Q: Mr. President, less than two months ago, at the end of one of the bloodiest months in the war, you said: Absolutely, we're winning. Yesterday, you said: We're not winning; we're not losing. Why did you drop your confident assertion about winning?
BUSH: My comments - the first comment was done in this spirit: I believe that we're going to win. I believe that - and, by the way, if I didn't think that, I wouldn't have our troops there. That's what you've got to know. We're going to succeed.
My comments yesterday reflected the fact that we're not succeeding nearly as fast as I wanted, when I said it at the time, and that the conditions are tough in Iraq, particularly in Baghdad.
And so we're conducting a review to make sure that our strategy helps us achieve that which I'm pretty confident we can do. And that is have a country which can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself.
You know, I - when I speak, like right now, for example, I'm speaking to the American people, of course. And I want them to know that I know how tough it is. But I also want them to know that I'm going to work with the military and the political leaders to develop a plan that'll help us achieve the objective.
http://www.nbc11.com/politics/10575003/detail.htmlmy take:
More Soldiers To Burn For Bush's 'Ideological War'
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2952823&mesg_id=2952823http://journals.democraticunderground.com/bigtree