WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush warned Monday against pulling the plug on his Iraq strategy and assured the US public — now more worried about the US economy than the war — that help was on the way.
With barely 12 months before his term ends, and less before the race to the November elections all-but sidelines him, Bush also vowed to “confront” Iran where necessary and do “everything we can” to reach a Middle East peace deal.
The president used his final annual State of the Union address to defend his deeply unpopular handling of what US voters say are their top two concerns: The nearly five-year-old Iraq war and economic turmoil.
“In the long run, Americans can be confident about our economic growth, but in the short run, we can all see that that growth is slowing,” he said, urging lawmakers to speed approval of a 150-billion-dollar stimulus package.
On Iraq, Bush defended his decision one year ago to “surge” 30,000 more US troops into the war-torn country and warned that a hasty US troop withdrawal would leave the fragile political and security progress there in ruins.
“Members of Congress: Having come so far, and achieved so much, we must not allow this to happen,” he declared, adding that US forces were starting to come home and that more would do so in 2008 as their role there changes.
“Our objective in the coming year is to sustain and build on the gains we made in 2007, while transitioning to the next phase of our strategy. American troops are shifting from leading operations, to partnering with Iraqi forces, and, eventually, to a protective overwatch mission,” he said.
Bush cautioned that US foes in Iraq “are not yet defeated, and we can still expect tough fighting ahead,” he said. A senior aide said a progress report in March or April would shape any troop draw-down decision.
Bush had promised that the crackdown would quiet sectarian violence that he blamed for thwarting Iraqi national reconciliation and that Iraqi security forces would be in charge of the entire country by November.
But 2007 proved the deadliest year for US troops since the 2003 invasion, major political progress has been elusive, and Iraqi officials have suggested that it may not be until 2012 that they can assume full control of security.
The president did not unveil any bold new proposals, instead frequently invoking “the past seven years” in a speech that, at times, sounded like he was polishing his legacy in anticipation of writing his own political obituary.
A January 20-22 survey by the Wall Street Journal found that 64 percent of Americans disapprove of Bush’s handling of the economy 67 percent disapprove of his handling of Iraq — two issues that will shape the race to succeed him.
Democrats hope that deep dissatisfaction with the president’s record on both fronts will help them retain control of the US Congress and re-conquer the White House in November. Some of his Republicans worry he could be a liability.
Leading Democratic presidential hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, both senators, were in the audience — and already eager to talk about the next presidential inauguration, in January 2009.
“If we all do our part, next year, it will be a Democratic president giving the State of the Union,” Clinton said at a campaign rally in Hartford, Connecticut.
“The only way we’re finally going to pressure the Iraqis to reconcile and take responsibility for their future is to immediately begin the responsible withdrawal of our combat brigades so that we can bring all of our combat troops home,” Obama said in a videotaped response to the speech.
Bush, who used the annual speech in 2003 to lump Saddam Hussein’s Iraq with Iran and North Korea in an “axis of evil,” urged Tehran to freeze uranium enrichment that Washington fears is a prelude to a nuclear arsenal.
“To rejoin the community of nations, come clean about your nuclear intentions and past actions, stop your oppression at home, and cease your support for terror abroad,” he said.
“But above all, know this: America will confront those who threaten our troops, we will stand by our allies, and we will defend our vital interests in the Persian Gulf,” Bush warned.
He was careful to sunder the Islamic republic’s people and their government, telling Iranians: “We have no quarrel with you, we respect your traditions and your history, and we look forward to the day when you have your freedom.”
Bush also called for a stay-the-course approach on Afghanistan, highlighted his new Middle East peace push, and pressed the Congress to approve free trade pacts with Colombia, Panama, and South Korea.
“If we fail to pass this (US-Colombia) agreement, we will embolden the purveyors of false populism in our hemisphere,” he said, in what an aide confirmed was a slap at Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a Bush nemesis.
In an echo of his second inaugural speech, Bush highlighted the spread of democracy and scolded a handful of countries — including Belarus, Cuba, Myanmar, and Zimbabwe — as outposts of repression, aides said.
