http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB113335174541410070-53mfWEltYpknUd2oa8EKh4F_Jz4_20061130.html?mod=blogsBush Acknowledges Difficulties in Iraq
Speech Offers No Timeline for U.S. Exit,focuses on Effort To Rebuild Mideast Nation's Army
By YOCHI J. DREAZEN and JOHN D. MCKINNON
Staff Reporters of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
December 1, 2005; Page A4
WASHINGTON -- <snip>Mr. Bush said that the number of battle-ready Iraqi army and police battalions has grown markedly -- but didn't address accusations that Shiite and Kurdish security forces are torturing and killing Sunni civilians. He said continued progress means "we will be able to decrease our troop levels" -- but declined to offer a general timetable for when. He said U.S. forces are "learning from our experiences
adjusting our tactics" -- but outlined no new administration strategy.<snip>
What was new in Mr. Bush's address at the U.S. Naval Academy was his detailed deconstruction of the opposition that U.S. forces face, and his unusually frank admission of problems in training Iraqi forces to counter them. He acknowledged the "sincere" arguments of political adversaries seeking withdrawal of U.S. troops, while vowing "America will not run in the face of car bombers as long as I am your commander in chief."
Less clear was whether the speech can stop the erosion of public confidence in the administration's handling of Iraq, which has rattled fellow Republicans looking ahead to U.S. midterm elections. Democrats edged even further away in the wake of the speech, as House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi embraced a prompt troop withdrawal.
In the first of a quartet of presidential speeches that White House aides plan for the run-up to the Dec. 15 Iraqi election, Mr. Bush re-emphasized the importance of the war effort and the administration's belief that it had a strategy to win in Iraq. He focused on the status of the U.S.-led effort to create new Iraqi military and security forces capable of effectively battling the country's insurgents, which both parties see as a prerequisite for any eventual American military withdrawal.<snip>
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