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Bush: U.S. to stay on offense in Iraq
6.10.2005
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WASHINGTON -
President Bush promised Wednesday to "stay on the
offense" in Iraq to prevent insurgents from
disrupting next week's referendum on a new
constitution.
His spokesman welcomed Iraq's decision to back away
from last-minute election rule changes that the
United Nations said were unfair.
"We fully understand they intend to disrupt the
constitutional process, or will try to do so, as
well as stop the progress of democracy," Bush said
of the insurgents after a briefing at the White
House from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and
other Pentagon officials.
"The Iraqis are showing more and more capability of
taking the fight to the enemy," the president told
reporters. "As they become more capable, we will be
able to bring folks home."
Senate Democrats assailed the administration's
strategy in Iraq and prodded the president to change
it. "We will not accept staying the course," said
Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada.
In a letter to Bush, Senate Democrats said that
continuing along the same path in Iraq "could lead
to a full blown civil war." They asked the president
to answer specific questions about the U.S.
strategy, including exactly how strong Iraqi forces
must be before an American withdrawal can begin.
"He has to tell the American people what the plan
is," said Sen. Joseph Biden, D-Del.
Democrats also cried foul over the cancellation of a
briefing on Iraq that they said National
Intelligence Director John D. Negroponte was
supposed to give. Republicans and Negroponte's
office say the briefing was to be provided by
National Intelligence Council members, not
Negroponte.
Bush later visited wounded troops at the Army's
Walter Reed hospital, which has received over 4,450
patients injured in Iraq since the war began in
March 2003. He visited with 29 troops and presented
eight Purple Hearts.
He said that every time he comes to the hospital -
slated to close under a federal plan - he marvels at
the courage of soldier patients.
"I asked for God's blessing on them and their
families as they recover," Bush said.
There are nearly 140,000 U.S. troops still in Iraq
Referring to the Oct. 15 vote in Iraq, Bush said,
"The constitution has been written. Folks will have
a chance to vote it up or down."
Mentioning what he said were expected efforts by
insurgents to disrupt the voting, Bush said, "Part
of the way the Pentagon and the folks on the ground
are going to deal with it is to stay on the offense,
and that's what's taking place."
Meanwhile, White House spokesman Scott McClellan
welcomed the Iraqi government's decision by the
Iraqi government to abandon a rules change by Iraq's
Shiite- and Kurd-dominated parliament that would
have made it difficult for the proposed constitution
to fail.
Minority Sunni Arabs, who oppose the document,
strongly criticized the attempt to change the rules.
Iraq's parliament voted Wednesday to reverse the
changes after United Nations officials said the
changes undermined the integrity of the Oct. 15
referendum.
The decision to withdraw the changes "was an Iraqi
decision," McClellan said.
"What we've always said is they should take steps
that are consistent with international standards ...
and they should encourage broader political
participation," McClellan. The vote to withdraw the
changes accomplished that, he said.
At the State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack
indicated that U.S. officials shared the U.N.
concern that a rules change could have violated
international voting standards. He offered
understated praise for the most recent change.
"It is the role of friends to speak out and offer
their counsel when various actions might not meet
international standards in terms of political
process or the electoral process," McCormack said.
U.S. diplomats in Baghdad discussed the proposed
change with the Iraqi government, but McCormack said
he had no information about the role of U.S.
Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad. Khalilzad was heavily
involved in negotiating the proposed constitution.
AP
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