Had it been a small group of liberals rather than conservative writers
meeting with President Bush in the Oval Office on Tuesday, they might have
run from the room like scalded dogs when he said: "I've never been more
convinced that the decisions I've made are the right decisions." The
president volunteered he knows people consider him stubborn and responds to
such criticism with, "If you believe in a strategy ... you have to stick to
that strategy."
Is this ignoring "facts" that things don't appear to be going swimmingly on
the ground in Iraq? No, said the president. He believes the struggle will be
a long one with "Islamo-radicalism." He said, "The politics of Iraq are
going to just take a while to settle out. People still believe Saddam
(Hussein) has a chance to come back." He acknowledged with hindsight "we
probably could have trained people ... quicker," by which he apparently
meant Iraqi troops, adding quickly, "there are all kinds of ways to look
back," but "ideological struggles take time. We live in a world in which
there should be, there needs to be, instant success ... things must happen
rapidly." He said he thinks this comes from "too many TV channels" where
even the most difficult situations are resolved in an hour or less.
Other points the president made regarding the Middle East included:
- "Fifty years from now, it is conceivable that there will be virulent forms
of Islamo-radicalism competing. It's conceivable that moderate government be
toppled and oil used as a political weapon. It is conceivable that a Middle
East where young democracies have been undermined could be dominated by
state sponsors of terror with nuclear weapons."
- "The long-term strategy is to change the conditions that enable this
ideology to flourish, to out-compete it with better ideas."
- He hopes to leave to his successors "foundations" for fighting terrorism
and interrogating suspects that will allow future presidents to successfully
wage the battle.
- About whether more troops are needed in Iraq: "If (Commanding) General
(George) Casey feels like he needs more troops, we'll send them." He said he
does not intend to repeat the mistakes of Vietnam during which tactical
decisions about military strategy were made by civilians in the White House,
and is leaving such decisions to the commanders on the ground.
The president pledged to "try all diplomatic means" in dealing with Iran.
"We're in the beginning of dealing with the Iranian issue diplomatically,"
he said, adding this is what was done with Iraq. But he said insight into
the Iranian government is "somewhat clouded." He also said "the world tends
to be risk-averse" in its approach to nations and ideologies that threaten
us, an apparent reference to European opposition to U.S. policies.
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