US President George W. Bush, in a column published yesterday, said he was ready to work with Democrats on the eve of their takeover of Congress and said that a new strategy "to help the Iraqi people" was under way.
Bush wrote in the Wall Street Journal that winning the war in Iraq and making his tax cuts permanent were top priorities, two issues in which he has butted heads with Democrats.
"Together, we have a chance to serve the American people by solving the complex problems that many don't expect us to tackle, let alone solve, in the partisan environment of today's Washington," Bush wrote.
"To do that, however, we can't play politics as usual," he said in the column that appeared one day before lawmakers were to take their oaths of office.
"Democrats will control the House and Senate, and therefore we share the responsibility for what we achieve," he wrote.
Bush, whose Republican party's electoral defeat on Nov. 7 was widely attributed to the unpopularity of the Iraq war, said he would soon lay out a new strategy to help the Iraqi government gain full control over its affairs.
"Leaders in both parties understand the stakes in this struggle. We now have the opportunity to build a bipartisan consensus to fight and win the war," he wrote.
While reaching out to Democrats, Bush also warned that partisan bickering could lead to political deadlock in the final two years of his presidency.
"If the Congress chooses to pass bills that are simply political statements, they will have chosen stalemate," Bush wrote. "If a different approach is taken, the next two years can be fruitful ones for our nation."
"We can show the American people that Republicans and Democrats can come together to find ways to help make America a more secure, prosperous and hopeful society," he wrote. "And we will show our enemies that the open debate they believe is a fatal weakness is the great strength that has allowed democracies to flourish and succeed."
Bush promised yesterday to present a new Iraq policy in the days ahead amid warnings that even members of his own Republican party opposed escalating the unpopular war.
The president has previously said he is considering "all options," including a temporary increase of US troops in Iraq.
"In the days ahead, I will be addressing our nation about a new strategy to help the Iraqi people gain control of the security situation and hasten the day when the Iraqi government gains full control over its affairs," he wrote.
Bush was scheduled to meet congressional leaders of both major US parties yesterday for informal talks on a range of issues including Iraq, an administration official said on Tuesday.
"I'd expect a range of topics about the year ahead to be discussed among the group, including Iraq," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Bush has been holding consultations ahead of a speech, expected as early as next week, in which he is likely to unveil a new strategy for Iraq, possibly including an increase of troop numbers there.
Most opposition Democrats, some prominent Republicans, and the top US military commander in Baghdad, General George Casey, have warned against a prolonged expansion in military presence.
Republican Senator Chuck Hagel is strongly opposed to more troops, describing it to a newspaper columnist as a policy of "Alice in Wonderland."
And one of the most respected Republican foreign policy experts, Senator Richard Lugar, has urged the White House to first consult with lawmakers.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
China would train thousands of foreign law enforcement officers to see the world order “develop in a more fair, reasonable and efficient direction,” its minister for public security has said. “We will [also] send police consultants to countries in need to conduct training to help them quickly and effectively improve their law enforcement capabilities,” Chinese Minister of Public Security Wang Xiaohong (王小洪) told an annual global security forum. Wang made the announcement in the eastern city of Lianyungang on Monday in front of law enforcement representatives from 122 countries, regions and international organizations such as Interpol. The forum is part of ongoing