Took them long enough



Bush to outline Iraq exit plans

US President George W Bush is to begin trying to persuade Americans that he has a plan to get troops out of Iraq.
He is set to unveil a so-called National Strategy for Victory in Iraq in a speech in Maryland.

The speech marks the first time the administration's strategy will be available in a single unclassified document, the White House says.

It comes a day after the White House said it expected to be able to reduce its number of troops in Iraq next year.

A spokesman told reporters progress was being made with the training of Iraqi security forces, which would allow the US to reduce its presence.

The BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says the rhetoric from the White House has changed.

While vows to "stay the course" have not been jettisoned entirely, the president realises that to halt the decline in his popularity and help the Republican Party keep control of Congress after mid-term elections next year, he needs to persuade Americans that he has a plan to get out of Iraq, our correspondent says.

There are currently 160,000 US troops in the country - a number expected to fall to about 138,000 after Iraqi parliamentary elections in mid-December.

The US is spending about $6bn a month to keep its forces in Iraq. About 2,100 Americans have been killed since the March 2003 invasion.

Taking advice

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said there was an expectation that in 2006 conditions in Iraq would permit the US to lower the number of troops there.

The US Senate recently voted by a large margin to demand regular reports from the administration on its progress in Iraq.

The House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly against withdrawing troops immediately.


Mr Bush's speech on Wednesday will be the first of a series of statements on Iraq in the run-up to its election on 15 December.

On Tuesday, he said pulling out too soon would send "the wrong signal" to US troops, the enemy and the people of the world.

"We're going to stand squarely with the people of Iraq and help them develop a free society," he said.

The US soldier in charge of training Iraqi forces, Lt Gen Martin Dempsey, said 212,000 police and soldiers had been trained and equipped so far, but there was still some way to go.

"They lack some capabilities that we still have to provide them and will continue to have to provide them for a period of time," he said.

'Darned good job'

US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld said the Iraqi security forces were already taking over significant security responsibilities.

"We've been passing over bases... we've been turning over responsibilities, but by golly the people who've been denigrating the Iraqi security forces are flat wrong," he said.

"They're doing a darned good job and they're doing an increasingly better job every day, every week, every month."

He said this did not amount to "quitting" Iraq.

"The answer is clear, quitting is not an exit strategy. It would be a formula for putting the American people at still greater risk and be an invitation for more terrorist violence," he said at a Pentagon news conference.

Watch President Bush's speech live here at 1450GMT

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/h...as/4484330.stm

Published: 2005/11/30 10:46:41 GMT

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