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A Cold War comparison

Bush tells W. Point grads that fight with Islamic radicalism "began on my watch, but it will end on yours"

BY GRAHAM RAYMAN | Newsday Staff Writer

May 28, 2006

WEST POINT, N.Y. - President George W. Bush drew a parallel yesterday between his war on terror and President Harry S. Truman's stewardship of the country during the first years of the Cold War.

In the speech to about 900 graduating cadets at the U.S. Military Academy on a humid, hazy morning, Bush compared the current conflict to the four-decade-long Cold War and told the newly minted Army officers that their road includes "the long war with Islamic radicalism that will be the focus of much of your careers."

He said that the war on terror will long outlast his own tenure in the White House. "This war began on my watch, but it will end on yours," he told cadets toward the end of his 40-minute speech.

Four years ago, Bush spoke here about stopping threats before they developed - the controversial argument he later used to justify the U.S. invasion of Iraq, where as of yesterday 2,466 U.S. military personnel had been killed. Dogged now by rock-bottom poll numbers and growing dissatisfaction with the war, he seemed to be laying out in his speech a case for his own legacy as president.

Bush characterized Truman, and indirectly himself, as a leader who understood the Cold War was an "ideological battle between tyranny and freedom."

"By the actions he took he laid the foundation for America's victory in the Cold War," Bush said.

Bush said his administration is "laying the foundation for victory" in the war on terror. Bush, who has invoked Truman several times in recent months, did not mention that both he and Truman, who was in office from 1945 to '53, suffered from low poll numbers late in their presidencies.

The speech given at the academy's football stadium to the first class accepted after Sept. 11, 2001, contained none of the contrite tone adopted during his appearance last week with British Prime Minister Tony Blair when he acknowledged that declaring "Bring it on" and "Wanted dead or alive" sent the wrong message.

"America," he said, "will not wait to be attacked again. We will stay on the offensive, fighting them abroad so we do not have to fight them here."

Once in the speech, Bush directly acknowledged the cost of the war, noting that cadets here have honored 34 former cadets killed in Iraq or Afghanistan.

"We will honor the memory of their brave souls. We will complete the mission," he said.

The speech received applause several times, but there was quiet grumbling here and there, people in the audience said.

"There were some people who shook their heads and muttered," said Sean Smith, 41, a banker from Philadelphia here to watch his nephew graduate. "I think people realize we're not getting out easily, and the losses are mounting, and they're starting to get tired of the war."

Eric Sperling, 22, of South Bend, Ind., who graduated yesterday, admitted that his mind drifted during the speech. "I was thinking about the future, running stuff through my head," he said. The speech was "nothing I haven't heard before. We expected that when we signed up."

Fewer than 100 protesters stood outside the gates of the military academy and in a nearby park. Jeff Alexander, 26, a teacher from Ossining, said, "He should honor the graduates and their hard work and not use it to push a one-sided message."

"Unfortunately, people have to die for a noncause," Jessica Gerson, 75, a retired college professor from Newburgh, said. "Twenty-five hundred dead, and for what?"