Bush to meet today with families of slain soldiers

DONNELLY, Idaho – President Bush will spend two hours today with families of soldiers killed in Iraq, but they won’t include Cindy Sheehan.

Bush said Tuesday he understood the anguish of the California woman whose son was killed in Iraq last year and who has maintained a stubborn vigil near his Texas ranch. But he also challenged her, saying her demands for an immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq were not embraced by many military families and represented a view contrary to the national interest.

The shift in emphasis came as the White House sought to deal with growing recognition of Sheehan as the face of a new anti-war movement.

“I think those who advocate immediate withdrawal from not only Iraq but the Middle East are advocating a policy that would weaken the United States,” Bush said.

The president said U.S. troops in Iraq are keeping Americans safe and that Iraqis are making progress toward democracy. He urged patience as officials in Baghdad struggle to complete a constitution.

“The fact that they’re even writing a constitution is vastly different from living under the iron hand of a dictator,” Bush said.

Bush also said Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had made a tough and courageous decision to withdraw Jewish settlements from the Gaza Strip. He said the next step was to establish a government in Gaza that responds to the Palestinian people.

Bush, dressed in blue jeans and a fleece jacket, spoke underneath the tall pine trees at the Tamarack Resort, where he is spending two nights away from his ranch.

His visit to the mountain getaway came between two speeches to rally support for the war — one Monday in Salt Lake City and another today in Nampa, Idaho, that is to be followed by more than two hours of private meetings with relatives of dead soldiers.

Bush met Sheehan last year at a similar series of meetings with families of the war dead. But Sheehan says there have been developments since then and she has more she wants to say to him.

Her vigil in Crawford, Texas, has given momentum to the peace movement, and even some Republicans have said Bush should meet with her. She flew to Los Angeles last week after her 74-year-old mother had a stroke, but she is expected to return to Texas in a few days.

“Well, I did meet with Cindy Sheehan,” Bush said Tuesday. “I strongly support her right to protest. There’s a lot of people protesting. And there’s a lot of points of view about the Iraq war.”

He added: “She expressed her opinion. I disagree with it.”

Bush spoke once before about Sheehan, during a foreign policy summit at his ranch on Aug. 11. He said then, too, that he sympathized with her but disagreed with her call to bring the troops home immediately.

He said Tuesday, “She doesn’t represent the view of a lot of the families I have met with.”