bush was promoting a not-often-mentioned domestic priority: his push to greater involve religious charities in government services.