At Camp David, the president and his advisors focus on ways to help the new Baghdad leadership improve the economy and security.
By James Gerstenzang and Maura Reynolds
Los Angeles Times, 13 June 2006
WASHINGTON — With a new Iraqi government trying to contain the insurgency, President Bush said he and his senior national security advisors examined opportunities Monday to boost Iraq's economy and ease its security crises.
The meetings at Camp David, the presidential retreat in Maryland, were called to take advantage of what a senior Bush aide called a "break point" in Iraq's history — the establishment of a full-term, democratically elected government. Bush is scheduled to remain at Camp David today for a videoconference with the new Iraqi prime minister, Nouri Maliki, and much of his Cabinet.
The meetings Monday did not delve into the specifics of how long U.S. troops would remain in Iraq, Bush said. But the president said that Gen. George W. Casey, the U.S. commander in Iraq, reported to the group from the U.S.-controlled Green Zone in Baghdad that he would assess security needs "and come back to us and make recommendations to us."
Bush is under increasing political pressure to begin bringing home some of the approximately 130,000 U.S. troops in Iraq by the end of the year.
He and his security advisors were joined at lunch by four non-government experts in counter-insurgency: Michael Vickers of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments, Frederick Kagan of the American Enterprise Institute, Eliot Cohen of the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University and Robert D. Kaplan, national correspondent for the Atlantic Monthly magazine. Each has written extensively on Iraq, military affairs or the Middle East.
In remarks to reporters, Bush emphasized that neither the arrival of the new government nor the death of Abu Musab Zarqawi, the leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, was likely to produce a marked decrease in violence.
"I fully recognize that's not going to end the war," Bush said of Zarqawi's death Wednesday, the result of a U.S. airstrike. "On the other hand, it was a major blow to Al Qaeda and the killers and terrorists that are trying to spread violence and suffering and stop the emergence of a new democracy."
A website linked to Islamic militants announced Monday that Sheik Abu Hamza, also called "Al Muhajir," or "The Immigrant," had been chosen to replace Zarqawi. In response to a reporter's question, Bush said, "I think the successor to Zarqawi is going to be on our list to bring to justice."
The president also said that "Iraq's neighbors ought to do more to help them."
"We expect our friends who have made commitments … to honor those commitments," he said. The administration has long focused on Iraq's large oil reserves, and Bush said the meetings "spent a lot of time" on energy issues.
He said Iraq's oil could be used to unite the country and to create a fund "for the people, so the people have faith in the central government."
White House Counselor Dan Bartlett, who took part in the meetings, said the sessions were held because Iraq was facing a "fundamental break point."
"We're taking a soup-to-nuts look across all government agencies" in Iraq, he said.
Rather than considering overall troop strength, Bartlett said, the team looked at the needs of Iraqi forces in the Baghdad area and how the United States could assist them.
It also considered sectarian violence and the new government's ability to prevent kidnappings.
While administration officials met in seclusion, Congress also was focusing on Iraq.
The House and Senate are scheduled to vote today on a supplemental spending bill to pay for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the Senate is debating a defense policy bill. On Thursday, the House is scheduled to debate a resolution expressing "resolve" in Iraq and in fighting terrorism.
One Democrat said the effort was less about considering the pros and cons of the military operation than it was an attempt to "embarrass Democrats."
"It is the Republican leadership that ought to be embarrassed for its three-year failure to exercise its oversight responsibilities," said Rep. Rahm Emanuel (D-Ill.), head of the committee working to increase the number of Democrats in the House.
"Apparently, the American people will still have to wait for a serious debate on Iraq that is aimed at correcting bad policies instead of bad poll numbers."
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Citation: James Gerstenzang and Maura Reynolds. "Bush Team Talks Iraq Strategy," Los Angeles Times, 13 June 2006.
Original URL: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/iraq/complete/la-fg-bushiraq13jun13,1,4603992.story?coll=la-iraq-complete
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