WASHINGTON, March 21 (UPI) -- President George W. Bush left Washington Friday for the presidential retreat at Camp David as U.S. and coalition forces carried out a planned heavy air bombardment of Baghdad.
"We're making progress. We will stay on task until we've achieved our objective, which is to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, and free the Iraqi people so they can live in a society that is hopeful and democratic and at peace in its neighborhood," Bush said.
Bush's comments came in the Oval Office after his first meeting with House and Senate leaders since the start of the war in Iraq two days ago.
The president boarded Marine One for the Maryland retreat with his wife, Laura, and daughter Barbara.
Camp David, located in the Catoctin Mountains of Maryland, is a U.S. Marine Corps installation with state-of-the-art communications systems, where the president can monitor war developments. He and his national security team traveled to Camp David the weekend after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.
While there, Bush is expected to hold a meeting with his war council on Saturday. National security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State Colin Powell, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Richard Myers and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld were expected to join Bush at the retreat.
Friday morning Bush along with Rumsfeld updated lawmakers on operations under way in the region. By midday the Pentagon had launched its so-called "shock and awe" campaign on the city of Baghdad with a spectacular show of firepower with massive mushroom-cloud plumes of smoke and fire.
White House press secretary Ari Fleischer told reporters in the afternoon that Bush likely did not watch the television feeds that showed the bombing campaign in and around the Iraqi capital.
"The president of the United States did not need to watch TV to understand what the American people think about the decision to use force to disarm the Iraqi regime," Fleischer said. "He understands what the American people understand; that there are risks involved, that lives may be lost, but the cause is right, the cause is just, the goal is disarmament, to protect our people. And he has a deep understanding of all that."
The White House is still being tight-lipped, however, about a funding proposal for the war effort that it plans to send to Congress in the form of a supplemental appropriations request. Some estimates place the budget request at up to $95 billion. Bush plans to roll in additional funding for homeland security, the White House said.
Fleischer explained that the buildup of military forces in the region and the actual engagement in combat incurs costs above and beyond what has been budgeted.
"We'll see the exact nature and extent of what is in there at the time that the president authorizes it," Fleischer said.
While with the congressional members, the president did not mention the service personnel killed Thursday in a helicopter crash in northern Kuwait or the Marine killed Friday in combat in southern Iraq. A second Marine was killed later Friday during combat near the port of Umm Qasr.
He did say: "All of us involved here in Washington are extremely proud of the skill and bravery of our young Americans who are willing to sacrifice for something greater than themselves."
Appearing before reporters shortly before the meeting with congressional members, the president appeared rested and focused, sitting with Vice President Dick Cheney, leader of the U.S. Senate.
U.S. Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., sat next to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., while Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, sat together on an opposite sofa.
Bush thanked the congressional members for their support in the war effort. The Senate Thursday voted overwhelmingly to support the military effort in Iraq in a largely symbolic move that overrides partisan differences while U.S. troops are in combat.
