WASHINGTON, Jan. 9, 2008
Bush Gets Mixed Report From Iraq Envoys
Some U.S. Reconstruction Officials Paint Rosy Picture; Others "Still Struggling"
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President Bush makes remarks in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2008, about the Iraq Provincial Reconstruction Team Leaders (PRT) and it's role in the reconstruction of Iraq. Joining him, from left are, Kristin Hagerstrom, John Smith and Dr. John Jones. (AP Photo/Lawrence Jackson)
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The White House allowed one reporter, from The Associated Press, to sit in on a briefing for Mr. Bush by leaders of provincial reconstruction teams in Iraq. What Mr. Bush likes to call the "political surge" that goes along with the military surge he ordered a year ago, these teams are integrated units of U.S. civilian, military and diplomatic workers deployed across the country as mentors to help local Iraqis govern, boost their economies and restart basic services still missing in much of Iraq.
The situations the leaders reported ranged from the dire to the celebratory.
John Jones, the provisional reconstruction team leader in Diyala province northeast of Baghdad, gaped in awe at the report from another team leader, Angus Simmons. Simmons had talked about all the ways his team was helping boost tourism in the southern province of Najaf, home to holy sites, including assisting the Iraqis' dream of a new airport. It was a situation unimaginable to Jones in his area, which has become a messy new stronghold for extremists who have been pushed out of Anbar province by the increased U.S. troop presence there.
"We're still struggling," Jones said. "The key thing for us is we're making small steps." The biggest victory Jones reported was getting access from the provincial governor, a Shiite Muslim in a predominantly Sunni area.
The hourlong session involved three PRT leaders talking via secure videoconference from Iraq and three others ("on vacation" back in the States) in the Roosevelt Room. Those watching the giant screen with them and Mr. Bush included Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Bush talked little, asking a few questions, making a couple of jokes and giving a brief pep talk.
Mr. Bush said in the Rose Garden afterward that the meeting, along with separate teleconferences Tuesday with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, Gen. David Petraeus, the top U.S. military commander in Iraq, and Ryan Crocker, the U.S. ambassador, gave him confidence that recent security gains are producing political successes, and will do so even more.
The president said that last year, particularly at the end, "has become incredibly successful beyond anybody's expectations."
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., took issue. "It is a failure of leadership when our president calls 2007 incredibly successful beyond anybody's expectations when the Iraqi government has done so little to achieve stability and it has been the most lethal year yet for American troops," they said in a statement.
In other developments:
Service Association, the union that represents U.S. diplomats.
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Diyala reconstruction team leader
Petraeus and Crocker are due to give Congress a new update on the war in March. Mr. Bush plans to see them in person this weekend on a stop in Kuwait during his Mideast trip that begins Wednesday in Israel. After their report last September, Mr. Bush announced he would withdraw some troops from Iraq by July - essentially the 30,000 sent as part of the surge - but still keep the U.S. level there at about 130,000. The next report will be watched closely for whether further cuts will be made after July.We're still struggling... The key thing for us is we're making small steps.
John Jones,Diyala reconstruction team leader
With al-Maliki's government achieving little progress on legislative reforms seen as key to tamping down sectarian violence, Mr. Bush and his team now are counting more on spurring changes in the provinces that would then force the central government to act. The provisional reconstruction teams are at the center of those goals.
Amid successes, the teams have been troubled by interagency disputes over funding, staffing and administrative support.
The team leaders Mr. Bush heard from were mostly from areas of Iraq that have seen improvements since last year's troop buildup took full effect. With 24 PRTs now operating, up from 10 a year ago, Lt. Gen. Doug Lute, the president's White House point man on Iraq and Afghanistan, said those chosen to brief on Tuesday were meant to represent both the geographical diversity and the range of challenges in Iraq.
Mr. Bush did not hear all rosy news.
Crocker, introducing the leaders, told the Commander in Chief that the desire of the PRTs in southern provinces to move from one regional location to small, secure forward bases closer to their efforts could be costly. "I can't resist the opportunity to put that on the table," Crocker said.
Others talked about violence remaining an overarching problem. John Bennett, leader of a Baghdad PRT embedded with the 101st Airborne Division, said a key informant was assassinated earlier Tuesday, most likely by al Qaeda in Iraq. "We are getting more information, but it does come at a cost," he said.
And there were lots of complaints that efforts are being hampered by the government in Baghdad - "the prime minister's office primarily," Bennett said.
