United States President George Bush paid a surprise visit to a US military base in Iraq on Monday, in a piece of stagecraft intended to bolster support in Congress for the administration’s war strategy, only days before a crucial report on the success of the American troop ”surge”.
The six-hour visit to the heavily fortified US airfield in Anbar province, where troops are fighting with Sunni tribal forces against al-Qaeda insurgents, was calculated to draw attention to a rare success on the ground in Iraq.
With cheering marines as a visual backdrop, Bush used the occasion to warn the Congress that he would resist any moves to force his administration to begin a troop withdrawal. ”When we begin to draw down troops in Iraq, it will be from a position of strength and success, not from a position of fear and failure,” he said.
The US military commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus, and the American Ambassador to Baghdad, Ryan Crocker, are to give their judgement of the administration’s troop surge next week. The White House will deliver its own assessment to Congress on September 15.
The general’s report could provide the tipping point for the Democratic-controlled Congress as it deliberates on whether, and how, to compel the administration to alter its strategy on Iraq. Last month, John Warner, a Republican senator who is seen as the elder statesman of his party, called on Bush to bring about 5 000 troops home before Christmas.
Earlier on Monday, Bush acknowledged the extent of anger and war fatigue among the Congress and the general public. ”I understand the pace of progress is frustrating,” he said. But he said the experience of Anbar province showed that it was possible to bring down the violence.
Monday’s visit was the president’s third to Iraq, but the importance he attached to it was underlined by the seniority of his entourage. ”I brought out the A-team,” Bush joked to the marines.
As with his two earlier trips to the war zone, Bush and his team travelled in great secrecy, slipping out of a side door of the White House on Sunday night. He was joined on his flight by the Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice, as well as by the national security adviser, Stephen Hadley, and was met on arrival by the Pentagon chief, Robert Gates. The president held talks with Petraeus, Ambassador Crocker and five Iraqi leaders including the prime minister, Nuri al-Maliki.
”He has assembled essentially his war cabinet here, and they are all convening with the Iraqi leadership to discuss the way forward,” the Pentagon press secretary, Geoff Morrell, told reporters.
The visit was essentially a stop-over for Bush and Rice, who were on their way to an economic summit in Australia. But the venue was crucial.
Since the surge was put in motion last January, raising the US military presence in Iraq to more than 160 000 troops, US commanders have been able to bring down the violence in Anbar by striking alliances with local Sunni tribal leaders to fight against al-Qaeda cells. The tribal chiefs had previously been among the fiercest opponents of the US presence.
Bush on Monday held out hope for a more durable security situation in Anbar. ”If the kind of success we are now seeing continues, it will be possible to maintain the same level of security with fewer American forces,” he said. – Guardian Unlimited Â