10/28/2005

“On the morning of October 28, 2005, [President] Bush delivered a speech on the war on terrorism to a group of 2,500 military members and local business and political leaders in Norfolk, Virginia. …The mission in Iraq, he said, was to defeat anti-American terrorists in league with (the still at-large) Osama bin Laden. ‘We must recognize Iraq as the central front in our war against terror.’ …He referred to Iraq as ‘the heart’ of power for al-Qaeda and its allies, and he suggested that if the United States were to disengage in Iraq, bin Laden would be ‘in control of Iraq. …We will never back down, never give in, and never accept anything less than complete victory.’ ”

 – Michael Isikoff and David Corn, Hubris, Page 395