Bush escapes surgery; meets wounded troops

WASHINGTON, Dec. 18 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush is suffering degenerative changes to his right knee because of injuries sustained while running but will not have to undergo corrective surgery, the White House said following a visit by Bush to Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Bush's diagnosis, delivered by two physicians, followed a clinical examination and an magnetic resonance imaging scan at the hospital where Bush had gone to meet with soldiers wounded in Afghanistan and Iraq.

"There's something else the wounded say (besides wanting to return to their units), and they say it often and they say it clearly," Bush said in a speech to hospital staff. "They praise you all, and they praise the incredible healthcare they receive here at Walter Reed.

"You're saving the lives of liberators. You're healing the defenders of our country. You're comforting the champions of freedom.

"For that, every single person who works here has the respect and gratitude of our entire nation," Bush said.

Walter Reed hospital, located in Washington, has treated more than 2,100 soldiers who were wounded or fell ill in Iraq since the March 19 invasion.

On Thursday the president and first lady Laura Bush visited about 30 soldiers staying in the hospital and about 20 others who were there for physical and occupational rehabilitation.

Among them those visited was a soldier from Micronesia Bush had met on a previous visit and presented a Purple Heart. The soldier, who recently became a U.S. citizen, had lost both legs and one arm in Iraq.

"I saw him walking (with prostheses)," Bush said. "What makes this story even more profound is he lost both legs and one arm not as a citizen of the United States but as a soldier fighting for the United States.

"Today, I saw a citizen of the United States walking."

The first couple did not visit troops in the intensive care unit, but did meet with their families, the White House said.

Bush also popped in briefly at Walter Reed to see Secretary of State Colin Powell, who was recovering from prostate cancer surgery. Powell checked out of the hospital later in the day.

Bush hailed what he called the excellent medical treatment injured soldiers received, and also noted that unlike in the past disability did not automatically mean discharge from the service.

"Today if wounded service members want to remain in uniform and can do the job, the military tries to help them stay," he said.

Bush's decision to add his own physical to the scheduled visit was announced Wednesday by spokesman Scott McClellan, who said the 57-year-old president had been bothered by occasional knee pain.

The president is an avid runner and ran at a 7-minute-per-mile pace. The last time he ran, however, was at Thanksgiving.

McClellan said because of the knee pain Bush has altered his regular exercise regimen.

"The doctors recommended continued symptom-limited exercise, cross training, quadricep strengthening and stretching," the White House quoted doctors as saying. "Neither surgeon recommends surgery."