Bush says nothing warned of 9/11, tags Iraq violence right

By: Mohamed Ali

FORT HOOD, Texas: Us President George W. Bush on Sunday braced his nation for the possibility of more American casualties in Iraq and said the US-led mission is just.

“It was a tough week last week and my prayers and thoughts are with those who pay the ultimate price for our security,” Bush said.

Almost 50 American soldiers were killed in fighting across Iraq over the past week. According to reports more than 550 Iraqis have been died in the fighting.

Separately, Bush said he was satisfied before Sept 11, 2001, that federal agents were on top of the terrorist threat when he read a briefing memo of Aug. 6, 2001 on Osama bin Laden's intention to strike inside the United States.

In his first comments since release of the memo, Bush said the document contained “nothing about an attack on America.” He said if there had been any specific intelligence pointing to threats of attacks on New York and Washington, “I would have moved mountains” to prevent it.

According to a secret memo the White House released under pressure on Saturday President Bush was told a month before 9/11, 2001, that al Qaeda members were in the United States and the FBI had detected suspicious activity “consistent with preparations for hijackings or other types of attacks.”

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