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US President George W. Bush ordered more than 20,000 more troops into Iraq, as he admitted to mistakes there and warned Iraqi leaders they would lose US support if they failed to quell the violence.
Unveiling a last-ditch 6.8 billion dollar plan to curb chaos in Iraq which has clouded his presidency, a somber Bush warned of more sacrifice in a bloody year ahead, cautioning new US measures would not immediately end suicide bombings and killings.
In a prime time television address, the US leader told war weary Americans the Iraqi government planned to take control of security nationwide by November and pledged to hit hard at Iranian and Syrian elements he blamed for destabilizing Iraq.
“I have committed more than 20,000 additional American troops to Iraq,” Bush said in the address live from the White House on war which has now killed more than 3,000 US troops.
“The violence in Iraq is unacceptable to the American people and it is unacceptable to me,” Bush said. “Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me,” he added, admitting that previous US military offensives had failed.
“Even if our new strategy works exactly as planned, deadly acts of viiolence will continue and we must expect more Iraqi and American casualties.”
“To step back now would force a collapse of the Iraqi government, tear that country apart, and result in mass killings on an unimaginable scale.”
While standing fast by his refusal to set a timetable for a US withdrawal, Bush also warned Iraq's leaders that “America's commitment is not open-ended” and that they most act on pledges to crack down on violence.
“If the Iraqi government does not follow through on its promises, it will lose the support of the American people, and it will lose the support of the Iraqi people. Now is the time to act,” he said.
Bush's new plan released earlier by the White House highlighted a rare admission of past failures and promises that lapses that doomed previous security efforts have now been fixed.
“Our past efforts to secure Baghdad failed for two principal reasons,” Bush said.
“There were not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure neighborhoods that had been cleared of terrorists and insurgents. And there were too many restrictions on the troops we did have,” Bush said.
The plan's goals include crushing terrorists, insurgents and rogue militias, curbing Syrian and Iranian influence, and convincing all Iraqis to rely on ballots rather than bullets.
Bush also said the United States would name a reconstruction coordinator for Baghdad as part of its latest plan to quell violence in Iraq.
The speech set the stage for a pitched political battle between the White House and opposition Democrats who harnessed anger over the war last year to capture the US Congress and were now expected to flex their political muscle.
Even before Bush spoke, leading Democrats announced plans to hold votes on key aspects of the plan and made clear they would keep pushing for a US troop withdrawal while steering clear of cutting funds for the war.
“'Do you support the president's policy?' that will be the vote,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said after talks at the White House that she described as a high-handed “notification, not consultation” by the president.
The address was the culmination of a half-year review of US strategy in the nearly four-year war that has left more than 3,000 US troops dead, thousands wounded, carried a much higher Iraqi toll, and tarnished Bush's legacy.
Specifically, the president was to order 4,000 US Marines to restive al-Anbar province and 17,500 US soldiers to Baghdad. The first US forces were due to arrive January 15th, with another wave February 15 and then in 30-day increments, aides said.
The White House trumpeted that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki had vowed to contribute large numbers of Iraqi forces to the new strategy and promised to combat armed groups loyal to majority Shiite and minority Sunni alike.
Iraqi forces — reinforced in Baghdad by one combat brigade on February 1 and two more on February 15 — were to take the lead in efforts to quell violence in the capital.
But according to a newly released USA Today/Gallup Poll, 61 percent of Americans surveyed said they were against a US troop increase, compared to 26 percent who supported it.
The new elements of Bush's plan carried a 6.8-billion-dollar total price tag: 5.6 billion for the new troops and more than one billion dollars in new spending aimed at shoring up Iraq's battered economy, civil society, `infrastructure and judicial system.
