OK, a bit wordier than "Mission Accomplished," but Dubya now hopes to build on that historic achievement of the world's mightiest war machine smacking down a sanctions-depleted army in only three weeks!
Some excerpts from the NYT story:
ANNAPOLIS, Md., Nov. 30 - Two and a half years after the American invasion of Iraq, President Bush laid out Wednesday what he called a strategy for victory, vowing not to pull out on "artificial timetables set by politicians" but at the same time offering the first glimpse of his plan for extricating American forces.
In a speech here to cheering midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy, Mr. Bush described a military strategy for Iraq that loosely follows methods being adopted in Afghanistan: focusing American forces on terrorists who could reach beyond the country's borders and leaving the Iraqis to deal with insurgents and the remnants of Saddam Hussein's government.
"We will continue to shift from providing security and conducting operations against the enemy nationwide to conducting more specialized operations targeted at the most dangerous terrorists," he said. "We will increasingly move out of Iraqi cities, reduce the number of bases from which we operate, and conduct fewer patrols and convoys."
He gave no timetables for that transition, counseling "time and patience," and he repeatedly rejected the calls of many Democrats and whispered urgings of some Republicans for a deadline to begin a pullback.
"Many advocating an artificial timetable for withdrawing our troops are sincere, but I believe they're sincerely wrong," Mr. Bush said. "Pulling our troops out before they've achieved their purpose is not a plan for victory."
After his speech, those calls were renewed by Democrats, who criticized the speech as selling a strategy that has not truly changed.
A 35-page document that the White House released hours before the president spoke, titled "National Strategy for Victory in Iraq," was more direct in its description of how long the struggle might take. "It is not realistic to expect a fully functioning democracy, able to defeat its enemies and peacefully reconcile generational grievances, to be in place less than three years after Saddam was finally removed from power," it states.
Here's lots of other stuff from the NYT:
- Gaining control in Iraq, and regaining support at home (analysis)
- For once, president and his generals see the same war
- Stretching and straining for numbers that uplift
Whitehouse.gov has Bush's speech.