Bush Uses Vietnam to Argue Against Iraq Pullout

In a speech today before a veterans' group, President Bush said the lessons of America's withdrawal from Vietnam argue against a rapid pullout from Iraq, CNN reports. "Millions of innocent citizens" paid the price after the US left Vietnam in 1975, Bush said, referring to "'re-education camps' and 'killing fields.' "

Bush's speech—ahead of September's report on conditions in Iraq—provoked a strong response from Democrats, with Sen. Joe Biden saying, "It's the president's policies that are pushing us toward another Saigon moment." Bush also affirmed his support for Iraqi PM Maliki, a "good man with a difficult job." (More George W. Bush stories.)