The reverberations from Ohio reached Bush yesterday, as he remarked from his ranch in Crawford, Texas, that ''the community outside of Cleveland, Brook Park, Ohio, suffered mightily over the last couple of days" and that ''I hope they can take comfort in the fact that millions of their fellow citizens pray for them."
Bush added that ''we will stay the course, we will finish the job in Iraq." The job, Bush explained, is to ''help the Iraqis develop a democracy."
For many Ohioans, especially those who supported the Iraq war as a means to fight terrorism, the lengthening mission to promote democracy is a less passionate cause.
Jim Dawes, 57, a veteran from Brook Park who served two tours of duty as a Marine in Vietnam, whose nephew was among those killed, questioned what the United States was gaining in Iraq, beyond military contracts for large corporations.
''The rich man has got richer, and the poor man has lost his kids," Dawes said. ''That's the way it was [in Vietnam], and that's the way it is now."
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