Bush to announce troop increase, acknowledge past errors (Roundup)

By Mike McCarthy Jan 11, 2007, 0:09 GMT

Washington - US President George W Bush will acknowledge in a major speech Wednesday evening that he erred by not having enough troops in Iraq and that he intends to increase the US presence by 21,500 soldiers, a senior administration official said.

In excerpts of the speech released ahead of the primetime address by the White House, Bush admits that US and Iraqi efforts to secure Baghdad have 'failed.'

'There were not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure neighbourhoods that had been cleared of terrorists and insurgents,' the speech says. 'And there were too many restrictions on the troops we did have.'

Bush will also say the Iraqi government has assured the US military there will no longer be limitations on efforts to go after extremists and that Iraqi commanders will not be influenced by politics or sectarianism.

Bush, in outlining a new strategy for the war, will also caution that there are 'no silver bullets' to bring an end to the conflict and that the burden is on the Iraqi people to decide 'whether they want to live together in peace,' the official said.

During the address scheduled for 9 pm (0200 GMT Thursday), Bush will speak directly about the failures of his administration and the Iraqi government that have produced the chaos currently plaguing the country and undermining US public support for the war, the official said.

The war in Iraq was largely behind the Democratic defeat of Bush's Republican Party in November congressional elections. The newly empowered Democrats are expected to mount a serious challenge to a troop buildup.

Under the president's plan, the United States will deploy about 17,500 troops to Baghdad to assist with security and contain sectarian violence, but Iraqi forces will remain in the lead, the official said. In addition, Bush will order about 4,000 more soldiers to al-Anbar province, where al-Qaeda has sought refuge.

Bush's decision for a surge of US troops is a notable departure from the advice of his top military officers, who in the months before the speech publicly said an increase would be too little to alter the situation on the ground. Last week Bush shook up his command structure in Iraq and the overall Middle East.

The plan includes doubling the size of provincial rebuilding teams in Iraq and dedicating more money to infrastructure and other public projects, while admitting that his previous military strategy did not work.

'If the prior strategy was to clear, hold and build, we cleared but did not hold, and the build never arrived,' the official said.

Bush will also highlight the Iraqi government's plan to streamline its security apparatus in Baghdad.

Bush intends to place more pressure on the Iraqi government to follow through on promises such as disarming militias, moving forward on national reconciliation and passing a law to ensure oil revenue is shared fairly between Iraq's ethnic groups.

'I have made it clear to (Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki) and Iraq's other leaders that America's commitment is not open-ended,' the excerpts say. 'If the Iraqi government does not follow through on its promises, it will lose the support of the American people ­ and it will lose the support of the Iraqi people.'

Bush will also acknowledge that his administration was overly confident in assuming that elections and the forming of a government last year would stabilize the country, hopes dashed by bloodshed between Sunnis and Shiites that peaked last summer.

'What happened was sectarian violence got out ahead of Iraqi forces, it got out ahead of American forces, and it overwhelmed the political progress that we expected,' the official said, adding that the situation in Iraq is 'unacceptable.'

Bush's revised strategy comes after nearly four years of fighting in Iraq that has claimed the lives of 3,000 US soldiers, cost his Republican Party control of Congress and lost US public support.

Democrats, who took control of Congress last week, steadfastly oppose any troop increases in Iraq and want Bush to begin withdrawing the 140,000 US soldiers within four to six months.

'The president is putting the cart before the horse,' New York Senator Charles Schumer said Wednesday. 'To discuss more troops before discussing a change in course, a new strategy, makes no sense whatsoever.'

The Democrats are expected to introduce symbolic resolutions in the House and Senate to force a vote on a troop increase, said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat.

'The American people have lost confidence in the president's policy,' she said. 'We are hopeful that tonight he will restore that confidence.'

Senator Edward Kennedy announced legislation that would bar Bush from expanding US forces in Iraq without congressional approval. Schumer predicted Congress will vote against an increase.

'My bet is that if an up-or-down vote happened on the Senate floor on whether we should send a significantly increased number of troops, that that vote would be overwhelmingly against sending the troops, and a significant number of Republicans would vote not to send more troops to Iraq,' Schumer said.

Some Republicans have also expressed doubts about hiking the US presence during meetings with Bush, including Senator Norm Coleman of Minnesota.