posted on January 11, 2007 10:41:15 AM new
SURPRISE to everyone! Our troops were restricted in what they could do in Iraq by POLITICS!!!!
What ELSE haven't we been told ????
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Linking the fight in Iraq with the greater war on terror, President Bush told the nation there is "no magic formula for success in Iraq" but that failure there "would be a disaster for the United States."
Speaking from the White House Wednesday night as about 50 protesters gathered outside, Bush said he will increase American forces by more than 20,000, the vast majority of them coming from "five brigades [that] will be deployed to Baghdad."
Bush recognized that the progress of the war is "unacceptable to the American people -- and it is unacceptable to me," adding, "Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me." (Read the speech)
The additional troops will work alongside Iraqi units. (Watch Bush talk about U.S. troop increase )
"Our troops will have a well-defined mission: to help Iraqis clear and secure neighborhoods, to help them protect the local population, and to help ensure that the Iraqi forces left behind are capable of providing the security that Baghdad needs."
Bush said that if the situation in Iraq does not turn for the better, "Radical Islamic extremists would grow in strength and gain new recruits."
They would then be emboldened to topple moderate governments and "use oil revenues to fund their ambitions."
Iran would also have an opportunity to ratchet up its pursuit of nuclear weapons, he said.
Bush gave two reasons for the failure to secure Baghdad in particular.
There are "not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure neighborhoods," he said.
And there are too many restrictions on the troops that are in place, Bush said.
"Our military commanders reviewed the new Iraqi plan to ensure that it addressed these mistakes. They report that it does," he said.
"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."
