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Bush visits wounded at Walter Reed

WASHINGTON — President Bush says visiting with wounded troops makes real both the “horrors of war” and soldiers’ bravery.

A visibly emotional Bush spoke after spending about an hour Tuesday in the hospital rooms of Walter Reed Army Medical Center, the service’s premier center for treating injured soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. His time with recovering troops, as always, was kept private.

Bush’s visit came on the same day he announced that the U.S. troop presence in Iraq will largely stay the same for the rest of his presidency. He ordered a pullback of about 8,000 combat and support forces by February, a small portion of the 146,000 U.S. troops there.

Bush told reporters that “America is lucky” to have the all-volunteer military that it does.