Military gaining in Iraq, Bush says
Political progress lagging, he adds
WASHINGTON -- President Bush said the military is gaining in Iraq as a result of the increased number of US troops there, though political improvement in the country is slow.
"Our surge is seizing the initiative from the enemy and handing it to the Iraqi people," Bush said yesterday in his weekly radio address. "Political progress," a benchmark for continued support by the US Congress, "has been slower than we hoped," he said.
Bush made his assertion of military progress in Iraq before a report to Congress next month on the effects of the additional troops and on Iraqi's readiness to take more responsibility for the country's security. Lawmakers from both parties say the assessment from General David Petraeus, the US commander in Iraq, will be crucial to determining America's future course there.
Bush said the troop increase led to the killing of the mastermind behind the bombing of the Golden Mosque in Samarra, one of Shi'ite Muslims' holiest shrines, and said residents in Iraq are providing tips to soldiers to combat terrorism.
"Iraqi forces are taking losses at a much higher rate than we are," the president said.
Bush ordered deployment of about 30,000 additional troops to Iraq earlier this year to reduce sectarian violence and give the Iraqi government a chance to reach goals that the government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has set.
Democrats touted legislation yesterday to guarantee troops time at home between deployments to Iraq, according to Associated Press.
In the party's weekly radio address, Representative Ellen Tauscher, Democrat of California, criticized Bush for threatening to veto the bill, contending his administration's policies on troop deployments have weakened the military.
"The president's surge has sent many of our Army units to Iraq for the second and third time. We are asking our troops to make heroic sacrifices -- yet as soon as they return we rush them back into battle," said Tauscher, author of the bill that passed the House Aug. 2 on a 229 to 194 vote.
The measure would give regular military units returning from the war at least as much time at home as they spent in Iraq. Reserve units could stay home three times as long as they spent in the war zone.
Under the Pentagon's current policy, active-duty troops typically serve deployments of up to 15 months, with a year at home in between. National Guard and Reserve ground units generally can be called up for as long as two years, to be followed by six years at home.
Bush's war adviser, Lieutenant General Douglas Lute, said Friday the Pentagon needs to reevaluate deployment lengths.
"Come the spring, some variables will have to change -- either the degree to which the American ground forces, the Marines and the Army in particular, are deployed around the world to include Iraq, or the length of time they're deployed in one tour, or the length of time they enjoy at home," Lute said in an interview on National Public Radio.
Bush complained that Tauscher's bill would put arbitrary constraints on Pentagon commanders. But Tauscher said the measure allows the president to disregard the required intervals between troop deployments in the interest of national security.
"If we are honest about wanting to support our troops, there is no better place to start than with the rest and training they require to complete their mission and return home safely," Tauscher said.
In the Senate, similar legislation by Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, won a majority vote of 56-41 in July but fell four short of the 60 votes needed to advance. 