Bush, Generals Review Iraq Strategy

(CBS/AP)  President Bush reviewed Iraq strategy on Saturday with top generals for a second day in a row amid increasing election-season pressure to make dramatic changes to address deteriorating conditions.

With an increasing number of Republicans – including candidates in the November 7 elections – publicly conceding that the Iraq is not going well, Mr. Bush has suggested that he is open to changes in war tactics, reports CBS News correspondent Dan Raviv. But the overall strategy will remain the same, he says: defeating terrorists and helping Iraqis create their own stable government.

Before a midmorning bike ride, the president consulted for 90 minutes at the White House with his national security team, spokeswoman Nicole Guillemard said.

Gathered around a Roosevelt Room conference table with Mr. Bush were Gen. John Abizaid, the top U.S. commander in the Middle East; Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld; Mr. Bush's national security adviser, Stephen Hadley; and other officials. Vice President Dick Cheney and Gen. George Casey, who leads the U.S.-led Multinational Forces in Iraq, joined in by videoconference.

"The participants focused on the nature of the enemy, the challenges in Iraq, how to better pursue our strategy, and the stakes of succeeding for the region and the security of the American people," Guillemard said.

Mr. Bush also met with Abizaid for a half-hour on Friday.

Even as it appeared to set the stage for a possible announcement, the White House insisted the meeting was routine and that all that is in question is a change in tactics in the war, not an overhaul of broader strategy or goals. Guillemard said the session was the third in a series of consultations with commanders that would continue in the same forum in the coming weeks.

The discussions Friday and Saturday came at the end of a week in which the U.S. military spokesman in Iraq said a stepped-up operation to secure Baghdad was failing and needed to be refocused; Republicans worried about losing ground in midterm elections expressed fresh doubts about the war; and frustration grew with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's lack of progress in reining in militias.

Some new ideas will be published by an advisory panel created by Congress, the Iraq Study Group, headed by former Secretary of State James Baker, reports Raviv. That group has both Republicans and Democrats and is expected to be critical of how the war has been conducted, while suggesting possible changes. Baker decided, however, not to reveal any of his group's findings until after the congressional elections – so that neither political party would spin the report for electoral advantage.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters traveling with her from Asia to Moscow that Mr. Bush meets often with generals overseeing the war effort, including a similar session she attended recently at Camp David.

"I wouldn't read into this somehow that there is a full-scale push for a major re-evaluation," Rice said.

"They are always looking at what course we're on, whether or not it's working, what's working and what isn't working," Rice said. "I'm quite certain that given the problems of violence in Iraq and the fact that the violence is not coming down to the degree that people would have hoped, that there is going to be a lot of discussion about how we address that."

On Friday, gunmen loyal to an anti-American Shiite cleric briefly seized a major southern city, an embarrassment for the local Iraqi security forces. For October so far, the U.S. death toll was at least 75 — and likely to be the highest for any month in nearly two years.

"The last few weeks have been rough for our troops in Iraq, and for the Iraqi people," Mr. Bush said Saturday in his weekly radio address. "The fighting is difficult, but our nation has seen difficult fights before. In World War II and the Cold War, earlier generations of Americans sacrificed so that we can live in freedom. This generation will do its duty as well."

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Listen: President Bush's Radio Address

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Listen: Diane Farrell's Democratic Radio Address

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Mr. Bush said the violence has increased because the Baghdad campaign has put a greater number of American forces in the most violent areas and because terrorists are grasping for propaganda tools. He insisted his goal of victory in Iraq would not change. He also praised Iraq's leaders for "beginning to take the difficult steps necessary to defeat the terrorists and unite their country."

"The terrorists are trying to divide America and break our will, and we must not allow them to succeed," he said. "We will help Iraq become a strong democracy that is a strong ally in the war on terror."

But Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, who holds a seat deemed safe for the GOP, said in a campaign debate Thursday she would have voted against the war had she known Saddam Hussein possessed no weapons of mass destruction, and said earlier in the week that partitioning Iraq into semiautonomous Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish regions should be considered.

Democrats also kept up the pressure. In a letter to the president, a dozen House and Senate Democratic leaders urged him to bring home some U.S. troops and force the Iraqis to take more responsibility for their security. The Democrats said Mr. Bush should do more to pressure Iraqi leaders to disarm militias and find a political solution that would curb violence.

Delivering the Democratic radio response, Diane Farrell, who is trying to unseat GOP Rep. Chris Shays in Connecticut, said Mr. Bush should fire Rumsfeld and Congress should establish benchmarks for Iraqis that would allow U.S. troops to leave.

"We need a new direction in Iraq. To be blunt, the president and the Republican Congress have been wrong on Iraq and wrong to keep their failed strategy," Farrell said. "An arbitrary departure date could be dangerous, but real goals for the new Iraqi government and its army are necessary."

Mr. Bush called withdrawal a retreat that "would allow the terrorists to gain a new safe haven from which to launch new attacks on America."

"We will not pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete," he said.

An independent commission led by former secretary of State James A. Baker III and former Democratic Rep. Lee Hamilton of Indiana is exploring options for a new strategy. Though Mr. Bush is not expected to hear their recommendations for change until December or January, the White House has rejected possible ideas such as partitioning Iraq or a phased withdrawal of troops.

[clestes-2009]

It is a pity that all that exercise isn't bringing any oxygen to Dubya's brain cells.

[jhindson1]

U.S. and coalition soldiers are dying while acting as referees in a civil war.

The Sunnis and the Shiites want the U.S. out so they can duke it out as to who will control Iraq. To make matters worse, the Americans are perceived to be supporting the Shiites.

Like the British Army in Northern Ireland trying to keep the Protestants away from the Catholics and visa versa, the US is in for at least two to three generations of insurgency and tribal-based violence. However on a scale far worse than Northern Ireland.

Meanwhile the real terrorists opportunistically shoot Americans in the fish bowl that they created for themselves.

The whole Iraq misadventure is based on a lie and results in the unnecessary deaths of brave American soldiers, countless innocent civilians, and has diverted almost a trillion dollars in resources away from getting the terrorists.

The US needs to get out and adopt the Israeli model - Determine who the enemies are, where they are and get them without unnecessary invasions of countries that did not have them.

In the meantime tell Iraq that you gave them freedom from Sadaam only to squander the chance to have peace between your founding groups.

Since the Iraqi people do not want peace but civil war instead, we are leaving.

As for the GOP they continue to equate terrorists with insurgents to promote fear of a withdrawal to get re-elected.

[peterbaldwin-2009]

Bush, Pace, Rumsfeld, Hadley, Cheney and Casey sitting around for 90 minutes with the cameras flashing. The meeting ends abruptly as the child fuhrer must go ride on his bicycle. What a sick joke and an insult to the American people.

[heetseeker]

The siuation is a mess & there are no eay answers.... I have commented previuosly on a related thread that withdrawal is a complete no brainer.... if the sunni & shia are slaughtering themselves now it will be a veritable blood-fest if we leave...

Much as we are losing our brave service men & women in Iraq... quite frankly we have created what now exists in Iraq... It is the law of unintended consequences... we possess overwhelming power & have chosen to use it unrestrained.... we have sown in the wind & are now reaping in the whirlwind....

In my view things WILL NOT significantly improve whilst the current administration is in the Whitehouse... it is incapable of learning, contrition or acknowledging its faults... it is therefore simply not believable on Iraq...

In short we have to stay whewre we are, stick it out & hope that a new administration with fresh faces brings fresh ideas in 2009

[gfanini]

how much of 300 bln us$ have gone to the iraqi rebels and why is their resistance presumably funded with u.s. money.

