Fred Harteis News Articles - Bush to blame failure to secure Baghdad on lack of troops

Fred Harteis News Articles - Excerpts of President Bush's speech tonight about the Iraq war indicate he will admit the current strategy is flawed.

Bush gives two reasons for the failure to secure Baghdad in particular, according to the excerpts: There are "not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure neighborhoods" and there are too many restrictions on the troops that are in place.

"Our military commanders reviewed the new Iraqi plan to ensure that it addressed these mistakes. They report that it does," according to the excerpts.

"They also report that this plan can work ... and [Iraqi] Prime Minister [Nuri] al-Maliki has pledged that political or sectarian interference will not be tolerated."

According to the excerpts, Bush also will say that only the Iraqis can end the sectarian violence that has besieged their country and he will say that the Iraqi government "has put forward an aggressive plan" to accomplish that.

Bush is expected to reject ideas "to step back."

That, the president will say, "would force a collapse of the Iraqi government. ... Such a scenario would result in our troops being forced to stay in Iraq even longer, and confront an enemy that is even more lethal."

Earlier Wednesday, top Democrats who had met with the president said they should have been granted a meeting weeks ago to discuss his new war strategy.

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http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/01/10/iraq.bush/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Source: Cnn.com

About Fred Harteis: Fred Harteis leads Harteis International. Fred Harteis has a background in agriculture and has created many successful business ventures.