This mirrors a recent report from the Pentagon's special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, Stuart W. Bowen Jr. He said Iraq's complex sectarian, political and ethnic conflicts and the dicey security situation continue to hinder progress.
Still, Mr. Bush had reasons for hope.
In Kirkuk, a predominantly Kurdish city in the north, the team brokered an end to a yearlong political boycott by Sunni Arabs in a deal that reserves government posts for Arabs. "It was a major way forward," team leader Howard Keegan said.
Col. David Paschal, commander of the 1st Brigade Combat Team from the 10th Mountain Division, which works in concert with Keegan, reported that Iraqi policemen now wear their uniforms to work, no longer so scared that they wait to put them on until they get there.
In Ramadi, west of Baghdad in Anbar province, a road once known as "the racetrack" for what drivers felt they had to do to emerge safely, now is bustling with Internet cafes and restaurants, team leader Kris Haegerstrom said.
And Haegerstrom reported that garbage collection in Ramadi is back up to 80 percent of prewar.
"Even better than that," she said, "the cell phone number of the guy who's supposed to pick up garbage in your neighborhood is posted in your neighborhood."
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Add a Comment See all 12 Comments
- *Some will only see the negative, and equate the U.S. to Nazis.
*Some will only see the positive, and equate everyone not in agreement as Taliban supporters.
These are extreme distortions of reality. Nothing exist in these absolutes that both sides keep talking about.
Try moving to the middle a bit and when things don''t fit your world view, you might actually change your minds once in a while. - Reply to this comment
- One million barrels per day capacity for the Eilat Ashkelon pipeline where tankers are filled at the Red Sea port for transport to Asian markets. Currently tankers are unloaded at Ashkelon and pumped through Israel to Eilat a Red Sea terminal. The Turkey Israel pipelines project will save tanker transport costs to Ashkelon and increase market share for Caspian Sea oil. This is the purpose behind the Bush peace talks!
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- On September 14,2002 Rep. James McDermott at a Capitol Hill Briefing said that politics and oil, not fear that Iraq will use WMD are driving factors behind the presidents call for regime change. McDermott said there was an organized effort to squelch such discussions. "The political operatives in the white house have been very careful to spin it away from oil. Anytime anybody sees a connection they spin it the other way".
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- Iraq''s oil infrastructure was rebuilt when Cheney controlled Haliburton. Halliburton/Iraq deal was done through the French because it was illegal for US companies to deal with Iraq, except for the oil for food program which US oil companies participated in. Saddam was charging US interests more for oil then other countries and cutting off supplies at times so they took him out.
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- Nothing has changed on Iran. The administrations interest in Iran & nukes is a smoke screen for their real agenda. Their true interests are Cheney''s energy policy.Condi Rice is a former board member of Chevron Oil and mouthpiece for the administrations energy policy. Part of that policy is the The Caspian Sea pipeline which will go through Turkmenistan, Afghanistan,Pakistan, to the gulf of Oman and on to India & Nepal.It will be cheaper to construct if they can go through Iran, but regime change is necessary first. The Caspian sea area holds one third of the world''s oil and south asian oil markets are their target market. This pipeline was also the reason for the Afghanistan invasion. Cheney''s energy policy is the root of all these middle east wars, a federal court judge sealed all documents associated with it for the administration, and the national media are not allowed to discuss or comment on it. More troops are needed in Afghanistan to protect the contractors building the pipeline. Iran stands in the way of total control of global oil now with sales of oil to China''s Sinopec Oil,deal signed Dec.10,2007. Months ago China said there would be dire consequences if the US interfered with there direct oil contracts with Iran. Both parties in the Congress should be very concerned with China''s growing war machine and need for oil. They are the real threat & the administration doesn''t care they are in control ! All that matters to them is BIG OIL and their corporate stock portfolios
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- Bush met with the president of Turkey yesterday and today he''s in Israel. The connection is the Turkey Israeli pipelines. The real purpose of the recent middle east peace summit was covered up. The actual story is the proposed oil pipeline that will be built down the coast from Turkey to Israel. Condi Rice is trying to broker this deal. BP oil, US oil interests and the Saudis all have a stake in that pipeline. Domonique Strauss- Khan managing director of the International Monetary Fund and Robert Zoellick president of the World Bank were in attendance. Big money won''t finance the venture without stability in the region.
