Bush and McCain, Together, Call Iraq War a Conflict Between Good and Evil

RENO, Nev. President Bush and his old political nemesis Senator John McCain shared a military stage on Friday to present an unusual joint defense of the war in Iraq, calling it a conflict between good and evil that threatened the existence of the United States.

The united front of the president and Mr. McCain, the Arizona Republican who waged a bitter primary fight against Mr. Bush in 2000, was a striking development at a time when the president is under political siege for stating that ties between Iraq and Al Qaeda in part justified going to war against Saddam Hussein.

Although Mr. McCain did not assert any link between Iraq and Al Qaeda, he gave a lengthy speech introducing Mr. Bush to thousands of soldiers at a steamy hanger in Fort Lewis, Wash., using phrasing that closely followed the president’s words about Iraq and the administration’s battles against terrorism.

"It’s a big thing, this war, a fight between two ideologies completely opposed to each other," Mr. McCain told the soldiers, many of whom fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. "It’s a fight between a just regard for human dignity and a malevolent force that defiles an honorable religion by disputing God’s love for each and every soul on Earth. It’s a fight between right and wrong, good and evil. It’s no more ambiguous than that."

Mr. McCain added that should the enemy acquire chemical, biological or nuclear weapons, "this war will become an even bigger thing, it will become a fight for survival."

Mr. Bush, in a speech that was a familiar thank you to the troops as well as an update on the antiterrorism effort, repeated that Iraq had ties to Al Qaeda. He did not dwell on the extent of those ties, which have been questioned by the bipartisan commission investigating the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Instead, Mr. Bush pointed almost offhandedly to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian jihadist who sought help from Al Qaeda in waging the anti-American insurgency after Mr. Hussein’s fall and who has been implicated in the killing of Nicholas Berg, the American who was beheaded by militants in Iraq in May.

"By the way," Mr. Bush said of Mr. Zarqawi, "he was the fellow who was in Baghdad at times prior to our arrival. He was operating out of Iraq. He was an Al Qaeda associate. See, he was there before we came. He’s there after we came. And we’ll find him."

Later, Mr. Bush and Mr. McCain appeared at an enormous rally at the Reno-Sparks Convention Center, where they again reinforced each other to huge cheers.

"Like all wars, this one has had its ups and down," Mr. McCain said. "It will be a long, hard struggle, but it is a necessary and just war." Whether or not Mr. Hussein had possessed unconventional weapons, Mr. McCain said, "he had used them before and was, I have no doubt, firmly determined to acquire them again for what terrible purpose we can only anticipate with dread."

It was last week when Mr. McCain was spurning Senator John Kerry’s repeated proposals to be his running mate, dashing hopes of Democrats who viewed a Kerry-McCain ticket as unstoppable. A CBS News poll recently found that a Kerry-McCain ticket had a 14 percentage point edge over Mr. Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney among registered voters, 53 percent to 39 percent, compared with most head-to-head polls that show Mr. Kerry alone tied or slightly ahead of Mr. Bush.

Mr. Bush’s political operatives say they never took the idea seriously, but they did not hide their pleasure about seeing the independent and unpredictable Mr. McCain suddenly at the president’s side. Mr. McCain, a close friend of Mr. Kerry, has regularly infuriated the White House with barbs over the last few years. Mr. Bush’s political advisers reached out to him during his flirtation with Mr. Kerry, and Friday appeared to be a classic triumph of politics over personal feeling.

Mr. McCain, asked why he was campaigning with Mr. Bush, genially replied, "First time I was asked."

Mr. Bush appeared nothing but pleased that Mr. McCain was at his side.

"Both candidates in this race are honored to be the friend of John McCain," the president proclaimed here. "Only one of us gets his vote. And I am proud that it is me."

At both stops, Mr. Bush and Mr. McCain linked arms in a tableau, creating an image of the president with a Vietnam War hero and a man with a strong appeal to independent voters that will be of use to Mr. Bush’s campaign. Neither Mr. Bush nor Vice President Dick Cheney served in combat.

"There’s fundamental agreement on the policies," a spokesman for the campaign, Terry Holt, said. "This shows our party is united on the big issues."

At Fort Lewis, the largest Army installation on the West Coast, Mr. Bush exuded admiration for the military service of Mr. McCain.

"I want to thank Senator John McCain for joining us," the president told the soldiers as he and Mr. McCain stood in front of camouflage netting. "It is a privilege to be introduced to our men and women in uniform by a man who brought such credit to the uniform. When he speaks of service and sacrifice, he speaks from experience. The United States military has no better friend in the United States Senate than John McCain."

Mr. McCain praised Mr. Bush for his leadership after Sept. 11, 2001.

"He heard the call to action on that terrible morning in September and summoned the rest of us to this long and difficult task," Mr. McCain said. "He has led this country with moral clarity about the stakes involved and with firm resolve to achieve unconditional victory."

Afterward, Mr. Bush jumped into the crowd and shook hands with the soldiers t the recorded tunes of "Stars and Stripes Forever" and "Anchors Aweigh." Mr. McCain hung back for a moment in the president’s shadow, but then he plunged in, too.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/19/politics/campaign/19BUSH.html