White House Week
The Man Is Still Waiting for Some Good News
Former White House advisers to George H. W. Bush are keenly disappointed with the current President Bush's initial reaction to the report by the Iraq Study Group. They consider him rather dismissive of the group's conclusions, which include the view that current Iraq policy is failing (story, Page 38). "We have a classic case of circling the wagons," says a past adviser to Bush the elder. "If President Bush changes his policy in Iraq in a fundamental way, it undermines the whole premise of his presidency." The president tells aides he doesn't want to "outsource" his role as commander in chief, and he awaits other assessments from the State Department, and Pentagon, and National Security Council, which he expects will be more optimistic. Bush hopes to give a speech on Iraq by the end of December.
What a Difference a New Suit Makes
As soon as newly confirmed Defense Secretary Robert Gates steps into the Pentagon, "he will improve morale by 50 percent," says a Gates ally. "Everyone expects him to replace the 'suit guys' with uniformed guys, and that will give the military a lift"-in contrast to the abrasive ways of outgoing Pentagon boss Donald Rumsfeld in dealing with the brass. Gates also is more highly regarded in Congress than was Rumsfeld because he is considered more candid and more willing to share information and listen to a wide range of views. "But can Gates make a difference in terms of the way the war is going?" asks a Gates confidant. "No. The president decides that, and Bush isn't going to bend over backward to change course no matter what Gates advises."
We Can Make Beautiful Music Together
Following the harsh midterm campaign, especially on Iraq, President Bush and his strategists say they want to pull the nation together. But, despite such uplifting speech in public, privately Bush is talking tough. The president and his advisers, including political strategist Karl Rove, are said to believe that it's not only the administration that should give ground-majority Democrats also must reach out to the GOP and the White House. "The Democrats now have a leadership stake in working together," says a senior Bush aide. And Bush hasn't given up his core conviction that "we have to succeed in Iraq," defining success as "an Iraq that can sustain, defend, and govern itself," the adviser says. He adds, if the Democrats truly want to win the war, they should unite behind the president.
And There (Boom) Goes the Neighborhood
Igor Shuvalov, a top economic aide to Russian President Putin, was in Washington last week. He told reporters he met with U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley on "sensitive issues," including Iran's nuclear ambitions. Noting that Russia shares a border with Iran, he said, "For you Iran is somewhere like Iraq-for us it is more dangerous." He argued that neither economic nor military force would be as productive as diplomacy in dealing with nonproliferation. "We should all be more cautious," he said. "For instance, when the campaign in Iraq started, Russians were always saying it's not easy at all, because you have Sunnis and Shiites, and you will not end up with a great success very quickly. And now again, we think we need to speak with Iran. We don't believe if you start bombing them tomorrow, or if you impose very strict sanctions, you will be successful."
PHOTO OP: 10:42 a.m., December 7, the Oval Office
British Prime Minister Tony Blair visited Washington last week, and he and President Bush held a joint press conference on Iraq. Bush appeared to reject the more modest goal of creating stability in Iraq posed by the Iraq Study Group report, as he and Blair cast the struggle there as one between extremism and democracy, a war that cannot be lost.
With Kenneth T. Walsh and Marianne Lavelle
This story appears in the December 18, 2006 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.
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