Bush Made More Concessions Than Viewers Saw
In an unusually subdued prime-time address outlining his changing Iraq policy, President Bush did offer a statement that was rather unusual for him:
"Where mistakes have been made," he said, "the responsibility rests with me." For a president who does not like to admit his mistakes, this was a big step.
Yet he still soft-pedaled this concession, particularly in comparison with how White House press releases portrayed the strategic shift in Iraq. An 11-page summary of the change clearly lays out how dramatically the Bush administration is abandoning many of the principles that drove the first 3½ years of U.S. operations in Iraq. No longer is the Sunni insurgency the primary challenge; instead, sectarian violence fueled by Sunni and Shiite extremists is threatening the entire country.
Previously, U.S. officials assumed that "political progress will help defuse the insurgency and dampen levels of violence." Now, the change is marked: "Political and economic progress are unlikely absent a basic level of security."
Bush took one of the biggest risks of his political career last night by announcing a new, more aggressive strategy. Not only did he commit to sending an additional 20,000 U.S. troops, but he outlined a strategic shift that is likely to put those troops into dangerous urban combat situations.
Instead of relying on the concept championed by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld of focusing predominantly on handing over security responsibility to the Iraqis, Bush said he wants to make U.S. forces more responsible for keeping the Iraqi people safe from the spiraling sectarian violence.
Among dramatic shifts in the administration's rhetoric about building a democracy in Iraq: While the old thinking suggested that a majority of Iraqis supported U.S. efforts to build a democracy, the White House now believes: "Iraqis are increasingly disillusioned with coalition efforts."
Many Bush critics complain that several of these realizations may have come too late. Both Republicans and Democrats have already blasted the plan to send additional troops. One particular worry is that Bush's new emphasis on protecting Iraqi civilians and rooting out militias from Baghdad's toughest neighborhoods will dramatically increase the number of U.S. casualties.
Republican Sen. Chuck Hagel used Vietnam-era language when he blasted Bush's plan this morning.
"I do not agree with that escalation," he said. "We will not win a war of attrition in the Middle East."
Then he made the comparison explicit: "The speech given last night by this president represents the most dangerous foreign-policy blunder in this country since Vietnam."