CNN.com - Bush vows to stay course in Iraq

President Bush speaks with VFW Commander-in-Chief John Furgess in Salt Lake City, on Monday.

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SALT LAKE CITY, Utah (CNN) -- With his public approval ratings falling and antiwar demonstrations mounting near his Texas home, U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday tried to rally support for the war in Iraq by arguing the conflict is "a vital part" of the war against terrorism.

Speaking in Utah before U.S. military veterans, President Bush acknowledged the deaths of more than 1,860 U.S. troops in Iraq since the 2003 invasion that toppled Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

"We will honor their sacrifice by staying on the offensive against the terrorists -- by building strong allies in Afghanistan and Iraq that will help us fight and win the war on terror," he said.

Bush said the war in Iraq is part of a battle that began with the September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. soil. Addressing the national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the U.S. president said "a policy of retreat and isolation will not bring us safety."

But the protests that have overshadowed his month-long Texas vacation followed him even to the state of Utah, a Republican Party stronghold. Salt Lake City's Democratic mayor denounced what he called Bush's "deceitful, disastrous" policies.

Recent polls indicate a majority of Americans now consider the invasion a mistake, and Bush's own popularity has suffered as the war in Iraq, more than two years old, continues.

A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll conducted August 5-7 found that 54 percent of those surveyed thought the 2003 invasion of Iraq was a mistake. (Full story)

In Bush's own Republican Party, Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska, a possible presidential candidate, said the war in Iraq has destabilized the Middle East and is looking more like the Vietnam conflict in which he fought a generation ago. (Full story)

Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold, of Wisconsin, another possible candidate for president, said Bush failed in his speech "to give the American people a realistic assessment of where we stand today, and where we should be going."

President Bush Monday expressed confidence that Americans would remain "steadfast and determined" in Iraq.

He said the United States is fighting there to prevent it from becoming a haven for terrorists, as Afghanistan was for al Qaeda under the now-deposed Taliban. And he said American efforts have borne fruit, with Iraqis electing a transitional government in January and struggling to write a constitution this week.

"Terrorists are trying to block the rise of democracy in Iraq, because they know a free Iraq will deal a decisive blow to their strategy to achieve absolute power," he said.

Critics have long said the president's efforts to link Iraq to the September 11 attacks are disingenuous. The September 11 commission's report found no evidence that Iraq had any operational relationship with al Qaeda.

Additionally, the CIA concluded in February Iraq has now become a training ground for terrorists who wish to attack U.S. troops -- a haven critics say did not exist before Saddam Hussein's ouster.

"There was no tie between Iraq and [al Qaeda leader Osama] bin Laden, and that is one of the greatest lies of this administration," Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson told CNN.

Utah voters cast ballots for Bush by a nearly 3-1 margin last November. But hundreds of protesters turned out in Salt Lake City's Pioneer Park at Anderson's urging, rallying about four blocks away from the VFW convention.

Demonstrators carried signs that read "Exit strategy needed," "Republicans for Peace" and "When Clinton lied, nobody died." A man in a Bush mask walked through the crowd, while a man next to him carried a sign that read "I'm with stupid."

Anderson blasted the "fabricated rationale" for the 2003 invasion that toppled Saddam, saying the Bush administration's arguments for war have shifted from removing weapons of mass destruction that turned out not to have existed to establishing a democratic state that will foster change in the Middle East.

"We need to extract ourselves from Iraq while not abandoning the people of Iraq, due to the horrendous war in that country," he told the demonstration.

"We need to do it right. We need to come together as a people, but we need to send a message: Never again do we enter a pre-emptive, deceitful, disastrous war like the one in Iraq."

Protests outside Bush ranch

Dozens of protesters have stood vigil outside Bush's ranch. They have been led by Cindy Sheehan, whose son, Casey, was killed in Iraq in April 2004.

She began camping outside Bush's home on August 6 in hopes of having a second meeting with the president. The first occurred in 2004, when Bush met with families of those killed in Iraq at Fort Lewis, Washington.

Sheehan, the founder of Gold Star Families for Peace, left August 18 to tend to her ailing mother, but says she will return to "Camp Casey" if possible. Meanwhile, the site has drawn counterprotests by the president's supporters: A group of about 90 bikers drove their motorcycles past the protest site Saturday, bearing pro-Bush signs, and held a rally in downtown Crawford.

White House officials concede Sheehan's vigil has drawn much more attention than they anticipated, and Bush's speech was part of a renewed effort to bolster public support for the conflict.

Bush received a warm welcome from the VFW, which opened its annual convention Monday in Salt Lake City. But even some convention delegates had their doubts about the conflict: John Rocca, a World War II veteran, said he supported "the troops, not the war."

"I don't think we have a plan. I don't think we have a solution," Rocca said. "When do they come home? When? I don't think they can answer that."

Bob Cullen, a VFW delegate from Maine who served in Vietnam, said the invasion was "a wise choice."

"I think what we're doing there is a good thing," Cullen said. But he added, "I think maybe it's time to think about how to conclude it, or go to the next step."

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