NYT:Bush to Tell Why He Sees 'Clear Path to Victory'(in address to nation) [View All]

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Bush to Tell Why He Sees a 'Clear Path to Victory'
By RICHARD W. STEVENSON
Published: June 28, 2005


WASHINGTON, June 27 - Faced with polls showing public doubts that the situation in Iraq is improving, President Bush will emphasize in an address on Tuesday night that there is a "clear path to victory" and urge Americans to maintain their resolve, the White House spokesman, Scott McClellan, said Monday.

Mr. Bush will speak to the nation at 8 p.m. from Fort Bragg, N.C., before an audience of hundreds of troops. ABC said it would carry the address live. CBS and NBC said they had yet to decide. Tuesday is the first anniversary of the formal transfer of sovereignty to the Iraqis after the American-led invasion.

Mr. McClellan suggested that Mr. Bush would not signal any change in military or diplomatic strategy. Instead, he said, the president will emphasize that Iraq is making progress despite the mounting loss of life, and that the United States cannot allow the understandable concern about the violent insurgency to deter it from completing the job.

Mr. McClellan said Mr. Bush would "be talking in a very specific way" about his strategy of training and equipping Iraqis to defend themselves while encouraging them to move ahead with the writing of a constitution and the establishment of a stable democracy....

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Democrats called for more than words from Mr. Bush to reassure Americans that he was being honest about the situation in Iraq and had a realistic strategy. Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the Democratic leader, said Mr. Bush "has got a long list of things he needs to talk to the American people about, and I hope it is substance, not fluff."...


http://www.nytimes.com/2005/06/28/politics/28speech.html