Thurs May 1, 2:43 PM ET
Bush Heading to Calif. for Iraq Speech
By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - President Bush wants to call the war in Iraq a success and give Americans some sense of finality now that U.S. warplanes are no longer dropping bombs on Baghdad and military ground operations are limited mostly to skirmishes and policing.
Providing the backdrop for the speech, set for 9 p.m. EDT, are the more than 5,000 sailors and Marines who are still aboard USS Abraham Lincoln and will be only hours away from seeing their families for the first time in nearly 10 months. The ship, bound for its home port of Everett, Wash., is to reach San Diego Friday.
A total of 16,500 sorties were launched from the Lincoln deck as part of three separate Pentagon missions — the operation to patrol the southern no-fly zone in Iraq, the military's efforts in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq. No aircraft or Navy personnel were lost in the sorties.
In paying his tribute, Bush was to portray the Iraq war as just one piece of the continuing war on terror.
He also was to broadly outline his vision of a new kind of warfare, a senior administration official said.
Bush was being ferried to the ship, still hundreds of miles off the California coast, by a tiny Navy plane. The S-3B "Viking" — to be called Navy One because of its presidential passenger — has room only for Bush, riding in the front seat next to the pilot, and two or three more passengers.
The president was to be treated with an exciting — though, according to administration officials, not considered risky — landing. As the plane lands on the Lincoln, cables stretched across the deck are to catch it and wrench it to a stop in less than 300 feet.
"Never can tell what's going to kick in," the president, a former pilot, joked to reporters before an Oval Office meeting Wednesday with the president of Colombia. "Let me just say, stay clear of the landing pattern."
Rear Adm. John Kelly, commander of the Lincoln battle group, said Thursday on CBS' "The Early Show" that the pilot slated to land Bush on the carrier "has flown through extraordinary pressure in support of combat operations for months now. I am very confident that he'll do a great job."
White House Communications Director Dan Bartlett said Thursday on NBC's "Today" that flying the jet to the carrier "is actually safer that a helicopter because you have the ability to eject. In a helicopter, if something goes wrong, you're stuck."
Once aboard, Bush was having lunch with crew members and taking a tour of the 1,100-foot ship before his evening remarks.
The president was spending the night on the ship, although he was leaving ahead of its arrival into port so his presence would not delay troops' reunion with loved ones.
He will return to land by helicopter.
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