Bush insists gains made in Iraq, cites challenges

WASHINGTON — Seeking to shore up Americans' sinking support for the war, President Bush on Wednesday presented a picture of Iraq now climbing back from economic ruin with U.S. help, and he argued that such progress is one of the keys to building democracy and political stability there.

In the second of four speeches before Iraq's elections, scheduled a week from today to choose a new, permanent government, Bush said the United States was helping Iraq build a free-market economy and rebuild its roads, electrical systems, schools and other public buildings.

"We're helping the Iraqis rebuild their infrastructure, and reform their economy, and build the prosperity that will give all Iraqis a stake in a free and peaceful Iraq," he said.

Bush's address to the Council on Foreign Relations, a nonpartisan organization that seeks to promote the understanding of foreign policy and the United States' role in the world, was intended to convince Americans that the Iraq war is making more progress than news accounts suggest and that it ultimately would succeed.

At the same time, he conceded that Iraq's security forces have been infiltrated by militias that control parts of Iraq, that corruption plagues the government and that the U.S. reconstruction plan initially was misguided. "Reconstruction has not always gone as well as we had hoped, primarily because of the security challenges on the ground," Bush said. "Rebuilding a nation devastated by a dictator is a large undertaking. It's even harder when terrorists are trying to blow up that which the Iraqis are trying to build."

He stressed that the problems are being addressed with a flexible plan meant to secure and revitalize enough of the nation so U.S. troops can begin leaving as soon as possible. Top administration officials have said 20,000 or more of the 158,000 U.S. troops in Iraq could start leaving this spring.

The speech drew criticism almost as soon as the president finished speaking.

Disputing the claims of progress, Rep. John Murtha, a hawkish Pennsylvania Democrat known for his Pentagon expertise, cited recent government reports, as well as his sources within the military — ranging from front-line troops to generals.

At a news conference, Murtha said that of $2.1 billion allocated for the production of potable water, only $581 million had been spent. Only occasionally, he said, has electricity reached prewar levels. At the same time, there are serious shortages of demolition experts, special-forces personnel, intelligence officers and even translators, Murtha said.

"We lost the hearts and minds of the [Iraqi] people," said Murtha, who had supported the war but recently called for a withdrawal of U.S. troops.

The decorated Vietnam veteran said conditions would begin improving as soon as American forces pulled back.

"There will be less terrorism, there will be less danger to the United States," Murtha said.

Other House Democrats, meanwhile, emerged from a caucus without a consensus on an alternative Iraq policy. While Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., endorsed Murtha's proposal last week, other congressional Democrats consider that an unwise and impractical move that would destabilize Iraq further while casting the party as defeatist as next year's midterm elections approach.

Bush spoke on the 64th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which he used as a metaphor for the danger of leaving the United States unprotected by failing to foster democracy in Iraq.

Unlike the supportive partisans and military crowds he often has addressed in recent months, the audience interrupted Bush with only brief applause. It offered a lukewarm response when he completed the 34-minute address.

Only the second sitting president to address the council, Bush broke with its tradition of speakers fielding questions from the international-affairs heavyweights, raising the eyebrows of some in the audience.

Bush said the United States had focused on small, local projects that would produce "noticeable improvements and offer an alternative to the destructive vision of the terrorists." Specifically, he said that the United States in 2 ½ years had helped Iraq make nearly 3,000 school renovations, "train more than 30,000 teachers, distribute more than 8 million textbooks, rebuild irrigation infrastructure to help more than 400,000 rural Iraqis and improve drinking water for more than 3 million people."

The population of Iraq is estimated to be nearly 28 million.

Bush cited two prime examples to argue that the United States was making progress: the cities of Najaf and Mosul.

In Najaf, about 90 miles south of Baghdad, Bush said, the United States worked with local officials to rebuild the police force, repair homes, refurbish schools, restore water and other services, and reopen a soccer stadium. Still, he said, sustaining electricity is "a major challenge," and clean water is in short supply. But, he said, new power substations are under construction, and water-treatment and sewage units are being installed. In Mosul, a major city of Sunnis, Kurds and other ethnic groups in northern Iraq, police stations and firehouses have been rebuilt, Bush said. But, he acknowledged, the city needs more electricity, and terrorism remains a concern.

Defense expert Mike O'Hanlon, who maintains an index of Iraqi quality-of-life indicators at the center-left Brookings Institution, said Bush was accurate on most specifics he cited. But, he said, "In the overall economic picture, I'd say it's a wash in terms of any real improvement."

Compiled from the Los Angeles Times, The Baltimore Sun, Gannett News Service and The Washington Post.