PDA

View Full Version : Bush Rallies Troops To Avert Revolt In Congress



Gold9472
09-15-2007, 09:01 PM
Bush rallies troops to avert revolt in Congress

http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,,2169778,00.html

Suzanne Goldenberg in Washington
Saturday September 15, 2007
The Guardian

President George Bush and vice-president Dick Cheney yesterday visited troops at US military bases in a public relations roadshow intended to stay a revolt in Congress against an "enduring relationship" with Iraq.

Hours after a televised address in which Mr Bush offered the American public updated reasons for a prolonged military commitment in Iraq, the president took to the road to try to build support for a plan that will pass on the responsibility of the war to the next US president.

Mr Bush inadvertently acknowledged it would be a hard sell. After having lunch with marines and their families in Quantico, Virginia, he said: "We, I, fully understand that if we were to be driven out of Iraq the Middle East would be in chaos."

The switch in pronouns was telling as the Democratic leaders in Congress turned on the White House. "The president failed to provide either a plan to successfully end the war or a convincing rationale to continue it," Jack Reed, a Democratic senator from Rhode Island, said in the official response to Mr Bush's address.

The White House offered new details yesterday suggesting a far greater US commitment to Iraq than many Americans had envisaged. Iraqi leaders wanted a long-term commitment from the US, a White House progress report on the war said. "They also understand that their success requires US political, economic, diplomatic and security engagement beyond January 2009, and they have asked to begin defining a long-term relationship between our two countries," it said.

The White House had hoped the appearances yesterday by Mr Bush and Mr Cheney would prevent elected Republican officials from bolting when Congress considers measures to compel a reduction in US forces in Iraq. During a visit to the Gerald Ford presidential museum in Michigan, Mr Cheney told reporters: "The troop surge has achieved solid results and in a relatively short period of time."

Those claims of progress were a key element of Mr Bush's speech on Thursday night. In an attempt to mollify opponents of the war in Congress and the general public, the president claimed the improved security situation had enabled him to withdraw some troops from Iraq.

He laid out plans for a limited reduction of US forces, starting with the withdrawal of 5,700 troops by the end of the year. But the bulk of the forces in Iraq would remain in place.

The White House progress report paints a far rosier scenario than independent reports on Iraq, or this week's testimony to Congress by the commander of US forces in Iraq, General David Petraeus.

In its report last week the Government Accountability Office had found evidence of progress on only three milestones, while Gen Petraeus and the US ambassador to Baghdad said they were frustrated by the minimal progress on benchmarks. By the White House yardstick, however, the situation in Iraq was considerably brighter - although it recorded "satisfactory progress" on only nine of the 18 political, economic and security benchmarks.