President Speaks
From CBS News:President Bush is urging Americans and Iraqis alike to follow what he envisions is a path toward a stable, peaceful Iraq. But events out of his control could frustrate his five-step plan in coming weeks, and he acknowledges "difficult days ahead."
The president, speaking at the Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., offered no exit strategy for bringing 138,000 American soldiers home, pledging instead to send more, if necessary.
"Terrorists will not determine the future of Iraq," Bush declared.
Matt's Chat
Mark and I did not catch the speech live (and I still have not seen it) due to our meeting with the production staff, but it looks like it was a fairly good speech (on message).This was the "first of a series" of speeches, so I'm not surprised that there were some things missing from the speech, most notably an exit strategy. Although, I think the exit strategy has been clear from the beginning: Iraq will be stable and have democracy; then, we leave. We really don't need to know more than that. There is absolutely no sense in giving our enemy any additional information. There really isn't.
Key point: we are there to lend strength to a friend, we will not be there forever.
"America's task in Iraq is not only to defeat an enemy, it is to give strength to a friend — a free, representative government that serves its people and fights on their behalf, and the sooner this goal is achieved, the sooner our job will be done," Mr. Bush said.Have we grown so cynical so as to not believe what our leaders tell us? Did Clinton totally destroy what little faith we have in the presidency? Have we, as a nation, become so partisan that we can't support America as one voice? Why does John Kerry continue to slap our allies in the Coalition of the Willing?
"That's going to require the president to genuinely reach out to our allies so the United States doesn't have to continue to go it alone and to create the stability necessary to allow the people of Iraq to move forward," said Kerry, who himself has been faulted for failing to offer a concrete, alternative Iraq policy.I believe in America. I believe in this President. I believe what America has done is right and just.
I do not believe those who wish to tear us down from within.
Mark's Remarks
Matt, the coverage is wrong. The President did offer an exit strategy. He offered a five step plan of how things are going to go. When those five conditions are met, then we exit. Looking at the speech, I am ashamed of the American media who did not cover the speech live. Isn't it sad that they would care more for showing you celebrity makeovers or people eating cockroaches than they would an important and critical policy address of the President? Is that what America has become? Have we become so pompous and lazy back here at home that we would rather have unfettered access to such simpleminded programming rather than inform ourselves about the important issues of the day? If that is the case, then the America we leave to the future may not be an America at all.
