WASHINGTON, May 1 (UPI) -- From the deck of an American warship returning from the Iraq campaign to San Diego, President George W. Bush Thursday declared the major fighting to unseat Saddam Hussein at an end, but warned that the Iraq campaign was but a battle in the war on terrorism.
Silhouetted against a setting Pacific Sun and ringed by the crew of the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, Bush asserted: "major combat operations in Iraq have ended. In the Battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed. And now our coalition is engaged in securing and reconstructing that country."
The scene as evening began in the Pacific Time zone (9 p.m. EDT), was carefully constructed symbolism of a White House that has become a past master of televised effects. Bush, by evening dressed in blue business suit, had arrived on the carrier in mid-afternoon in flight gear on a Navy S-3b Viking jet, where the White House said, he momentarily taken the controls before the aircraft touched on the deck of the carrier.
To match his address, the scene projected American military power, framing him on the aircraft carrier whose planes had launched some of the early raids of the Iraq campaign, a campaign in which Iraq's air force never launched a plane and one where much of the Iraq's heavy equipment was destroyed by U.S. guided missiles and bombs before it could even be used.
According to Bush, the "Battle of Iraq is one victory in a war on terror that began on Sept. 11, 2001, and still goes on."
"They imagined, in the words of one of the terrorists, that Sept. 11 would be the 'beginning of the end of America.' By seeking to turn our cities into killing fields, terrorists and allies believed they could destroy this nation's resolve, and force our retreat from the world. They have failed."
"Any outlaw regime that has ties to terrorist groups," Bush warned, "and seeks or possesses weapons of mass destruction, is a grave danger to the civilized world and will be confronted."
And any "outlaw" that commits terrorist attacks or "government that supports, protects, or harbors terrorists is complicit in the murder of the innocent, and equally guilty of terrorist crimes," Bush said.
If there were several messages Thursday on the Abraham Lincoln's deck, one that the U.S. could now wage a technological war that can "achieve military objectives without directing violence against civilians.
"No device can remove the tragedy from war," Bush said, "yet it is a great advance when the guilty have far more to fear from war than the innocent," he said.
Another message was a thank you to the men and women who won what he called the Battle of Iraq and to associate himself with the victory that they had produced.
"Operation Iraqi Freedom," he said, "was carried out with a combination of precision, speed, and boldness the enemy did not expect, and the world has not seen before. From distant bases or ships at sea, we sent planes and missiles that could destroy an enemy division or a single bunker. Marines and soldiers charged to Baghdad across 350 miles of hostile ground, in one of the swiftest advances of heavy arms in history," Bush said to the cheers of the Marines and Navy personnel arrayed on the deck.
"You have shown the world the skill and might of the American armed forces," Bush said as the crowd roared.
Bush reiterated the U.S. commitment to complete the reconstruction of Iraq, but acknowledged, "We have difficult work to do." He said the United States is slowly establishing order and pursuing and locating leaders of the old regime. "We have begun the search for weapons of mass destruction" and "already know of hundreds of sites that will be investigated."
According to Bush, "the transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time, but it is worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until the work is done," he pledged. "Then we will leave and we will leave behind a free Iraq."
In the end of address, which took just under 15 minutes, as the sun began to soften into dusk, Bush's tone sobered as we noted "we are mindful as well that some good men and women are not making the journey home" and related the remarks of the parents of a young Marine corporal, Jason Mileo, who had called his parents shortly before he was killed in Baghdad.
"Jason's father said, 'He called us from the center of Baghdad, not to brag, but to tell us he loved us. Our son was a soldier,'" Bush related.
"There is no homecoming for these families," Bush said, "yet we pray in God's time, reunion will come."
Bush arrived on the carrier sitting in a front seat of the S-3B Viking -- a small plane nicknamed Navy One for his visit -- Bush pitched forward on hitting the deck of the carrier as the plane's tail hook snagged an arresting wire on the flight deck. The wire brought the plane to a sudden halt from its landing speed.
The maneuver, commonplace for Navy pilots, was the first for a sitting U.S. president.
The S-3B, piloted by Cmdr. John "Skip" Lussier, did two flyovers before landing. Flown in refueling missions during the war, the plane sported a new inscription below the pilot's window: "George W. Bush, Commander-in-Chief," it read.
CNN said Bush had been earlier trained in escape procedures in case the plane missed the wire and plunged off the Lincoln's flight deck, but that report could not be immediately confirmed. Rescue helicopters were in the air near the ship during the landing process.
In addition to the pilot and president, the S-3B carried a second Navy officer and a Secret Service agent.
"Yes, I flew it," the president said in response to a question from a waiting reporter. "Yeah, of course, I liked it."
How long Bush held the joystick was not known. He was a fighter pilot in the Air National Guard in the 1970s.
The Abraham Lincoln, commissioned in 1989 by then-Defense Secretary Dick Cheney, was steaming toward San Diego at the time of the president's arrival, returning to the United States after 10 months of combat duty in the Persian Gulf. The White House said aircraft aboard the ship had flown 16,500 combat sorties in Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) and Operation Southern Watch, which before the outbreak of the Iraq war enforced a no-fly zone over southern Iraq.
The president was staying overnight aboard the Lincoln and would return to San Diego Friday aboard Marine One, the presidential helicopter.
"In this battle, we have fought for the cause of liberty, and for the peace of the world. Our nation and our coalition are proud of this accomplishment, yet it is you, the members of the United States military, who achieved it. Your courage, your willingness to face danger for your country and for each other, made this day possible," the president said.
"From Pakistan to the Philippines to the Horn of Africa, we are hunting down al-Qaida killers. The liberation of Iraq is a crucial advance in the campaign against terror. We have removed an ally of al-Qaida, and cut off a source of terrorist funding. And this much is certain: No terrorist network will gain weapons of mass destruction from the Iraqi regime, because that regime is no more," Bush said.
The Lincoln measures 1,092 feet in length and is powered by two nuclear power plants. Its flight deck is 4.5 acres. About 5,000 sailors and airmen serve aboard the ship. The planes from the carrier, which had lined the deck earlier, were flown to San Diego where the pilots were reunited with their families.
When Bush alighted from the aircraft, he appeared a bit wobbly around the knees. That is not uncommon given the sudden twists, turns and drops an aircraft approaching a carrier goes through in the minutes before landing. He was wearing a full flight suit when he left the plane and shook hands with flight crew and other military personnel.
He had his picture taken with three sailors who had birthdays Thursday and with dozens of others.
"Good job," he was heard to say. "Great job."
It was not known if Bush spotted the banner affixed to the flight tower above him: "Mission Accomplished," it said.
Thursday night Bush was eating dinner in a mess hall with about 150 sailors. In the morning, he is to breakfast with officers.
Once on the ground in the United States Friday, Bush plans to travel north to Mountain View, Calif., to visit a factory that makes armored vehicles and then fly home to his Texas ranch.
Australian Prime Minister John Howard and his wife are expected to join the president in San Diego and fly to Texas with him.
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said that before Bush arrived in San Diego from Washington Thursday he called Saudi Arabia's Prince Abdullah to discuss the Middle East peace process.
Washington on Wednesday presented Israel and the Palestinian Authority its long-awaited peace-process road map, a plan that is intended to lead to an independent Palestinian state in 2005.
