President George Bush told skeptical Americans on Wednesday he was sending about 21 500 extra US troops to Iraq and, in a rare admission, said he made a mistake by not deploying more forces sooner.
”The situation in Iraq is unacceptable to the American people, and it is unacceptable to me,” Bush said in a televised White House address. ”Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me.”
With American patience running thin over his handling of the war, Bush said he would put greater pressure on Iraqis to restore order in Baghdad and used blunt language to warn Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki that ”America’s commitment is not open-ended.”
”If the Iraqi government does not follow through on its promises, it will lose the support of the American people, and it will lose the support of the Iraqi people,” Bush said.
Bush said his new strategy was for Iraqis to try to take responsibility for security in all 18 provinces by November rather than just three now.
”The year ahead will demand more patience, sacrifice and resolve,” he said.
Bush said previous attempts to secure Baghdad failed because ”there were not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure neighborhoods that had been cleared of terrorists and insurgents” and the troops labored under too many restrictions.
It was a rare acknowledgment of a mistake for Bush. He said his military commanders had reviewed the new plan and assured him it addressed the problems.
He accused Iran and Syria of allowing use of their territory for terrorists and insurgents to move in and out of Iraq and vowed ”we will interrupt the flow of support from Syria and Iran.”
Ahead of a visit to the Middle East by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Bush said Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Gulf states needed to understand that a US defeat in Iraq ”would create a new sanctuary for extremists — and a strategic threat to their survival.”
The president’s fresh infusion of American troops into the nearly four-year-old war — 17 500 for Baghdad, 4 000 for restive Anbar province, was in defiance of Democrats who called it an escalation of the conflict.
Bush set no time limit for the new deployment.
The president faces a tough sell, after nearly four years of war and scenes of carnage that have undercut his argument that victory is possible in Iraq.
Democratic scrutiny
Democrats, who saw their takeover of the U.S. Congress in November elections as a signal from voters that it was time to start bringing troops home, called for a ”phased redeployment” of troops to begin in four to six months.
They pledged to give his plan great scrutiny in the days ahead but doubted they could stop it. Democrats planned to orchestrate a symbolic vote on Bush’s new policy in the House of Representatives and the Senate.
”We are in a hole in Iraq and the president says that the way out is to dig deeper. Does that make sense? When you’re in a hole, the solution is to dig deeper?” said Maryland Democratic Senator Barbara Mikulski.
”The American people are demanding a change in course in Iraq. Instead, the president is accelerating the same failed course he has pursued for nearly four years. He must understand that Congress will not endorse this course,” said Massachusetts Democratic Senator Edward Kennedy.
A solid majority of Americans were opposed to the troop increase and many in Bush’s own Republican Party were uneasy about it if not outright against the troop increase.
Bush sought to justify the increase by saying the extra troops were needed to hold neighbourhoods cleared of insurgents. He said if the Iraqi government collapsed, the United States would have to keep troops longer in Iraq.
”If we increase our support at this crucial moment and help the Iraqis break the current cycle of violence, we can hasten the day our troops begin coming home,” he said.
He said Iraqi leaders must follow through on promises on approving an oil-sharing law and reforms aimed at a political reconciliation among warring groups, but gave no deadlines.
Bush will ask Congress for $5,6-billion to fund the extra deployment and another $1,2-billion for a rebuilding and jobs program aimed at getting Iraqis jobs and keeping them from joining militias.
About 50 protesters beat drums and rang cowbells and chanted ”no more war” outside the White House gate after the speech.
In Baghdad, Iraqis voiced skepticism that more troops would help. Police recovered the bodies of 60 people with gunshot wounds and signs of torture from various parts of Baghdad in the 24 hours to Wednesday evening, an Interior Ministry source said. – Reuters