US President George W. Bush tried to convince Americans on Monday he has a workable plan for Iraq as the US and Britain asked the UN for a resolution endorsing the handover of power to an interim Iraqi government.
In a half-hour televised speech at the US Army War College, Bush sought to persuade Americans that he can turn around the deteriorating situation in Iraq, with just five weeks to go before the US plans to hand over power to a caretaker Iraqi government on June 30.
He offered no major change of course in Iraq and no timetable for a US troop withdrawal, but spoke of progress being made while predicting violence could get worse in the short run.
"As the Iraqi people move closer to governing themselves, the terrorists are likely to become more active and more brutal. There are difficult days ahead and the way forward may sometimes appear chaotic," said Bush, whose job approval rating has fallen to the lowest level of his presidency, suggesting he faces the possibility of defeat in the Nov. 2 election.
To try to repair the battered American image in Iraq, Bush said the US would tear down Abu Ghraib with Iraqi approval after building a modern, maximum security prison.
Demolishing the prison would be a "fitting symbol of Iraq's new beginning," said a somber sounding Bush, who stumbled over the pronunciation of Abu Ghraib.
As evidence that the structure of a new Iraqi government is in place, Bush said UN envoy Lakhdar Brahimi will provide names this week of leaders of the interim Iraqi government.
He said Iraqis will have full sovereignty, but was not clear on how the new government will function in an atmosphere where insurgents seem to operate at will.
Bush said US troops will remain in Iraq after the June 30 handover and troop levels will remain at the current 138,000 for as long as necessary. More will be sent if needed.
They will operate under US command as part of a multinational force.
Bush, who went to war in Iraq over weapons of mass destruction that have never been found, did not acknowledge making mistakes, but conceded some things had not gone according to plan.
Two leading US dailies concurred yesterday that Bush's speech fell short of the bold action needed to convince Americans he is on the right path
Bush's speech would have been good a year ago after the fall of Baghdad, but it has come "after nearly 14 months of policy failures, none of them acknowledged by the president," The New York Times said.
Bush's attempt at convincing an increasingly skeptical American public and Congress was "at least, a beginning ... but it's not clear that [his] rhetoric, or the steps he is planning, are vigorous enough to turn the situation around," said The Washington Post.
"Mr. Bush would be more persuasive if he would acknowledge more honestly what has gone wrong in the past year and how it can be corrected," added the Post.
"It's regrettable that this president is never going to admit any shortcomings, much less failure," The Times said.
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