US President George W. Bush, opening a two-week effort to defend his Iraq policy, told visiting European leaders Monday that his strategy for ending the insurgency and stabilizing the country "is going to work."
Bush's comments came as opinion polls show eroding public confidence of his handling of Iraq, and as fissures are developing in his party over setting a timetable for a US withdrawal. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, who is considered a possible candidate for president in 2008, said in an interview in the current issue of US News & World Report that the administration's assessments of Iraq were "disconnected from reality," adding that "the reality is that we are losing in Iraq."
With similar if less blunt statements beginning to surface from other Republicans, the White House is preparing to have Bush speak at length about the conflict, first when Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari of Iraq visits the White House on Friday. He will speak again next week, on the first anniversary of the transfer of power to the new Iraqi government.
So far Bush's stay-the-course message has not diverged from what he has said for more than a year. But his tone was different Monday, as he acknowledged that the going was "tough" and he dodged a question about whether he agreed with Vice President Dick Cheney's recent assessment that the insurgency is in "its last throes." Several White House officials, when speaking behind the veil of anonymity, said they believed that Cheney was overly optimistic.
Bush was cautious, saying only, "We're making progress toward the goal, which is, on the one hand, a political process moving forward in Iraq and, on the other hand, the Iraqis capable of defending themselves."
He put no timetable on how long those processes would take. But he added that he understood "how dangerous it is there" and twice mentioned how the issue followed him everywhere, saying, "I think about Iraq every day, every single day."
Bush also defended the American treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, without directly addressing calls to close the detention center there.
"I understand those of us who espouse freedom have an obligation, and those who espouse human rights have an obligation, to live up to those words, and I believe we are in Guantanamo," Bush said in response to a question by a European reporter. He invited European and American reporters to visit the detention center themselves.
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