Bush touts Iraq progress; critics say home front neglected
 |
Story Tools
|
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- With U.S. help, nearly all of Iraq's schools and universities have reopened, resurrecting the nation's "proud tradition of learning," President Bush said in his Saturday radio address.
"All of our efforts to improve Iraqi education ultimately serve the cause of security and peace," Bush said. "We want young Iraqis to learn skills and to grow and hope, instead of being fed a steady diet of propaganda and hatred."
But as the president touted progress made in the U.S. effort to rebuild Iraq after deposing Saddam Hussein, Democrats used their radio address to press the argument that his administration has not done enough to attend to domestic needs.
"It's time we asked some questions about our priorities," said Mayor Douglas Palmer of Trenton, New Jersey, president of the National Conference of Democratic Mayors. "My mom always taught me that you've got to take care of home first."
"But the president, instead, is talking about spending $87 billion in Iraq, including $20 billion to rebuild its infrastructure. Back home, my constituents and fellow mayors want to know why we aren't more concerned about our own roads and schools."
Palmer said the Bush administration and Republicans in Congress are underfunding police, homeland security, after-school programs and health care and energy assistance for the poor. He also said the GOP has "ignored" a proposal by mayors for a "urban Marshall Plan" to improve cities.
"Our cities are struggling to rebuild, and our nation's mayors are asking this administration not to force us to take actions that will hurt our economy, our communities, our families and our future," he said.
Bush said all 22 universities and 43 technical institutes in Iraq have reopened, along with almost all the primary and secondary schools in the country. More than 1,500 schools have been refurbished, and the U.S.-led coalition is working with the United Nations to print 5 million new textbooks, he said.
"By the end of the school year, there will be enough textbooks for each Iraqi student," Bush said. "And for the first time in years, they will get to read the work of great Iraqi writers and poets, much of it banned by Saddam's regime."
Bush also saluted individual members of the U.S. military who have taken personal initiative to help Iraqi schools, including Army 1st Lt. Kyle Barden of Charlotte, North Carolina, who made an appeal back home for supplies.
"In response to Kyle's request for help, North Carolina schoolchildren, doctors, businesses and others have donated thousands of dollars to buy notebooks and pencils and colored pens," Bush said.
