US President George W. Bush said on Monday he believes September will be an "important moment" to assess the extent of progress in Iraq under his much-criticized troop buildup plan.
Bush, who rejected timetables for a US pullout from Iraq proposed by Democrats, is under pressure by lawmakers from his Republican Party to show progress by September or risk their desertion.
September is key, as General David Petraeus, commander of US forces in Iraq, is scheduled to report on the progress of Bush's strategy to add 28,000 troops to US forces in the country.
"I see it as an important moment, because David Petraeus says that's when he'll have a pretty good assessment as to what the effects of the surge has been," Bush said in an interview when pressed on whether he sees September as a make-or-break period.
A group of Republican lawmakers visited Bush privately at the White House earlier this month to express their concerns. Bush called it a good session that included a "very frank discussion" of his views about Iraq and "their hopes that we can succeed."
"Very few people come to the White House and say, `Gosh, I hope we fail.' Most people are saying, `Well, I hope this works, and I am concerned about the situation there,'" Bush said.
Congress is trying to approve by next week about US$100 billion in new funds for US troops fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan because existing funds are running out.
But lawmakers and Bush are embroiled in a fight over whether any conditions should be attached to that money, such as Democrats' desire to impose timetables for ending the four-year-old war.
Talks last Friday that appeared to be edging toward an agreement ended in acrimony.
Bush said he had directed White House Chief of Staff Josh Bolten to negotiate with lawmakers on what consequences should be imposed to pressure the Iraqi government to meet measurements of progress.
Meanwhile, an explosion tore through a market in a flashpoint Baghdad neighborhood yesterday, killing at least 24 people and wounding dozens, many of them children, medical and defense officials said.
Nearby Yarmuk hospital received 24 dead -- including four women and three children and six corpses burned beyond recognition -- and 39 wounded from the car bomb attack in Amil, in the southwest of the Iraqi capital, a medic said.
Taiwanese Olympic badminton men’s doubles gold medalist Wang Chi-lin (王齊麟) and his new partner, Chiu Hsiang-chieh (邱相榤), clinched the men’s doubles title at the Yonex Taipei Open yesterday, becoming the second Taiwanese team to win a title in the tournament. Ranked 19th in the world, the Taiwanese duo defeated Kang Min-hyuk and Ki Dong-ju of South Korea 21-18, 21-15 in a pulsating 43-minute final to clinch their first doubles title after teaming up last year. Wang, the men’s doubles gold medalist at the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, partnered with Chiu in August last year after the retirement of his teammate Lee Yang
FALSE DOCUMENTS? Actor William Liao said he was ‘voluntarily cooperating’ with police after a suspect was accused of helping to produce false medical certificates Police yesterday questioned at least six entertainers amid allegations of evasion of compulsory military service, with Lee Chuan (李銓), a member of boy band Choc7 (超克7), and actor Daniel Chen (陳大天) among those summoned. The New Taipei City District Prosecutors’ Office in January launched an investigation into a group that was allegedly helping men dodge compulsory military service using falsified medical documents. Actor Darren Wang (王大陸) has been accused of being one of the group’s clients. As the investigation expanded, investigators at New Taipei City’s Yonghe Precinct said that other entertainers commissioned the group to obtain false documents. The main suspect, a man surnamed
The government is considering polices to increase rental subsidies for people living in social housing who get married and have children, Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said yesterday. During an interview with the Plain Law Movement (法律白話文) podcast, Cho said that housing prices cannot be brought down overnight without affecting banks and mortgages. Therefore, the government is focusing on providing more aid for young people by taking 3 to 5 percent of urban renewal projects and zone expropriations and using that land for social housing, he said. Single people living in social housing who get married and become parents could obtain 50 percent more
DEMOGRAPHICS: Robotics is the most promising answer to looming labor woes, the long-term care system and national contingency response, an official said Taiwan is to launch a five-year plan to boost the robotics industry in a bid to address labor shortages stemming from a declining and aging population, the Executive Yuan said yesterday. The government approved the initiative, dubbed the Smart Robotics Industry Promotion Plan, via executive order, senior officials told a post-Cabinet meeting news conference in Taipei. Taiwan’s population decline would strain the economy and the nation’s ability to care for vulnerable and elderly people, said Peter Hong (洪樂文), who heads the National Science and Technology Council’s (NSTC) Department of Engineering and Technologies. Projections show that the proportion of Taiwanese 65 or older would
RSS