Bush to face protests as he defends Iraq policy

President Bush, trying to counter the message of anti-war vigils outside his ranch and growing public discontent with Iraq, leaves Texas on Monday for the first of two speeches on the war and the September 11 attacks, but more protesters await him.

Bush, appearing at a Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Salt Lake City, will weigh in on attempts by Iraqis to meet a deadline for a draft constitution and may reiterate his stay-the-course message to Americans who are increasingly uneasy about his handling of Iraq.

At a park near the VFW venue, Celeste Zappala, 58, the Philadelphia mother of a National Guardsman killed in Iraq, plans to lead a protest. Her son Sherwood Baker was killed in Iraq last year and she is part of anti-war mother Cindy Sheehan's group, Gold Star Families for Peace.