LAS VEGAS — Facing the final year of a presidency defined by two wars, President Bush on Thursday presented a broad defense of the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, and signed a bill temporarily extending the government's authority to eavesdrop on terrorism suspects.
Bush used a speech to an audience assembled by a conservative Nevada think tank to put pressure on Congress to permanently extend the eavesdropping measure, and to respond to critics who have argued that his focus on Iraq has diverted his attention from the fight against Al Qaeda and the Taliban, allowing them to regain footholds in Afghanistan.
While the president broke no ground on a topic he has been addressing for more than five years, the 33-minute speech served to reassert his foundation for continuing the wars, which he placed in the context of the effort to protect the United States from terrorist attacks.
"Both those countries are part of the war on terror. These aren't separate, you know, wars; they're part of the same war; different theaters, certainly different circumstances, but the outcome is essential for our security," Bush said.
Bush also said he would not alter the course of the unpopular war to protect his party from losses at the polls. "The temptation, of course, is for people to say, 'Well, make sure you do the politically right thing.' That's not my nature," Bush said, garnering a standing ovation.
The president spoke to the Nevada Policy Research Institute at a meeting and wedding hall, where parking spaces were reserved for "the groom's party." The think tank describes itself as focusing on "free-market" solutions to policy challenges of Nevada, the West and the United States.
In a criticism aimed at the foreign policy that preceded his administration -- one exemplified not only by Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger during the Nixon and Ford administrations, but also by the first President Bush -- the president challenged the foundation of Washington's diplomatic efforts during the second half of the 20th century.
"There used to be a foreign policy that advocated stability as the cornerstone of our policy. But stability just masks the hopelessness that seethed beneath the surface," he said, presenting the wars, as he has before, in the context of seeking to secure liberty for troubled areas of the world in an ideological battle with extremists.
