Bush says U.S. is learning from Iraq

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – President Bush acknowledged to “learning as we go” in building democracy in Iraq, as he used a commencement address at the U.S. Air Force Academy Wednesday to counsel patience and resolve in America’s wars of the 21st century.

Bush sought to link the battle against Islamic extremists in Iraq and elsewhere to the 20th century battles against fascism and communism. “In the 21st century,” Bush said, “our nation is once again contending with an ideology that seeks to sow anger and hatred and despair – the ideology of Islamic extremism.”

But Bush found differences between now and then. “One challenge is that in the past, in Germany and Japan, the work of rebuilding took place in relative quiet,” Bush told the more than 1,000 graduates and their families. “Today, we’re helping emerging democracies rebuild under fire from terrorist networks and state sponsors of terror. This is a difficult and unprecedented task – and we’re learning as we go.”

He noted that in Iraq “we learned from hard experience that newly liberated people cannot make political and economic progress unless they first have some measure of security.”

As a result, he said, the United States has been forced to change its strategy in Iraq, sending additional troops, to help secure Baghdad and prevent sectarian violence.

“Today we’re seeing the fruits of the new strategy,” Bush said. “Violence in Iraq is down to the lowest point since March of 2004. Civilian deaths are down. Sectarian killings are down.”

Bush also noted that defining success in war is trickier than it was in World War II. “In the past, that was relatively easy to do,” he said. “There were public surrenders, a signing ceremony on the deck of a battleship, victory parades in American cities. Today, when the war continues after the regime has fallen, the definition of success is more complicated.”

Bush speaks every spring at one of the service academies, on occasion using the opportunity to set forth new strategies.