Thursday, June 30, 2005 | 8:49 a.m.
On Tuesday President Bush tried to regain public support for the war he launched in Iraq, a war that opinion polls have shown is becoming increasingly unpopular. The president delivered his remarks at Fort Bragg, N.C., where he was surrounded by American flags and uniformed soldiers. The speech also came at a time when there has been more criticism lately that the Bush administration has been unrealistically upbeat about Iraq, despite the escalation in violence by insurgents.
Bush tried to reassure the public that he isn't out of touch. "Like most Americans, I see the images of violence and bloodshed," Bush said. "Every picture is horrifying, and the suffering is real. Amid all this violence, I know Americans ask the question: Is the sacrifice worth it? It is worth it, and it is vital to the security of our country." He also dismissed calls by some in Congress to set a timetable for a U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq. The president correctly noted that such a strategy would be a "serious mistake," one that would cause Iraqis to question our commitment and embolden the insurgents.
Bush's half-hour speech, which the major networks televised, was for the most part a rehash of what he has said during the past year. Indeed, the president once again tried to conflate the war on terrorism with the war in Iraq, even though the two aren't related. For that matter, the war in Iraq has been a distraction and diverted many of our resources away from Afghanistan, from where the 9/11 attacks were directed by Osama bin Laden. Nearly four years after 9/11, bin Laden is still on the loose. A persuasive argument can be made that the war in Iraq has hurt the global war on terrorism, giving our enemies a shot in the arm.
The president very likely, over the course of the next several days, will see his job-approval ratings go up. Americans want to see our troops succeed in helping establish a democratic Iraq and, therefore, some of this optimism will rub off and boost the public's view of the president. But those favorable impressions won't last long if the situation in Iraq doesn't improve. Additionally, the public will keep losing trust in the White House if it reverts to issuing rosy scenarios of what's occurring in Iraq. A prime example was when Vice President Dick Cheney recently claimed that the insurgency in Iraq was in its "last throes," only to be contradicted later by Gen. John Abizaid, commander of the U.S. military forces in the Middle East, who said the insurgency's strength hasn't diminished.
The public has had its fill of positive spin from the White House. Straight talk, and a winning military strategy by the Bush administration, are what will quell American uneasiness about Iraq.
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