In the Daily telegraph, July 22, 2006 Condoleeza Rice stated her main objective in the middle east was not to push a ceasefire in Lebanon, but to cause an isolation of Syria and Iran. The strategic objective is all tied to oil and oil pipelines. In April of 2006 Israel & Turkey made their announcement which included four pipelines which will bypass Syria & Lebanon. The source of the oil is the BTC pipeline from the Caspian Sea Region. Shareholders in the BTC pipeline are: British Petroleum, AzBTC, Chevron, Statoil, TPAO, ENI, Total, Itochu, INPEX, Conoco-Phillips & Amerada Hess. Another very important factor on the war with Lebanon is that Israel will have a strategic role in protecting the pipeline and transportation corridor out of Ceyhan Turkey. The strategy will weaken Russian oil''s role in central asia and also isolate Iran. - Reply to this comment
- Nowhere in this story was it reported that another four U.S. soldiers were killed in Iraq yesterday. WHY ???? 3,915 American troops have now been killed in Iraq. And NO ONE WANTS TO TALK ABOUT IT. This horrible war continues, and the Republicans are going to PAY FOR IT.
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- I can''t help but wonder....
Why is our infrastructure crumbling, our national electrical grid strained to the breaking point, security at our ports, water and food supplies, and nuclear power plants is minimal at best, our fuel supply is controlled by nations that foster and support terrorism while NOTHING is being done to find alternative fuels, 1 out of 6 Americans don''t have health care, the amount of taxes collected from us are at all time highs (income, social security, property, etc), our economy is imploding because of sham business practices, our bridges, levees, and dams are collapsing....
And our governments primary focus is on rebuilding Iraq''s infrastructure because the war that shouldn''t have been started, destroyed it? - Reply to this comment
- THE WAR IS COMING. And when it does, God help the 160,000 Americans in that country.
Posted by Nancy_Naive I AGREE 100% - Reply to this comment
- in order for a country to be reconstructed,the occupants have to leave first,To make room for the people that were there in the first place...
- Reply to this comment
"Why our troops must leave Iraq"
By Walter Cronkite and David Krieger
The American people no longer support the war in Iraq. The war is being carried on by a stubborn president who, like Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon during the Vietnam War, does not want to lose. But from the beginning this has been an ill-considered and poorly prosecuted war that, like the Vietnam War, has diminished respect for America. We believe Mr. Bush would like to drag the war on long enough to hand it off to another president.
The war in Iraq reminds us of the tragedy of the Vietnam War. Both wars began with false assertions by the president to the American people and the Congress. Like Vietnam, the Iraq War has introduced a new vocabulary: "shock and awe," "mission accomplished," "the surge." Like Vietnam, we have destroyed cities in order to save them. It is not a strategy for success.
The Bush administration has attempted to forestall ending the war by putting in more troops, but more troops will not solve the problem. We have lost the hearts and minds of most of the Iraqi people, and victory no longer seems to be even a remote possibility. It is time to end our occupation of Iraq, and bring our troops home.
More at:
www.metrowestdailynews.com/opinion/x1211480742- Reply to this comment
Another day in the illegal war against Iraq:
The daily Iraq violence report is complied by McClatchy Newspapers Special Correspondents in Baghdad from police, military and medical reports. This is not a comprehensive list of all violence in Iraq, much of which goes unreported.
Baghdad
- Around 7 a.m., gunmen assassinated an officer of the ministry of interior %u201C Mohammad Aziz Al-Gatia in his car in Zafrania neighborhood ( east Baghdad) .
- Around 7 30 a.m., gunmen assassinated the deputy of Mansour taxes department ( west Baghdad).
- Around 11 a.m., an IED was planted inside the car of the head of Yarmouk council ( Dr.Falah Mansour Hussein ) who was killed in the incident with two other people who were injured .
- Around 3 p.m., a suicide bomber wearing a vest filled with explosives targeted a police check point at Al-Medain district ( south of Baghdad) killing one policeman and injuring three ( one policeman and two civilians).
- Around 3 p.m., two mortars hit Medain district ( south of Baghdad ) injuring 2 people.
- Around 3 .30 p.m., a roadside bomb targeted an American patrol at Rashid camp neighborhood
- Police found 5 unidentified dead bodies in the following neighborhood in Baghdad. While ( 2 ) were found in east Baghdad ( Risafa bank) ; 1 in Ubaidi and 1 in Fudhailiyah.
Diyala
- Tuesday morning, a roadside bomb exploded at a house in Jalwla ( east of Baquba) killing a woman who was the owner of the house.- Reply to this comment
The road ahead in Afghanistan, and the crucial decision Obama faces.
