Bush Speech: Thumbs Up, And Down

Dems Say Iraq Plan Lacks Specifics; Others Say 'Stay The Course'

(CBS/AP)  President Bush's Tuesday night speech to the nation assessing the war in Iraq won approval from Republicans and GIs who agree there should be no timetable for bringing home the troops. Democratic critics, weighing in with their reaction, say GIs deserve a plan for success and the Bush plan on Iraq is short on specifics.

Many soldiers at bases around the U.S. reacted with approval to the "stay the course" message of President Bush's Tuesday night speech, given at Fort Bragg, N.C., and broadcast nationally on the first anniversary of sovereignty being turned over to Iraq's new government.

In Killeen, Texas, near Fort Hood, Sergeant Chuck Crawley, 25, said America's job in Iraq is unfinished because in his words, the people of Iraq "ain't liberated."

He predicted U.S. forces won't be able to return home until Iraq has a stable police force, Army and government.

Cpl. James Anderson, 22, said he welcomed Bush's refusal to set a timetable for bringing the troops home from Iraq.

"Like any Marine, you do the job until it's done. You don't just do it halfway and leave," said Anderson, a Houston native who said he was scheduled to leave for Iraq soon.

Fellow Houston native Cpl. Chase Krebbs, 22, agreed.

"I'm a Marine. That's why I joined, to do this stuff, to serve and protect," Krebbs said.

GOP leaders on Capitol Hill were quick to praise the Bush speech and the president's assessment of the war in Iraq.

"As we mark the first anniversary of Iraqi sovereignty, we must remember that 25 million people have been liberated and now enjoy the promise of both freedom and self-determination," says House Majority Leader Tom DeLay. "Democrat leaders may call that a 'grotesque mistake,' but I call it a humanitarian miracle, and I thank the president for his leadership in fighting this war."

On CBS News' The Early Show, Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said he thought the president's speech was important, but he also said he would send more troops to Iraq.

"One of the big mistakes early on was that we did not have enough troops on the ground particularly after the initial victory, and that's still the case," McCain told Early Show co-anchor Harry Smith. "Over time will be solved by the training and equipping of Iraqi troops to take up these responsibilities. . . We are making progress there. We must win."

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi was less impressed by Mr. Bush's words.

"The American people now know that the war in Iraq is not making our country safer," says Pelosi. "Let's forget the rosy scenarios and the reminders about how tough the job is. Let's not divide our country by saying who's for the troops and who are not. We're all for the troops, and we view our support for the troops to be measured by not only the equipment we give them, the intelligence, but by a level of planning, again, to meet their level of sacrifice."

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid says the president's Iraq policy is "adrift." The Nevada Democrat also said staying the course "is neither sustainable nor likely to lead to success."

"If you're going to get the kind of support the president needs at home in order to sustain this effort over the next several years, then a lot more candor is necessary. The president began that process last evening," said Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, D-Conn., on The Early Show. "He needs to address this issue more frequently than he has been doing in the past and let people candidly know how this is going and what needs to be done."

Arkansas Democrat Vic Snyder says the U.S. has no choice but to make things work in Iraq. Otherwise, he says the war will have converted "the police state of Saddam Hussein, into a failed state" where terrorists can thrive.