Bush: U.S. must get free of mideast oil (AP) Updated: 2006-02-01 13:22
WASHINGTON - A politically weakened President Bush declared Tuesday night
that America must break its long dependence on Mideast oil and rebuked critics
of his stay-the-course strategy for the unpopular war in Iraq.
President Bush gives his fifth State of the
Union speech Tuesday, Jan. 31, 2006, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Behind
Bush is Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., and Vice President
Dick Cheney, left,. [AP] |
"America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of
the world," Bush said as he sought to drive the election-year agenda in his
annual State of the Union address.
Rejecting calls for the withdrawal of troops from Iraq, Bush said, "There is
no peace in retreat." He also slapped at those who complain he took the country
to war on the erroneous grounds that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction.
"Hindsight alone is not wisdom," Bush said. "And second-guessing is not a
strategy."
In an unscripted moment, anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a
fallen soldier in Iraq, was taken into custody by police in the House gallery
just before Bush spoke to a joint session of Congress. She was escorted from the
visitors gallery after she caused a disruption, a Capitol Police official said.
With Congress facing midterm elections in November, there was a partisan mood
in the chamber as Bush, hampered by big budget deficits, offered a modest
program.
Democrats stood and cheered when Bush said that Congress did not act a year
ago "on my proposal to save Social Security." Bush got a bemused look on his
face, shook his finger and continued, "yet the rising cost of entitlements is a
problem that is not going away."
Switching gears, Bush asked lawmakers to join him in naming a commission to
examine the impact of Baby Boom retirements on Social Security, Medicare and
Medicaid spending.
He declared that the "the state of our union is strong" despite Americans'
anxieties about the war in Iraq, the economy and soaring energy costs. Oil
prices are inching toward $70 a barrel, throwing a cloud over the economy and
pinching Americans' pocketbooks.
Bush called for increased federal research into alternative fuels such as
ethanol made from weeds or wood chips instead of corn.
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