Bush administration crafting new message on Iraq [View All]

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

(KRT) - Stung by plummeting polls, the Bush administration is working on a new message about Iraq. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld road-tested it on the Sunday talk shows, and President Bush will flesh it out during a speech Tuesday night. The basic message, as articulated by Rumsfeld, goes something like this:

1. "Progress is being made politically and economically" in Iraq.

2. But the casualties could get worse over the next six months, and fighting could go on for "five, six, eight, 12 years."

3. And we have never miscalculated, erred, or misled you.

It's an ambitious message - a mix of the upbeat, the downbeat and the defiant. Whether a restive public buys the message may depend not on Bush's persuasive powers, but on the news from the battlefield. And this message arrives at a crucial juncture, with solid majorities of Americans now saying that invading Iraq was a mistake (a sharp reversal of the polls one year ago). At this point, 91.5 percent of all American military deaths have occurred since Bush declared on May 1, 2003, that "major combat" was over.

more: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/mld/ledgerenquirer/news/nation/11992687.htm