Bush cites progress with Iraq strategy
Iraq-USA, Politics, 4/23/2007

US President George W. Bush said that although many challenges remain in Iraq, the new US stability strategy is meeting expectations.

"There's been some progress," Bush told reporters after meeting with General David Petraeus, the commander of coalition forces in Iraq, at the White House. "There's been some horrific bombings, of course. There's also a decline in sectarian violence."

Petraeus traveled to Washington from Baghdad to update the president as additional US forces continue deploying with the mission "to help this young Iraqi democracy become stable, evolve into a country that can defend itself and govern itself, and serve as an ally in this war against extremists and radicals who wish to do us harm," Bush said.

Half of the additional troops already have arrived in Iraq as part of a strategy to help bring the violence under control and give the Iraqi government time to institute key reforms, Bush said.

"These troops are all aimed at helping the Iraqi government find the breathing space necessary to do what the people want them to do, and that is to reconcile and move forward with a government of and by and for the Iraqi people," he said.

Admiral William Fallon, commander of the US Central Command, said in recent congressional testimony that the new strategy has contributed to a decrease in sectarian killings over the past eight weeks in Anbar province.

The president said recent attacks are calculated to "shake the confidence of the Iraqi people and their government, and the coalition's ability to provide security, and shake our confidence."

But, Bush said, the United States will not back down and will continue to work beside Iraqi security forces in a growing number of joint security stations around Baghdad, where they are providing 24-hour protection for area residents.

"By living in Baghdad neighborhoods, American forces get to know the culture and concerns of local residents," Bush said in an April 20 speech. "Equally important, the local residents get to know them."

While in Washington, Petraeus also will brief members of Congress on the new Iraq strategy as they work to reconcile two versions of a supplemental spending bill to fund ongoing operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Both proposals include timetables for withdrawal of US forces, measures which Bush reiterated he would reject.

"It's a tough time there," Bush said, but "no matter how tough it may look,... for the Congress to micromanage this process, is a mistake."

Previous Stories:
  Iraq al-Sadr supporters pull out of government   (4/16/2007)
  Bush urges funding of troops in Iraq without timetables   (4/9/2007)
  Three journalists killed in Iraq   (4/9/2007)

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