Regierung Bush veröffentlich "Victory Plan for Iraq"
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Hours before President Bush is scheduled to deliver a speech Wednesday morning, the White House went on the offensive by releasing a declassified document that it says outlines strategy for victory in Iraq.
Bush's speech at 9:50 a.m. ET is part of a plan to bolster public support for the increasingly unpopular U.S.-led war in Iraq.
The 38-page released document, titled "Our National Strategy for Victory in Iraq," attempts to define what victory in Iraq means in the short term, the "medium term" and the long term. (Watch why Bush is making his speech on Iraq -- 1:42)
The plan calls for pursuing three tracks: political, security and economic. The tracks are broken down into eight pillars, including defeating terrorists and neutralizing the insurgency; helping Iraq strengthen its economy; and increasing international support for Iraq.
"With resolve, victory will be achieved, although not by a date certain," the report said. "No war has ever been won on a timetable and neither will this one."
"We expect, but cannot guarantee, that our force posture will change over the next year, as the political process advances and Iraqi security forces grow and gain experience," the report said. "Our mission in Iraq is to win the war. Our troops will return home when that mission is complete."
The declassified version is part of a much longer and more comprehensive report. (White House plan [PDF])
During a speech Tuesday night in Denver, Colorado, Bush insisted that he would not withdraw U.S. forces from Iraq "without having achieved victory."
Earlier in the day, during a visit to the U.S.-Mexican border, Bush said any decisions he makes will be based on the recommendations of top U.S. commanders.
"If they tell me we need more troops, we'll provide more troops," he said. "If they tell me we've got a sufficient level of troops, that'll be the level of troops.
"If they tell me that the Iraqis are ready to take more and more responsibility and that we'll be able to bring some Americans home, I will do that."
But he said he would not let the U.S. troops killed in Iraq "die in vain" by withdrawing before a stable, democratic Iraq emerges.
"That's what's important for the American people to understand -- that, one, we are not going to cut and run; two, we'll achieve our objective; and three, the president is going to listen to those who are on the ground who can make the best assessment," Bush said.
About 159,000 American troops are in Iraq, up from about 138,000 in the summer, as the country prepares for its third round of voting this year.
Iraqis are set to select a permanent National Assembly December 15, after choosing a transitional parliament in January and approving a constitution in October.
The Pentagon has said that the level of troops is likely to go back down to the summer's level after the election.
The United States invaded Iraq in March 2003 on the contention that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was trying to obtain nuclear weapons and had concealed chemical and biological weapons stockpiles from U.N. weapons inspectors.
No such weapons were found once Hussein was toppled, and American troops have been battling a persistent insurgency since his government collapsed in April 2003.
The Bush administration now says U.S. troops must help stabilize Iraq's fledgling government and prevent the country from becoming a haven for Islamic militants linked to the al Qaeda terrorist network.
U.S. death toll rises The U.S. death toll reached 2,110 Tuesday when a roadside bomb killed two U.S. soldiers north of Baghdad, and support for the conflict has dropped sharply in recent months. (Full story)
Only 35 percent of those surveyed in a CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll taken earlier this month said they approved of Bush's handling of the conflict, and 54 percent said the invasion had been a mistake. (Full story)
From El Paso, Texas, Bush flew to Denver for a Republican fund-raiser Tuesday.
A crowd of anti-war demonstrators met him after he landed, waving signs urging Bush's impeachment and a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq. Some waved their middle fingers at reporters traveling with the president.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Bush would outline "real progress" in the training of Iraqi security forces during his Wednesday speech at the U.S. Naval Academy.
In 2006, McClellan said, "the expectation is that conditions will be changing on the ground -- we've been making real progress with the training of Iraqi security forces -- and that conditions will permit us to be able to reduce our presence."
Reed: Close 'credibility gap' Sen. Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat, told reporters Tuesday Bush has to close a "growing credibility gap" by offering a detailed explanation of what remains to be done in Iraq, not just what has been accomplished so far.
"It's easy to sloganize and talk about 'Everything's going well,'" said Reed, a member of the Armed Services Committee, in comments to reporters ahead of Bush's speech Wednesday.
"But I think those speeches over the last two years have left a big gap between the American public -- what they hear from the president and what they see every day on television and read in the newspapers -- and that gap has to close," he said. "This has got to be unvarnished."
|