Bush: Would Give 'Mission Accomplished' Speech Again

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President Bush (news - web sites) said he had no regrets about donning a flight suit to give his "Mission Accomplished" speech on Iraq (news - web sites) in May 2003 and would do it all over again if he had the chance, according to excerpts from an television interview released on Sunday.

When asked by Fox News if he still would have put on a flight suit to declare major combat operations in Iraq over, Bush replied, "Absolutely." When Bush gave his May 1 speech fewer than 150 Americans had died in the war. Since then more than 900 have died.

The interview is to air on Fox's "The O'Reilly Factor" on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, just before Bush and Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) face off in their first televised debate on Thursday.

Amid a rising U.S. death toll and a rash of abductions and beheadings in Iraq, some members of Bush's own Republican Party have criticized him for not doing enough to secure insurgent areas in Iraq sooner.




http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/nm/20040926/pl_nm/campaign_bush_mission_dc