Deer in headlights

Bush that is... trying to explain the transfer of power cum June 30rd.
Anyone watch the Daily Show last night? Hirrarrious!


http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/07/international/middleeast/07CND-PREX.html?hp=&pagewanted=print&position=


    Bush, in Texas, Confers Long Distance on Fighting in Iraq

*By DAVID STOUT and CARL HULSE*

WASHINGTON, April 7 — President Bush, vacationing in Texas, conferred
with his advisers today on the surge in bloodshed in Iraq and what to do
or say about it. On Capitol Hill, several senators readily expressed a
range of concerns at the events unfolding across Iraq.

There was no indication from the president's Crawford ranch that Mr.
Bush planned to comment publicly on the worst violence in Iraq since
Saddam Hussein was overthrown a year ago, claiming the lives of more
than 20 Americans and scores of Iraqis since Sunday. But the very fact
that a session was taking place, during what was supposed to be an
Easter Week respite at the presidential retreat, illustrated the
seriousness of the situation.

Details of the discussions, which took place partly by teleconference
and included L. Paul Bremer III, the civilian administrator in Iraq, and
Gen. John Abizaid, the commander of American troops there, were sketchy.
But based on recent remarks from Mr. Bush and his closest advisers, and
comments today from several senators, two questions seemed unavoidable,
and political pressure seemed to be mounting for the White House to do
something besides remain silent.

The questions, raised anew today, are whether the United States should
proceed with plans to transfer sovereignty to a new Iraqi government by
June 30, and do the American commanders in Iraq need more troops? Those
questions sparked debate among lawmakers today.

Senator Joseph R. Biden of Delaware, the ranking Democrat on the Senate
Foreign Relations Committee, said today that the campaign in Iraq was
"worth the price" America must pay for despite any misgivings over how
the administration got involved in Iraq or its postwar planning. "We
have now engaged it," Mr. Biden said on "The Early Show" on CBS. "We
have to win it."

But Mr. Biden criticized the administration, as he has before, on the
conduct of the war and its planning for the peace. The senator said that
there should be more United States troops in Iraq (there are just over
130,000 now), that the planning for peacekeeping had been inadequate,
and that the United States should not lock itself into a June 30 transfer.

"John McCain, myself and others have been arguing we needed more troops
from the very beginning of this, once the Saddam statue went down," Mr.
Biden said, alluding to Senator McCain, Republican of Arizona. "I don't
know what the plan is. I don't know who we're going to turn power over to."

Asked whether he thought it was wise for the United States to stick to
the June 30 deadline for handing over power, Mr. Biden replied, "It may
be wise if we knew to whom we were handing it over."

But a Republican colleague on the Foreign Relations panel, Senator Chuck
Hagel of Nebraska, said it was essential to adhere to the June 30
deadline. "Deadlines force decisions," Mr. Hagel said on CNN. "I think
the symbolism is important."

Mr. Hagel said the latest bloodshed in Iraq, and the graphic pictures
and vivid new reports about it, had simply underlined a harsh reality
for the United States: "There will be many unknowns. This is complicated
and dangerous."

Mr. Bush has said as much, declaring repeatedly that the campaign in
Iraq was part of the overall effort against terrorism, and that America
had been carrying out a mission for history.

Just one day ago, at an appearance in El Dorado, Ark., Mr. Bush
expressed sympathy for the Iraqi people as he vowed that the United
States would not be deterred. "They've been tortured and terrorized and
traumatized by a tyrant," Mr. Bush said. "And it's going to take awhile
for them to understand what freedom is all about. We will pass
sovereignty on June 30. We will stay the course in Iraq."

A group of Senate Republicans took the floor this morning, urging
Americans to stay united during the unfolding crisis in Iraq and not
engage in assigning blame.

"It's incumbent upon all Americans to rally around the leadership of
this country in times of great crisis in the world, when are we the
leader of the free world, and not to incite the other side," said
Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia.

Nevertheless, Mr. Chambliss said that he had come to believe that the
administration "underestimated just how difficult and complex the job in
Iraq would be."

He added that "we need to learn from our tactical mistakes and to ensure
that our posture in Iraq is flexible and we can adapt to fluid and
developing circumstances."

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, a member of the Republican
leadership, said she believed that the current insurgency could be the
work of Saddam Hussein loyalists that had been biding their time since
the invasion last spring. She said the initial conflict had almost been
"too easy."

"This is one person's opinion, but this person believes that when
history is written about this war, that it will say that we are meeting
the Republican Guard right now, that they faded into the woodwork and
they strengthened their numbers and they're coming back," Senator
Hutchison said, referring to the best-trained Iraqi forces.

She added that the uprising was being fueled by those with an eye on the
calendar, seeking to disrupt the transfer of power scheduled for June 30.

Ms. Hutchison and others said that they believed that the United States
needed to boost its military presence in Iraq, an idea roundly dismissed
by Senator Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, a forceful
opponent of the war from the start.

"Surely I am not the only one who hears echoes of Vietnam in this
development," said Mr. Byrd, referring to the possibility of an increase
in troops. "Surely, the administration recognizes that increasing the
U.S. troop presence in Iraq will only suck us deeper into the maelstrom
of violence that has become the hallmark of that unfortunate country.
Starkly put, at this juncture, more U.S. forces in Iraq equates more
U.S. targets in Iraq."

But the Democratic minority leader, Senator Tom Daschle of South Dakota,
commented off the floor that if the Pentagon demonstrated that more
troops were needed, "then I don't think there's any question but that we
have to support additional troops." Mr. Daschle emphasized that he would
rather see a larger commitment from other countries.

Today's discussion among the president and his senior advisers took
place in the middle of a crucial week for the administration. On
Thursday, Mr. Bush's national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice, is to
testify before the bipartisan commission investigating the attacks of
Sept. 11, 2001.

One question she will be asked, one way or the other, is whether the
administration diluted its efforts to eradicate Al Qaeda terrorists in
Afghanistan and elsewhere by unnecessarily choosing to wage war
somewhere else: in Iraq.


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