|
Bush maps out Iraq war strategy
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-01 08:49
US President Bush gave an unflinching defense of his war strategy on
Wednesday, refusing to set a timetable for U.S. troop withdrawals and asserting
that once-shaky Iraqi troops are proving increasingly capable.
Democrats dismissed his words as a stay-the-course speech with no real
strategy for success.
Bush recalled that some Iraqi security forces once ran from battle, and he
said their performance "is still uneven in some parts." But he also said
improvements have been made in training and Iraqi units are growing more
independent and controlling more territory.
"This will take time and patience," said Bush, who is under intense political
pressure as U.S. military deaths in the war rise beyond 2,100 and his popularity
sits at the lowest point of his presidency.
Bush's speech at the U.S. Naval Academy, the first of at least three he'll
give between now and the Dec. 15 Iraqi elections, did not outline a new strategy
for the nearly three-year-old war. Rather, it was intended as a comprehensive
answer to mounting criticism and questions. Billed as a major address, it
brought together in a single package the administration's arguments for the war
and assertions of progress on military, economic and political tracks.
![US President Bush gestures during a speech on the Iraq war at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2005. [AP]](xin_281202010855858252255.jpg)
US President Bush gestures during a speech on
the Iraq war at the U.S. Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md., Wednesday, Nov.
30, 2005. [AP] | The address was accompanied by
the release of a White House document titled "Our National Strategy for Victory
in Iraq" 錕斤拷 a report that House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi dismissed as "35
pages of rhetoric on old sound bites." Sen. Edward Kennedy called Bush's speech
"lipstick" on a failed Iraqi strategy. "If things on the ground in Iraq are as
rosy as the picture the president painted today, then we should be able to begin
to bring our troops home in 2006," he said.
Bush spoke to a friendly audience of midshipmen. They welcomed the president
by singing him the Navy fight song. At the end, they chanted in unison, 'Fire it
up!' 'Fire it up!'
The president said the U.S. military's role in Iraq will shift from providing
security and fighting the enemy nationwide to more specialized operations
targeted at the most dangerous terrorists. "We will increasingly move out of
Iraqi cities, reduce the number of bases from which we operate and conduct fewer
patrols and convoys," the president said.
Still, Bush remained steadfastly opposed to imposing a deadline for leaving
Iraq.
"Many advocating an artificial timetable for withdrawing our troops are
sincere 錕斤拷 but I believe they're sincerely wrong," Bush said. "Pulling our troops
out before they've achieved their purpose is not a plan for victory."
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada called on the president to
release a strategy that has military, economic and political benchmarks that
must be met. "Simply staying the course is no longer an option," Reid said. "We
must change the course."
Bush was ready for that.
"If by `stay the course' they mean we will not permit al-Qaida to turn Iraq
into what Afghanistan was under the Taliban 錕斤拷 a safe haven for terrorism and a
launching pad for attacks on America 錕斤拷 they're right," Bush said.
"If by `stay the course' they mean that we're not learning from our
experiences or adjusting our tactics to meet the challenges on the ground, then
they're flat wrong."
There are about 160,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. The Pentagon has not committed
to any specific drawdown next year beyond the announced plan to pull back 28,000
troops who were added this fall for extra security during the election.
The U.S. strategy rests on the expectation that training a competent Iraqi
security force and helping shepherd the election of a democratic government will
stabilize the country and permit a gradual U.S. military exit, possibly starting
next year.
At this time last year, only a few Iraqi battalions were ready for combat, he
said. Now more than 120 Iraqi army and police combat battalions are in the
fight, Bush said. Of those, about 80 are fighting side-by-side with U.S.-led
coalition forces and about 40 others are taking the lead.
Bush said more than 30 Iraqi army battalions have assumed primary control of
their own areas of responsibility. In Baghdad, Iraqi battalions have taken over
major sectors of the capital, including some of the city's toughest
neighborhoods, he said. The coalition has handed over roughly 90 square miles of
Baghdad province to Iraqi security forces, and Iraqi battalions have taken
responsibility for areas in other parts of the country.
The president said that when the U.S.-led coalition arrived in Iraq, it
worked to create an Iraqi army that could defend the nation from external
threats as well as a civil defense corps to provide protection inside its
borders. But the civil force, without enough firepower or training, was no match
for enemies toting machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, Bush said.
In response, he said the civil force was moved into the Iraqi army and
training was adjusted. Similarly, he said that when Iraqi police recruits were
spending too much time in classroom lectures and getting too little training on
how to use small arms, the program was changed to better prepare them for the
fight they faced.
While Bush did not say that the terrorists now in Iraq had anything to do
with the Sept. 11 attackers, he said they "share the same ideology." He said
that once the enemy in Iraq is defeated, Americans will be safer.
|
