Bush Says Some Iraqi Troops Not Ready to Take Over Security
By DAVID STOUT
Published: December 20, 2004
Matthew Cavanaugh for The New York Times
In a session that lasted 55 minutes, President Bush fielded 15 questions and once again laid out his second-term agenda.
WASHINGTON, Dec. 20 - President Bush acknowledged today that he is disappointed with the performance of some of the Iraqi troops who are supposed to eventually provide the security for their country.
"We're under no illusions," Mr. Bush said at a White House news conference. Some individual Iraqi units are ready to provide security, he said, but there are not enough of them to make up a cohesive fighting force. Mr. Bush declined to speculate on how long United States troops will have to remain in Iraq.
The president reiterated his stance that the American campaign in Iraq is worthwhile, not just for the sake of the Iraqi people but for the long-range security of the United States. And he again emphatically voiced his confidence in Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who has come under increasingly heavy criticism from some prominent Republicans in Congress.
"I believe he's doing a really fine job," Mr. Bush said.
Mr. Bush, who will spend Christmas at Camp David, Md., and the rest of the holiday season at his ranch in Crawford, Tex., pointedly did not announce his intentions on filling two major posts, homeland security secretary and national intelligence director. The latter position was created by the intelligence-overhaul bill that Mr. Bush signed last week.
In a session that lasted 55 minutes, Mr. Bush fielded 15 questions and once again laid out his second-term agenda. He said he would push Congress to enact changes in Social Security, revamp the tax system and work to reduce what he has called "frivolous lawsuits." (He did not use that term today, referring instead to "tort reform.")
Mr. Bush said the budget he will submit early next year "will maintain strict discipline" and adhere to his commitment to cut the federal deficit in half in five years.
Mr. Bush also said he would work with Congress to enact changes in immigration law to allow aliens to legally enter the United States to perform jobs that Americans cannot, or will not, do themselves.
"First, we want our Border Patrol agents chasing, you know, crooks and thieves and drug-runners and terrorists, not good-hearted people who are coming here to work," Mr. Bush said. "We ought to have a system that recognizes people are coming here to do jobs that American will not do, and there ought to be a legal way for them to do so."
"I fully understand the politics of immigration reform," Mr. Bush said. "I was the governor of Texas, right there on the front lines of border politics."
Mr. Bush has talked about such changes in immigration law since the early days of his administration. He emphasized today, as he has all along, that the changes that would benefit aliens crossing the border to work in the United States should not be construed as a step to "automatic citizenship."
Responding to several questions on Iraq, Mr. Bush acknowledged that the country's emerging security forces had performed "with mixed results" and that some had simply fled after encountering insurgents. "That's unacceptable," he said. But he added that some Iraqi security forces had fought well at Falluja and other battle sites.
A day after insurgent bombers killed more than 60 people in Iraq, the president said such killers are trying to shake America's collective will as well as the Iraqis' resolve. "We must meet the objective," Mr. Bush said, "and I believe we will."
"My point is, the elections in January are just the beginning of a process, and it's important for the American people to understand that," Mr. Bush said. "No one can predict every turn in the months ahead, and I certainly don't expect the process to be trouble-free, yet I am confident of the result. I'm confident the terrorists will fail, the elections will go forward and Iraq will be a democracy that reflects the values and traditions of its people."
The president said he would continue to send strong diplomatic messages to Iran and Syria to discourage them from interfering in Iraq.
Asked why he had decided to overthrow the regime of Saddam Hussein but not those of North Korea and Iran, both of which have either nuclear weapons or programs to develop them, Mr. Bush said he would continue to apply diplomacy to those countries. "Diplomacy had failed for 13 years in Iraq," Mr. Bush said.
Mr. Bush was also asked whether he thought recent actions by President Vladimir Putin of Russia had cooled relations between the Moscow and Washington.
"Vladimir Putin and I have got a good personal relationship," Mr. Bush said. "I intend to keep it that way." But Mr. Bush said disagreements with Russia were inevitable. Although Ukraine was not specifically mentioned, suspected irregularities in that country's recent presidential election - and suggestions that Mr. Putin's favored candidate may have benefited from them - are one source of friction. |
