-Caveat Lector- Now we have it straight from the horse's mouth: "Next year will be a war year as well ..." You betcha, and that's probably not the last time we'll hear that bit of encouragement ...
- jt --- from - http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011226/ts/attack_bush_dc_5.html Wednesday December 26 6:13 PM ET Bush Returns to Texas Ranch to See in 'War Year' By Patricia Wilson CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - For just the second time since the Sept. 11 attacks, President Bush (news - web sites) savored the wide open spaces of his beloved Texas ranch on Wednesday, recharging his batteries for "a war year" in 2002. After a bucolic Christmas at the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland's Catoctin Mountains with extended family, Bush and his wife Laura will see in the New Year with friends at the secluded 1,600-acre spread near Crawford they have named "Prairie Chapel." With Scottish terrier Barney tucked under one arm and springer spaniel Spot straining at her leash, the Bushes made their way gingerly down the steep stairs from Air Force One to the tarmac in Waco and immediately boarded a helicopter for the short ride to the ranch. The first lady was accompanied by her mother Jenna Welch but the president's usual gaggle of senior aides was missing. Bush has tried to give most of them a holiday break. Mrs. Bush said last week she and her husband also were looking forward to vacation. "That'll be a great rest for us. A lot of friends will come from the Austin and the Dallas area. A lot of our friends will come spend New Year's with us." Before the hijacked plane attacks that left almost 3,000 dead in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, Bush had spent about two months of his presidency at the ranch, leaving the White House at every opportunity. HIGH POLL NUMBERS A monthlong "working vacation" in the summer roused suspicions that he might be loafing. Although Bush is staying through the end of next week, this vacation has drawn little criticism, likely in part because his poll numbers are sky high. Bush dominated a most-admired poll released on Wednesday, garnering the adulation of more Americans than any man since the Gallup organization began asking the question in 1948, eclipsing even President John Kennedy. In the CNN/USA Today/Gallup Poll, 39 percent of those surveyed chose Bush as the living man they admired most. The previous record for men was set by Kennedy, who received 32 percent in 1961, the end of his first year as president. Since Sept. 11, Bush has spent almost every weekend at Camp David, a short helicopter ride from Washington, but has visited "Prairie Chapel" just once and even that was a working trip last month with Russian President Vladimir Putin (news - web sites) along. Clearing brush, fishing for bass or simply sitting on the patio "shooting the breeze" with friends, Bush has said he finds the ranch therapeutic, a place where he is in his element and where "I recharge my batteries." DAILY BRIEFINGS Getting away doesn't mean the president is out of touch or that he leaves the job behind, especially with the United States leading an international war against terrorism that Bush says will be protracted and extend well beyond Afghanistan (news - web sites). While he is at the ranch, Bush will have daily intelligence, military and FBI (news - web sites) briefings, reviewing progress at home and abroad, keeping up to date with the latest developments and planning the next steps. He can pick up the telephone and be connected to any world leader. He has a fleet of helicopters and a jumbo jet at his disposal. His aides are just a videoconference away. "Next year will be a war year as well because we're going to continue to hunt down these al Qaeda people in this particular theater, as well as other places," Bush said last week. The U.S.-led military campaign has succeeded in ousting the Taliban government of Afghanistan that hosted the alleged culprits in the Sept. 11 attacks -- Saudi-born Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and his al Qaeda network. But the whereabouts of bin Laden, whom Bush has said he wants dead or alive, as well as many al Qaeda and Taliban leaders, is unknown. Washington has identified more than 60 countries with al Qaeda cells and Bush has offered U.S. special forces or logistical support to those that ask for help. <A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A> DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis- directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. 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