Bush defends Iraqi war

"Defending the war in Iraq, President George W Bush said on Independence Day he believes America is safer because Saddam Hussein is in a prison cell.

'Our immediate task in battle fronts like Iraq and Afghanistan and elsewhere is to capture or kill the terrorists... so we do not have to face them here at home,' Bush told a cheering crowd outside the West Virginia Capitol. An enthusiastic audience, estimated by police at 6,500, waved American flags and chanted, 'Four more years.'

Regarding Saddam, the deposed Iraqi president, Bush said, 'Because we acted, the dictator, the brutal tyrant, is sitting in a prison cell.'

Two Bush opponents, taken out of the crowd by police, said they had been told they couldn't be there because they were wearing shirts that said they opposed the president."