MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Memorial Day: combat continues

President George W. Bush, delivering a Memorial Day message surrounded by the graves of thousands of military dead, said yesterday that the United States must continue combating terrorism in the name of those who have already given their life in the cause.

??The best way to pay respect is to value why a sacrifice was made,'' Bush said, quoting from a letter that Lt. Mark Dooley wrote to his parents before being killed last September in the Iraqi city of Ramadi.

Noting that some 270 fighting men and women of the nearly 2,500 killed since the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, are buried at Arlington National Cemetery, Bush said, ??We have seen the costs in the war on terror that we fight today.''

??I am in awe of the men and women who sacrifice for the freedom of the United States of America,'' the president declared, drawing a long standing ovation from the troops, families of the fallen and others gathered at the cemetery's 5,000-seat white marble amphitheatre.

The nation can best honour the dead by ??defeating the terrorists. ... and by laying the foundation for a generation of peace,'' Bush said.

At the White House, Bush signed the Respect for America's Fallen Heroes Act, passed by Congress largely in response to the activities of a Kansas church group that has staged protests at military funerals around the country, claiming the deaths symbolized God's anger at US tolerance of homosexuals.

The new law bars protests within 91 metres of the entrance of a national cemetery and within 45 metres of a road into the cemetery.

This restriction applies an hour before until an hour after a funeral. Those violating the act would face up to a 100,000-dollar fine and up to a year in prison.

Yesterday's observance at Arlington National Cemetery was not a funeral, so demonstrators were free to speak their minds at the site. Bush's motorcade passed several on the way in, including a small group that held signs saying, ??Thank God for dead soldiers'' and ??God hates fags.''

Approximately 10 people from the Washington, DC, chapter of FreeRepublic.com, a self-styled grass roots conservative group, stood across the road with signs supporting US troops.

The FreeRepublic.com group was trying to counter demonstrations by the Kansas-based group, led by the Rev. Fred Phelps.

Bush signed a second bill yesterday that allows combat troops to deposit tax-free pay into individual retirement accounts.

Supporters of the legislation argued that rules governing these accounts were punishing soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq who earn only tax-free combat pay. (Agencies)