US President George W. Bush was to use a prime-time news conference last night to reassure the US public about rising casualties and instability in Iraq and defend the administration's response to a pre-Sept. 11, 2001, memo that warned of threats from al-Qaeda.
Both issues are critical to Bush's re-election strategy, which hinges on the president's record on national security.
Bush was to open his press conference -- the 12th of his presidency and the third during evening prime-time -- with a statement on Iraq, White House communications director Dan Bartlett said on Monday.
He said Bush was prepared to address questions about a memo, titled "Bin Laden Determined To Strike in US," that he received on Aug. 6, 2001, as part of the President's daily brief.
"After a tough week, there are important questions that are on the minds of the American people," Bartlett said.
With the Sept. 11 commission hearings and the recent battles in Iraq being broadcast into American homes, this was a good time for Bush to defend his policies, said Stephen Hess, a political analyst at the liberal-leaning Brookings Institution.
"This is an administration that gets in trouble because it doesn't speak up in a timely way and defend itself," Hess said.
The news conference was "really quite necessary," he said.
At his Texas ranch on Monday, Bush deflected questions about the presidential memo, telling reporters that if the FBI had known about an imminent terrorist attack against the US, the agency would have told him.
To questions about whether the security situation in Iraq was untenable, Bush replied, "The situation in Iraq has improved."
The president's upbeat assessment was based on a fragile cease-fire in Fallujah. The predominantly Sunni Muslim city west of Baghdad has been the site of fighting between insurgents and US troops after a mob mutilated the bodies of US security contractors killed in a March 30 ambush.
US troops have killed about 700 insurgents in Iraq since the beginning of the month. About 70 coalition troops -- almost all Americans -- have died in clashes.
"A civil society -- a peaceful society -- can't grow with people who are willing to kill in order to stop progress," Bush said. "And our job is to provide security for the Iraqi people so that a transition can take place."
US Vice President Dick Cheney said in Tokyo yesterday that the administration would soon announce its choice as US ambassador to the new Iraqi government. Paul Bremer has been the chief US civilian official in Baghdad, running the provisional authority there.
Karlyn Bowman, who does research on public opinion and politics at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think tank in Washington, said Bush knows there is widespread anxiety throughout the US about the situation in Iraq.
"He has to convey being in charge and having a clear plan of what's ahead," Bowman said. "And I'm sure he will express compassion for the families" of those killed in the fighting.
"I think on 9/11, the president has to reiterate that they would have done much more if they would have had specific information," she said.
She added that most Americans were not really anxiously waiting to read the memo, which was declassified and released on Saturday.
"I'm still not sure the public is in the mood to point the finger," Bowman said.
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