Bush vows he'll stick to Iraq plan

WASHINGTON -- President Bush sought to reassure Americans about the volatile mission in Iraq last night, reaffirming his decision to return governmental control to the Iraqi people by the June 30 deadline and ruling out the possibility of revising his exit strategy.

''We are carrying out a decision that has already been made and will not change," Bush told reporters in a formal East Room appearance. ''Any concession or retreat on our part will only embolden this enemy and invite more bloodshed."

Holding a rare, prime-time news conference that focused almost exclusively on national security, Bush promised to commit additional US troops if needed to maintain order in Iraq even after the government handover. He repeated his conviction that the invasion was the right decision, and even held out hope that weapons of mass destruction may yet be found.

But in a 90-minute appearance designed in part to address the violent uprising in recent days, Bush failed to answer the central question hanging over the occupation: Who, exactly, will assume power once the American civil authority disbands?

And despite his acknowledgment in a brief opening speech that there had been ''rough weeks" in Iraq of late, Bush repeatedly sidestepped questions about whether his administration had made miscalculations of any kind. Indeed, Bush sounded characteristically self-assured throughout the night, denying any flaws in his handling of intelligence before Sept. 11, 2001, declining to apologize to families of the Sept. 11 victims, and even struggling to name a single mistake he had made in his three years in office.

''I wish you'd have given me this written question ahead of time so I could plan for it," Bush replied when asked to reflect on any mistakes he had made. ''I'm sure historians will look back and say, 'Gosh, he couldn't have done it better this way or that way.' You know, I'm sure something will pop into my head here in the midst of this press conference, with all the pressure of trying to come up with an answer, but it hasn't yet."

Despite having just returned from his Crawford, Texas, ranch, Bush, his hair far grayer than in his last campaign, did not appear as relaxed as he has at other times, and sounded by turns defensive and curt. He cracked fewer jokes than he often does in more casual settings, and during his 17-minute preamble, read studiously from prepared remarks.

Not once during the event did Bush -- or a reporter -- mention Senator John F. Kerry of Massachusetts, the presumptive Democratic nominee in the presidential race. But the questions were delivered against a charged political backdrop, many of them drawn directly from criticisms Kerry and other Democrats have leveled in the campaign. Afterward, the Kerry campaign issued a statement taking Bush to task for not offering more specifics about Iraq.

''The President may refuse to acknowledge a single mistake in the course of his presidency, but with deaths mounting and American sacrifice increasing, it's time he offered a specific plan that secures real international involvement," the statement said.

Bush faced a question about Vietnam as well, and rejected a comparison from some Democrats -- most notably Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts -- between Iraq and Vietnam, an allegation that is especially loaded during a campaign pitting Bush, who avoided combat, against Kerry, a combat veteran. ''I think the analogy is false," Bush said. ''I also happen to think that analogy sends the wrong message to our troops and sends the wrong message to the enemy. Look, this is hard work. It's hard to advance freedom in a country that has been strangled by tyranny. And yet, we must stay the course."

Bush -- who is averse to public self-analysis -- had a tough night in that regard. Reporters returned to questions about his state of mind over and over, pressing him to revisit old decisions about Sept. 11 and Iraq. Asked about an intelligence memo he received one month before the Sept. 11 attacks, Bush echoed testimony given a week earlier by national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, deflecting attention from his administration's actions.

''There are some things I wish we'd have done when I look back. I mean, hindsight is easy. It's easy for a president to stand up and say, 'Now I know what happened,' " Bush said.

At the same time, he said, ''The country wasn't on war footing," referring to Sept. 11. ''And yet we were at war. . . Most of the country never felt we'd be vulnerable to an attack. Nobody in our government, at least -- and I don't think the prior government could envision flying airplanes into buildings on such a massive scale."

Earlier concerns that airplanes might be used as weapons have come under particular scrutiny from the Sept. 11 commission, despite clear evidence that the threat of hijacking was a concern in the months before Sept. 11. Bush is expected to appear before the commission in the weeks to come, in a joint, closed-door session with Vice President Dick Cheney. Last night, Bush declined to address questions about his decision to talk to the commission with Cheney by his side rather than alone, simply saying it was important for him to give his view.

Bush, who has been following the Sept. 11 commission hearings, according to his advisers, said he had been unaware until testimony given yesterday that a statement in his Aug. 6, 2001, daily briefing -- that the FBI was investigating 70 Al Qaeda-related matters -- may have been overblown.

Asked why the Iraqi people had not embraced American troops as liberators (as administration officials had predicted they would), Bush sought to answer two questions at once, about Iraq and Sept. 11. ''I step back and review my thinking prior to going into Iraq," he said, and ''the first lesson of Sept. 11 is that when this nation sees a threat, a gathering threat, we've got to deal with it. We can no longer hope that oceans will protect us from harm."

But his empathy was strained at other times. Asked whether he would follow the example of former terrorism chief Richard A. Clarke, who asked the families of Sept. 11 victims to forgive him, Bush demurred. ''I can understand why people in my administration are anguished over the fact that people lost their life," Bush said. ''I feel the same way. I'm sick when I think about the death that took place that day."

Anne Kornblut can be reached at akornblut@globe.com.