Bush to Outline 'Clear Strategy' for Iraq Monday

Reuters ^ | 5/21/04

[TexKat]

BATON ROUGE, La. (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) will outline what the White House called a "clear strategy" for Iraq on Monday night in a speech aiming to convince Americas he is in command of the situation.

Bush's speech to the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, will be at 8 p.m. EDT. The White House typically asks the television networks to carry important evening addresses live, but spokesman Trent Duffy said on Friday the White House has not asked the networks to do so.

"The president looks forward on Monday evening to discussing with the American people and with a global audience a clear strategy on how we need to move forward," Duffy told reporters accompanying the president on a trip to Louisiana.

Spreading violence and a prison abuse scandal have pushed the president's approval ratings to new lows and he is eager to show Americans he is on top of the situation with time running out before the scheduled transfer of sovereignty from the U.S.-led coalition to a caretaker Iraqi government.

Bush plans to lay out in more detail the course for the remaining month and a half before the June 30 transition deadline.

Duffy said the speech would touch on several fronts, including security, sovereignty, humanitarian and civil infrastructure, and international diplomacy.

"He realizes as most Americans do that we have difficult challenges ahead," the spokesman said.

U.N. envoy Lakhdar Brahimi has been working on the framework of the interim government, which is to serve until Iraqi elections can be held.

Bush said this week he expected decisions to be made in the next two weeks on who will become the new Iraqi prime minister and president, as well as two deputy presidents.

At the United Nations in New York, the United States and Britain are drafting a new U.N. resolution to provide international backing for the interim government. Diplomats expect it to call for full sovereignty for Iraq, while allowing for the presence of foreign troops to provide security.

[TexKat]

Ping

[johnfrink]

Another one? Good lord.

[Recovering_Democrat]

IOW, the President is going to again remind people of the plan that has been around for a long long time: interim government, replacement elections, permanent leadership elections. We will stay there for security purposes as long as necessary, and we'll have one huge-ass embassy there. The President again will tell people that the War on Terror is going to be a long war, but we must not grow faint. The President again correctly assert that peace and some semblence of democracy in the Middle East is necessary to curbing bin Ladenism.

I'm hopin' we'll also "lease" a nice big military base from a friendly government there and keep an eye on Syria, Iran, and any other terrorist bastards who might want to raise their heads.

[The South Texan]

I don't why Bush's political people insist that he make these speeches away from the Oval Office. This is the type of speech that needs to be made in such setting.

[Bommer]

Thats not the problem. The problem is that he "asks" the Networks to carry his speeches, and they don't.

[reformedliberal]

From the article:

---

The White House typically asks the television networks to carry important evening addresses live, but spokesman Trent Duffy said on Friday the White House has not asked the networks to do so.

---

This may just result in FNC having a huge audience for the speech. There is a speech a week planned until the June 30 deadline for handover of sovereignty. These speeches will be referenced in many op eds and magazine articles.

I also think the speeches are not from the Oval Office because GWB is at his best in front of a large live audience.

Personally, I hope the POTUS has decided to ignore the mainstream media, just as I have.

As soon as the election is over, I am canceling the alphabets, PBS and Fox Network (not FNC), which is the package DirecTV offers. The single reason I haven't canceled to date is because I want to see any news show that interviews GWB in the run up to the general election.

While I occasionally click on a WaPo article to read it (w/a publicly disseminated login), I detest giving these sites any hits and usually wait until the article is repeated elsewhere. However, had I done this w/the WaPo article stating the truth about the deficit as a % of GDP (3.1%), the increase in revenues and the surprising fact that tax refunds were lower than expected, I would never have had something positive about the economy to pass on to my list. The wires did not pick it up, AFAIK and I saw it nowhere else.

Ignoring the mainstream media will marginalize them, if enough of us do it.

[Howlin]

We'll be there!

[BibChr]

President Bush (news - web sites) will outline what the White House called a "clear strategy" for Iraq on Monday night in a speech aiming to convince Americas [sic] he is in command of the situation

Oh, my gosh. I ask, again... is it Christian to HATE a news organization?

Because if it is, Reuters is right at the top of my list.

Do they even KNOW how to report news anymore, without vomiting sheer hateful propaganda?

Dan

[BibChr]

IOW, the President is going to again remind people of the plan that has been around for a long long time: interim government, replacement elections, permanent leadership elections. We will stay there for security purposes as long as necessary, and we'll have one huge-ass embassy there. The President again will tell people that the War on Terror is going to be a long war, but we must not grow faint. The President again correctly assert that peace and some semblence of democracy in the Middle East is necessary to curbing bin Ladenism

THANK you!

I've been starting to wonder whether I am the only one who remembers the President saying in his very first speech post-9/11 that this war would be long, hard, and unlike any war fought before.

Among many other things.

Dan

[Redbob]

Yeah, yeah, we were told it was going to be long, and hard - but we weren't told that our forces would have to tippy-toe around anything that looked remotely like a mosque, or a shrine, or for all we know anybody named "Mohammed," for fear of alienating some camel-jockey somewhere.

What I want to see is pictures of a dead Mucktoddy al Sadr, preferably surrounded by the dead carcasses of lots of his followers, with lots of grinning American soldiers nearby!

[WhiteGuy]

"he is eager to show Americans he is on top of the situation with time running out..."

yeah, maybe.

I'd bet that the specific purpose of this speech is to attempt to convice America that another $50 billion should be spent.

[DrDeb]

"I don't why Bush's political people insist that he make these speeches away from the Oval Office. This is the type of speech that needs to be made in such setting."


. . . the President is at his best before a LIVE (cheering) audience . . . he is NOT a trained (Reagan) or aspiring (Clinton) actor, so his Oval office speeches often seem canned and sterile.

I applaud the President for making this first of several speeches on Iraq; I also applaud his choice of settings -- a War College in a battleground state!

[DrDeb]

How much is the future of our children/grandchildren worth?!

[WhiteGuy]

My point was that the speech will attempt to convince America that more money should be spent.

I wasn't making a value judgement.

[Dataman]

Oh, my gosh. I ask, again... is it Christian to HATE a news organization?

Ps 97:10 
Hate evil, you who love the LORD, Who preserves the souls of His godly ones; He delivers them from the hand of the wicked. 

Pr 8:13 
"The fear of the LORD is to hate evil; Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate. 

[BibChr]

Pride and arrogance and the evil way And the perverted mouth, I hate

LOL, oh, wow — does that sum up Reuters, or what??

Dan