Bush: "It's hard not to think about the people who lost their lives"

[Human Torch]

Facing the prospect that Democrats could wrest control of Congress from his fellow Republicans in November elections, Bush has been pushing his national security credentials as he did successfully during his 2004 re-election campaign. While the White House insisted the anniversary ceremonies and Oval Office speech were not about politics, images of the commander-in-chief in solemn remembrance were a welcome respite for Bush from the drumbeat of criticism about the Iraq war.

Bush said he and wife Laura approached Monday's anniversary "with a heavy heart. It's hard not to think about the people who lost their lives on September the 11th, 2001."

The fifth anniversary has generated a heated debate over whether America is safer. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and other top officials say they believe security has improved.

But Richard Ben-Veniste, a member of the 9/11 commission that investigated the attacks, said the failure to bring Osama bin Laden to justice made many Americans feel less safe. "We have not killed or captured Osama bin Laden five years after 9/11. And he remains the central focus spiritually, ideologically, if not operationally for Islamic radicals who mean to kill us," he told ABC News' "This Week" program.

http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&u=/nm/20060911/pl_nm/sept11_dc_16

OTHER people who lost their lives that Junior can think about: Iraq Coalition Casualties Web Site