President George W. Bush spoke to the nation Tuesday evening about the terrorist attacks in New York City and Washington D.C., eliciting mixed responses from ISU student political leaders.

In his speech, he said the United States will remain strong by staying open for business. He said America will continue for justice and peace.

In praise of Bush’s actions, Melissa McArthur, ISU College Republicans member, said the United States can’t tolerate terrorism to this extent.

“If a country is hiding whoever did this, they are an accessory after the fact,” said McArthur, sophomore in pre-business.

Molly Scherrman, president of ISU Democrats, said she thought the president’s address was vague.

“[Bush] didn’t leave the speech open to criticism,” said Scherrman, junior in psychology. “I was surprised he didn’t console the United States.”

She said she understood it was still early and she didn’t expect him to tell much due to security. However, Scherrman said she wanted to know what he planned to do next and wanted the nation to do.

“With all the money spent on security, I was shocked this could happen,” she said. “We should do more research on what terrorists are capable of so this doesn’t happen again.”

Matt Denner, president of ISU Greens, said he thinks helping those in need is most important.

“We think the U.S. should take an active role in resolving the situation, but we feel they should first concentrate on the rebuilding and helping citizens,” said Denner, freshman in liberal arts and sciences.

Bush needs to handle the situation carefully, so as not to upset people, he said.

“The opinion of myself and the ISU Greens members is that we are concerned about the events and frightened by Bush’s sentiment,” Denner said. “This could contribute to an atmosphere of racism, violence and global instability if it’s handled in the wrong way.”

Nick Weltha, Iowa State Libertarians member, said Bush shouldn’t respond to the attacks unless he can assure people he knows who is responsible for sure.

“The Libertarians agree actions should be taken to apprehend those responsible,” said Weltha, senior in management information systems. “But the government need to refrain from intervention policies that have been the instigators of these events.”

Iowa State Daily reporter Wendy Weiskircher contributed to this article.