TOBYHANNA, Pa. -- President George W. Bush says critics of his Iraq war policy are sending the wrong signal to troops and to an enemy that's questioning America's will.

In a Veterans Day speech at an Army depot in Pennsylvania, the president said Democrats and other critics who claim he manipulated pre-war intelligence to justify war are flinging "false charges."

He called them "baseless attacks" and said they send the wrong signal to U.S. troops in Iraq, as well as an enemy bent on shaking America's will.

With recent polls showing a majority thinking the Iraq conflict was a mistake, Bush countered critics who charge he misled the nation about Iraqi weapons programs. Read more about the president's poll numbers.

Bush noted most lawmakers saw the same intelligence he did and voted for war. And he said other governments, plus the Clinton administration, considered Saddam Hussein a threat.

Bush said it's legitimate to criticize his conduct of the war, but it's "deeply irresponsible to rewrite the history of how that war began."

Critics Fire Back

Congressional Democrats who've been sharply critical of the administration's Iraq policy are firing back at the president's charge they're rewriting history.

Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., quickly responded to Bush's charges, accusing him of manipulating facts to justify the Iraq War. In a news release, Kennedy also criticized the president for using Veterans Day for a partisan purpose.

"It's deeply regrettable that the president is using Veterans Day as a campaign-like attempt to rebuild his own credibility by tearing down those who seek the truth," Kennedy said. "It only further tarnished this White House and further damaged his presidency."

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., called the president's comments a return to what Reid called, "His old playbook of discredited rhetoric about the war on terror."

Reid said Democrats "stand with our troops" when they question the intelligence that was used to justify the war.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said it is "never appropriate" to try to play politics with war or with veterans. She said the president is doing "a disservice" to U.S. troops and the nation by trying to silence those asking questions about putting U.S. forces in harm's way.