WASHINGTON, May 24 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush said he would continue to press the fight against al-Qaida because the terror group is a direct threat to the United States.
Bush on Wednesday spoke at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy graduation and used several examples of how U.S. intelligence had stopped potential attacks. On Thursday, at a Rose Garden news conference, he said that his job is to tell the American people the threats we face and what we're doing about it.
Bush has said Iraq has become the central battleground on the fight against al-Qaida, a loose network of terror groups that have claimed responsibility for attacks around the world, including the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in the United States.
"Failure in Iraq will cause generations to suffer, in my judgment," the president said. "Al-Qaida will be emboldened. They will say, yeah, once again, we've driven the great soft America out of a part of the region. It will cause them to be able to recruit more. It will give them safe haven.
"They are a direct threat to the United States, and I'm going to keep talking about it."
