Nevadans see speech differently

Suzanne Struglinski

Tuesday, May 25, 2004 | 10:55 a.m.

WASHINGTON -- Nevada's congressional delegation had mixed views on President Bush's five-step plan to transfer power of Iraq back to its citizens.

"The president gave this speech because the American people needed answers, but we didn't get very many," Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev, said Monday night.

The president said a new Iraqi government will assume power on June 30, but Reid said he wanted to hear how the United States was going to get out of Iraq and what was going to be done to create stability.

He was glad to hear the president was reaching out to other countries for aid to Iraq but said the $13 billion offered by 37 countries Bush mentioned in his speech does not make much of a dent in the $150 billion Congress approved for Iraq last year.

"This really is the burden of the American taxpayer," Reid said.

Reid said he was "cautiously -- and underline cautiously -- optimistic" that what the president said will help the situation in Iraq.

But, he said, "I see nothing (changing) in the near future."

But Republicans heard a different speech, one that laid out a clear plan on how the power will be transferred.

"President Bush reported to the nation on our strategy in Iraq and the specific steps we are taking to achieve our goal," Rep. Jon Porter, R-Nev., said. "Our coalition has a clear goal, understood by all, to see the Iraqi people in charge of Iraq for the first time in generations. The president acknowledged that security needs to be a shared responsibility with coalition troops during the transition which will occur in nearly a month. Iraq is the central front in the War on Terror, and terrorists must not determine the future of Iraq.

"I want our troops to come home as soon as possible, and they will, but we must finish the job."

Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., said "President Bush has the vision to fight the global war on terrorism" and his speech laid out his plan for the American people to see it.

He said he has heard the "vast majority" of the five-step plan already despite what has been said about Bush lacking a plan to hand over sovereignty to Iraq.

Ensign said each of the steps, and actions within them, are going to be "challenging."

"The bottom line is whether or not the Iraqi people will care about their own country," Ensign said.

Rep. Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., could not be reached. She is in Spain at a conference with the Aspen Institute, a leadership organization, to learn about challenges the United States faces with Islamic nations, such as in Iran, Afghanistan and several African nations, according to her office.