AP Photo Archive
Israeli security forces drag a resisting Jewish settler onto a bus during the forced evacuation of the Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip.

Bush visits military families in Idaho

by Brad Jackman by Tina Bosen BOS05003@BYUI.EDU Scroll Staff

President George Bush visited Idaho last week for the first time during his presidency.

Senator Larry Craig officially invited the president a couple of years ago, so he finally took the invitation. President Bush arrived Aug. 22 in Boise and then headed to the Tamarack resort in Donnelly, Idaho. He came to rally support in fighting the war on terror.

After enjoying some mountain biking with the first lady and “hanging loose, as they say,” he said, the President returned to Nampa to speak with military families. “Nineteen individuals have served both as Guardsmen and as President of the United States. And I am proud to have been one,” said President Bush.

President Bush thanked the families of the guardsmen and introduced Tammy Pruett, a mother in Idaho. She has four sons serving in Iraq currently and has previously had another son and her husband in Iraq. The president then read a statement by Pruett. “I know that if something happens to one of the boys, they would leave this world doing what they believe, what they think is right for our country. And I guess you couldn’t ask for a better way of life than giving it for something you believe in,” Pruett said in her statement. The crowd gave a standing ovation.

Kent Kunz, a legislative liaison from Pocatello, attended the meeting. He has a son in Iraq and a daughter-in-law in the Guard. He said the experience was amazing and “when the crowd stood for Mrs. Pruett, I had tears in my eyes.”

Kunz works in the governor’s office and saw protestors Aug. 22 at the statehouse. There were nearly fifty protestors but “there was at least that many in support of the National Guard and President Bush,” Kunz said.