Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
New York Times
April 12, 2008
Pg. 10
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
CRAWFORD, Tex. — President Bush on Friday held out the possibility of further troop withdrawals from Iraq this year, scaling back a comment he made a day earlier, when he said the top American military commander in Iraq could have “all the time he needs” before reducing American forces there further.
In an interview with ABC News, Mr. Bush said he did not know how many troops would be in Iraq at the end of his administration. He also sought to clarify his remark about Gen. David H. Petraeus, who has said he wants time to reassess the situation in Iraq and has recommended that Mr. Bush suspend withdrawals for at least 45 days after the departure, expected in July, of the last of the additional units ordered into Iraq for last year’s troop buildup.
Mr. Bush’s remark that the general could have as much time as he needed has been widely interpreted as a signal that the White House expects no further cuts after July. But in the interview, the president suggested that he thought his words were being misinterpreted.
“You know, sometimes people read what they want to in the president’s words,” he said. “My statement was, in essence, this: if General Petraeus needs 45 days, he’ll have 45 days.”
Mr. Bush went on to say that he hoped “conditions will enable us to return on success,” the phrase his administration has coined for its policy of bringing American troops home based on conditions there.
And at the Pentagon, General Petraeus told reporters that “there is every desire to conduct further reductions” after the 45-day period.
But neither speculated on troop levels.
Mr. Bush said, “I don’t want to get expectations up to the point where conditions dictate another response. The question is, ‘Are we going to have the troops in place that will enable us to succeed?’ And the answer is we will, so long as I’m the president.”
Mr. Bush also talked about his thinking in late 2006, before the troop buildup. He acknowledged that he believed his Iraq strategy “was failing” at that time but that he had continued to say publicly that the United States was winning, a portrayal he said was intended to “bolster the spirits” of the troops.
“You can’t have the commander in chief say to a bunch of kids who are sacrificing, either, ‘It’s not worth it,’ or ‘You’re losing,’” Mr. Bush said. “I mean, what does that do for morale?”
The interview, taped at Mr. Bush’s ranch here, appeared to be an attempt by the White House to have the final word after a week of intense national debate over the future of the war that began with the Capitol Hill testimony of General Petraeus and the top American diplomat in Iraq, Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker.
With three presidential contenders — Senators John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton — among those doing the questioning, the hearings inevitably drew attention to what would happen after Mr. Bush left office, and the divisions between Republicans and Democrats on what to do next.
But within the administration, there appear to be divisions as well. While General Petraeus has argued against withdrawing troops too quickly, Mr. Bush’s defense secretary, Robert M. Gates, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, have expressed concerns that keeping troop levels high in Iraq would create strains on the entire force, particularly if additional troops were needed in Afghanistan. Mr. Gates has promised to send more troops to Afghanistan; on Friday in Washington, he was asked if he was on the same page as the president.
“Same line, same word,” he replied.
In the ABC interview, Mr. Bush said that if more troops were needed in Afghanistan, “We’ll find them.” But he said that he, too, was concerned about the toll that long deployments to Iraq were taking on the military. It was the reason he announced this week that he was reducing the standard tour to 12 months from 15 months, so that troops would have as much time at home as in the field — one year on, and one year off.
“That’s very important to take the strain off the force,” Mr. Bush said.
Thom Shanker contributed reporting from Washington.
April 12, 2008
Pg. 10
By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
CRAWFORD, Tex. — President Bush on Friday held out the possibility of further troop withdrawals from Iraq this year, scaling back a comment he made a day earlier, when he said the top American military commander in Iraq could have “all the time he needs” before reducing American forces there further.
In an interview with ABC News, Mr. Bush said he did not know how many troops would be in Iraq at the end of his administration. He also sought to clarify his remark about Gen. David H. Petraeus, who has said he wants time to reassess the situation in Iraq and has recommended that Mr. Bush suspend withdrawals for at least 45 days after the departure, expected in July, of the last of the additional units ordered into Iraq for last year’s troop buildup.
Mr. Bush’s remark that the general could have as much time as he needed has been widely interpreted as a signal that the White House expects no further cuts after July. But in the interview, the president suggested that he thought his words were being misinterpreted.
“You know, sometimes people read what they want to in the president’s words,” he said. “My statement was, in essence, this: if General Petraeus needs 45 days, he’ll have 45 days.”
Mr. Bush went on to say that he hoped “conditions will enable us to return on success,” the phrase his administration has coined for its policy of bringing American troops home based on conditions there.
And at the Pentagon, General Petraeus told reporters that “there is every desire to conduct further reductions” after the 45-day period.
But neither speculated on troop levels.
Mr. Bush said, “I don’t want to get expectations up to the point where conditions dictate another response. The question is, ‘Are we going to have the troops in place that will enable us to succeed?’ And the answer is we will, so long as I’m the president.”
Mr. Bush also talked about his thinking in late 2006, before the troop buildup. He acknowledged that he believed his Iraq strategy “was failing” at that time but that he had continued to say publicly that the United States was winning, a portrayal he said was intended to “bolster the spirits” of the troops.
“You can’t have the commander in chief say to a bunch of kids who are sacrificing, either, ‘It’s not worth it,’ or ‘You’re losing,’” Mr. Bush said. “I mean, what does that do for morale?”
The interview, taped at Mr. Bush’s ranch here, appeared to be an attempt by the White House to have the final word after a week of intense national debate over the future of the war that began with the Capitol Hill testimony of General Petraeus and the top American diplomat in Iraq, Ambassador Ryan C. Crocker.
With three presidential contenders — Senators John McCain, Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton — among those doing the questioning, the hearings inevitably drew attention to what would happen after Mr. Bush left office, and the divisions between Republicans and Democrats on what to do next.
But within the administration, there appear to be divisions as well. While General Petraeus has argued against withdrawing troops too quickly, Mr. Bush’s defense secretary, Robert M. Gates, and the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Adm. Mike Mullen, have expressed concerns that keeping troop levels high in Iraq would create strains on the entire force, particularly if additional troops were needed in Afghanistan. Mr. Gates has promised to send more troops to Afghanistan; on Friday in Washington, he was asked if he was on the same page as the president.
“Same line, same word,” he replied.
In the ABC interview, Mr. Bush said that if more troops were needed in Afghanistan, “We’ll find them.” But he said that he, too, was concerned about the toll that long deployments to Iraq were taking on the military. It was the reason he announced this week that he was reducing the standard tour to 12 months from 15 months, so that troops would have as much time at home as in the field — one year on, and one year off.
“That’s very important to take the strain off the force,” Mr. Bush said.
Thom Shanker contributed reporting from Washington.