Holiday | LifestyleLetters to the editor

WHAT CAN BUSH SAY?

19/09/2013 00:00

by RAY FLEMING
IT will be difficult indeed for President Bush to sound credibly upbeat about Iraq in the speech he is making tonight on nationwide US TV. In the evidence they gave to Congress on Monday and Tuesday both General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker, the two key players in Iraq, did their level best to accentuate the positive about military and political progress there following the military surge in the summer but under pointed and sometimes hostile questioning they often had to retreat to positions of very cautious and heavily qualified optimism. Consequently Mr Bush will probably have to say that by next summer there will still be about 130'000 US troops in Iraq, the same number as before the surge. Furthermore, he will have to acknowledge that a full withdrawal will depend on a vastly improved performance by the Iraq government in fostering national reconciliation.

The proceedings in the House and the Senate were fascinating and again showed how much closer to expert opinion American legislators are able to get than their counterparts in the House of Commons. When Senator John Warner asked General Petraeus whether his current strategy was making America safer, as President Bush claims, the General replied: Sir, I don't know, actually. And a rare glimpse of the man behind the military front came when the calm Petraeus suddenly said, This is going on three years for me, on top of a year in Bosnia as well, so my family know something about sacrifice.