Washington – The White House said Tuesday it’s going to take President Bush more time than he thought to find a new way forward in Iraq.
The initial “goal,” as pronounced last week by the administration, was a major speech before Christmas. The new schedule, announced Tuesday by press secretary Tony Snow, calls for a post-New Year’s Day speech on an unspecified date.
As part of consultations this week on Iraq, Bush spoke with U.S. military leaders and Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, in a morning video conference and later met with Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi, a Sunni leader in the coalition government, in the Oval Office.
Al-Hashemi, after the meeting, acknowledged the turmoil in his country.
“There is a chance, and I can assure you there is a great and real chance, to get out of this present dilemma,” he said. “It is a hard time that the Iraqis face in the time being, but there is a light in the corridor.”
Snow said the postponement is the result of “an absolute determination to do this right, making sure that he is absolutely convinced that the pieces have been put together, he’s gotten the best advice, he’s gotten the best facts, and that he now has the policy that he thinks will be the best to move.”
Meanwhile Tuesday, a new Washington Post-ABC News poll was announced that found seven in 10 Americans disapprove of the way the president is handling the situation in Iraq – the highest percentage since the March 2003 invasion. Six in 10 say the war was not worth fighting.
In this poll, 36 percent approve of how Bush is handling his job, the second-lowest percentage in Post-ABC polls since Bush took office in 2001; 62 percent disapprove.
The poll was conducted Dec. 7-11 by telephone among a random national sample of 1,005 adults. The results have a margin of error of 3 percentage points.
The Washington Post contributed to this report.
Developments:
President Bush delays until the new year his announcement of plans for U.S. involvement in Iraq.
A suicide bomber in Baghdad targets a crowd mostly of poor Shiites waiting for work, killing at least 63 and wounding more than 200.
America’s outgoing No. 2 commander in Iraq, Lt. Gen. Peter Chiarelli, says curbing unemployment and improving services would help reduce the violence in the country, warning that military muscle cannot win the war alone.
The U.S. military announces the deaths of three Marines in combat Monday in Anbar province. Another Marine died Monday from nonhostile causes in Anbar, while a soldier died Monday of apparent natural causes near Diwaniyah.
