Bush cancels 5-week vacation?

No, of course not, silly! But he did take time out of his empty schedule in a week where some 26 Marines have been killed in Iraq to "mourn" their sacrifice. At least, this Reuters story says that he's mourning. Personally, I don't see it in the quotes they include.

Bush said "on Wednesday the best way to honor the dead was to fight the insurgents and train Iraqi troops, and he rejected any early U.S. pullout." "We're at war. We're facing an enemy that is ruthless. If we put out a (pullout) timetable, the enemy would adjust their tactics," he said in a speech in Grapevine, a Dallas suburb. . . . Those killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, he said, "have died in a noble cause and a selfless cause."

"Their families can know that American citizens pray for them. And the families can know that we will honor their loved one's sacrifice by completing the mission, by laying the foundations for peace for generations to come," Bush said in remarks to the American Legislative Exchange Council.

Bush said he had a "strategy for success in Iraq" by hunting down insurgents, training Iraqis to provide for their own security and helping Iraqi political leaders write a constitution and prepare for elections. . . .

"The timetable depends on our ability to train the Iraqis, to get the Iraqis ready to fight and then our troops will come home with the honor they have earned," Bush said.

I'm now accepting bets on how many soldiers' funerals he attends during his 33-day vacation. Any takers?