Bush team defends US Iraq plans
By Lucy Huff,WNS Washington Correspondent
WASHINGTON - Top members of the US government have offered their backing to President George W Bush's policy in Iraq, weeks before his party faces mid-term polls. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was among several officials defending the government's Iraq policy as adaptable. The US envoy to Iraq earlier said Iraq could be stabilised, despite setbacks.
A top Republican has meanwhile joined Democrats in criticising Mr Bush in a month when 90 US troops died in Iraq - the highest toll since November 2004. Three hundred Iraqi troops have also died in October, and some estimates say sectarian attacks now claim an average of 40 Iraqi lives every day. Several top administration officials discussed Iraq with a gathering of conservative talk radio hosts at the White House on Tuesday.
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld was asked why President Bush appeared to have abandoned the Republicans' recent slogan that the party was planning to "stay the course" in Iraq. "I suppose the concern was that it gave the opponents a chance to say, 'well, he's not willing to make adjustments' - and of course just the opposite is true," Mr Rumsfeld said.
President Bush echoed this view in an interview with CNBC TV, saying he had been "talking about a change in tactics... ever since we went in". National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley meanwhile said the violence in Iraq is unlikely to end during Mr Bush's presidency. "Is there going to be peace? Is there going to [be] the end of any violence? Of course not. This violence is going to go on for a long time," Mr Hadley said. But, he added, the US hoped Iraqi institutions would eventually be able to contain the threats to the country's security.
posted by wnsworld @ 6:27 AM
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