[emhawks]

Information to think about:
The Saudi Binladin Group(SBG)- Founded in 1931 @ the same time as the nation of Saudi Arabia, the bin Laden family business is the largest construction co. in the Mid. East. Headquarters are in Jeddah. SBG owns orbiting satellites & has contracts with the US Dept. of Defense.Iridium Satellite,LLC is a privately held, SBG co. which owns a series of 73 low- orbit satellites designed to provide satellite phone coverage across the earth. The co. is based in Leesburg,VA, not far from the CIA & the Nat'l. Reconnaissance Office.
The Project for the New American Century(PNAC)- A conservative think tank, the PNAC published a report in 9/00 recommending policies for preserving & expanding US dominance in world affairs. Referring to the Persian Gulf the report states, "While unresolved conflict with Iraq provides the immediate justification, the need for a substantial American force presence in the Gulf transcends the issue of the regime of Saddam Hussein." *** Cheney & Donald Rumsfeld are among the founders of PNAC.
Teh Carlyle Group- A holding co. & investment bank, it is a major component of the US defense industry. On 911, as the attacks were taking place, members of the bin Laden family, George H.W. Bush, James Baker III, along with other key investors, were at a Washington,D.C. meeting of the Carlyle Group @ the Ritz Carlton Hotel, just blocks away from the White House.

[nynative1340]

Well said, heatseeker. It is, ultimately, about the oil. And avenging thy father's (Bush 41) failure to do it right the first time.

So, the question is, do we sit back and let the civil war take its toll? And hope that the Shias win and appreciate the fact that we freed them from Saddam's suppression? And also take the chance that Iran and Iraq will become 'sister states'? You know how much Iran likes us. Remember 1953 and the Shah?

[salazam]

The only practical and viable solution to the Iraqi bloodshed and disaster is to bring Saddam Hussein back to power along with its republican guards/insurgents unite the all the factions. Leave about 50% of US forces in the theatre in supporting role watch(most should be in Kuwait) and observe role and never ever interfere in any countries system till it is a real threat to the region. The present Iraqi government needs to be dismantled on basis of corruption, incompetence and sectarianism. Bush and Republicans will loose if they played the game of lie to both pro and anti war groups. He will be one legged chiken/lame duck president after the November 7th elections though clinging to power.

[nynative1340]

While the Sunnis are a majority (80 percent) of the total Muslims in the world, Shias (Shiites) are the majority in Iraq and Iran.

The struggle between the Sunnis and Shias is very much like the war between the 'Catholics' and 'Protestants' in Northern Ireland. A war that was perpetuated by the presence of the British soldiers.

In most Arab countries, Sunnis and Shias live peacefully side by side, even intermarry. But because Saddam's minority Sunnis suppressed the Shias, all h*ll broke loose when Saddam was deposed. Something our dim-witted leaders didn't think about because they didn't, and still don't, understand the Arab culture.

[heetseeker]

Irrespective of its strategy or tactics this administration is hamstrung by its lack of integrity...

Patience is wearing thin because the public perceive (with justification) that the administration deceived us on Iraq...

Meanwhile, the middle east view is that the only reason why we are in Iraq is because of oil... no amount of strategy & tactical innovation will remove that milestone... we lost that war in 2003 when we chose to cherry pick evidence & exaggerate the threats against us...

Pre 2003 North Korea was clearly the most potent geo-political threat we faced.... yet we cooked up a case against Iraq....

Then when that was exposed as a farce, freedom & liberty were presented as reasons for the war... this despite the fact that the people of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Burma, Palestine and North Korea are crying out for freedom... Dont you think people in the middle east look us and rightly question our motives and objectives?

If the administration wonders why its strategy & tactics in Iraq are failing.... it should realise that war is not simply about the exercise of overwhelming power... it is about influence & an ability to debate issues in the public square & persuade people of the merit of your arguments... None of which this administration thought was important in 2003...

The current administration is not fit to offer a coherent way forward on Iraq.... it has little integrity & no credibility....