Interesting that this isn't on the front pages (yet) ...Gathering of Defense and State Secretaries....
Does anyone think that Iraq was the only topic on the agenda?
BUSH TALKS WITH IRAQ CRITICS
6.1.2006. 12:06:49
Associated Press
www9.sbs.com.au
US President George W Bush has hosted an unprecedented gathering of current and former secretaries of defence and state at the White House, reaching outside of his tightly-knit circle of aides to solicit advice on the way forward in Iraq.
The gathering assembled an A-list of Washington's brains trust, including some of the harshest critics of the administration's Iraq policy, and included prominent Democrats as well as Republicans.
"Not everybody around this table agree with my decision to go into Iraq, I fully understand that. But these are good solid Americans who understand that we've got to succeed now that we're there," Mr Bush said.
The president continued: "I'm most grateful for the suggestions that have been given. We take to heart the advice. We appreciate your experience and we appreciate you taking time out of your day."
Listen to concerns
Among those taking part in the meeting were Colin Powell, Mr Bush's secretary of state during his first term, and other former secretaries of state, including Madeleine Albright, Lawrence Eagleburger and James Baker.
The former defence secretaries included William Cohen, William Perry, Frank Carlucci and Harold Brown.
Mr Bush said current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, along with Washington's ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad and General George Casey, the US commander in Iraq, briefed the former officials "on our strategy for victory in Iraq."
In addition to updating the former officials, "I've also had a chance to listen to their concerns, their suggestions about the way forward," Mr Bush said.
The gathering reached back as far as the John F Kennedy administration, with Robert McNamara, Kennedy's defence secretary, taking part.
"It was a unique meeting," said Mr Carlucci, who served as defence secretary in the Ronald Reagan administration. I can't remember a meeting like this in recent history."
"The president participated actively in the discussion. The former secretaries expressed views, asked questions. It was a good exchange. It was all very respectful but I think people didn't hesitate to express candid views," he told CNN television.
For his part, Mr Carlucci said: "I didn't proffer advice."
Dual track
But he said others at the meeting pressed the president "to continue to explain to the public what his policies are, the progress he's making, that it's a difficult task and that not everything goes perfectly.”
"I think we all agreed we wanted the president to succeed. Whether we agreed he should have gone in or not. Nobody feels we need to fail at this point. We have to keep pushing ahead. There was nobody in the meeting that urged an immediate pullout," Mr Carlucci said.
Mr Bush told the gathering that his administration was pursuing a "dual track" approach for victory over the stubborn insurgency in Iraq.
"On the one hand, we will work to have a political process that says to all Iraqis, the future belongs to you. And on the other hand, we'll continue to work on the security situation there," Mr Bush said.
"The main thrust of our success will be when the Iraqis are able to take the fight to the enemy that wants to stop their democracy, and we're making darn good progress along those lines," he said.
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Update 11: Bush, Ex-Policymakers, Discuss Iraq
By JENNIFER LOVEN , 01.05.2006, 04:38 PM
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President Bush brought foreign policy heavyweights from yesteryear to the White House on Thursday, including Democrats who have opposed his Iraq strategy. He got support for the mission - along with a few concerns - and a right to claim he was reaching out.
Waging an unpopular war that has dragged down his approval ratings, Bush has been campaigning to win the public over to his argument that he has a successful strategy for stabilizing Iraq and bringing American troops home.
As part of that effort, Bush brought to the White House more than a dozen former secretaries of state and defense, split almost evenly between Republican and Democratic administrations, for a detailed briefing and give-and-take.
He gambled that one-time high-level public officials, when personally summoned by the president, would resist temptation to be too critical.
He was right.
"When you are in the presence of the president of the United States, I don't care if you've been a devout Democrat for the last hundred years, you're likely to pull your punches to some degree," Lawrence Eagleburger, a secretary of state under former President George H.W. Bush, said as he left the White House. "Now, there was some criticism. But it was basically, `You haven't talked to the American people enough.' And it was very mild."
The event came on a day of new bloodshed in Iraq, where the one-day death toll from several attacks was at least 130.
The White House made the rare move of mentioning the violence. "We have seen that today has been a tough day in Iraq," White House press secretary Scott McClellan said. "We know the enemy wants to disrupt the transition to democracy and disrupt the formation of a new government. But every step of the way they have failed."
The unusual gathering in the Roosevelt Room began with an update by Gen. George Casey, the top American commander in Iraq, and Zalmay Khalilzad, the U.S. ambassador in Baghdad. But speaking to reporters afterward, Bush emphasized the portion of the meeting in which he asked the former secretaries to offer "their concerns, their suggestions."
"Not everybody around this table agreed with my decision to go into Iraq. I fully understand that," the president said, his guests arrayed silently around him. "But these are good solid Americans who understand that we've got to succeed now that we're there. I'm most grateful for the suggestions they've given."
Madeleine Albright, a secretary of state under President Clinton and a critic of Bush's decision to invade Iraq, praised Bush for holding the meeting.
She told him she believes "Iraq is a war of choice, not of necessity, but getting it right now is a necessity, not a choice." She advocated against any permanent U.S. military bases in Iraq and said there should be a formal venue to draw in more regional participation.
Albright also said the administration's approach toward the nuclear ambitions in Iran and North Korea was off the mark.
"He didn't agree with me, but he was very gracious," Albright said in an interview. "There was a sense of respect."
None of the other participants who spoke to reporters outside the White House afterward would discuss any advice in detail.
"He heard some things he did not like. He heard some things he did like," said Melvin Laird, a Pentagon chief for President Nixon who declined to be more specific. "That's the kind of meeting you want."
William Perry, a defense secretary under former President Clinton who helped develop Sen. John Kerry's foreign policy positions during the Massachusetts Democrat's campaign against Bush last year, declined interview requests.
The White House said that one "constructive idea" was to make sure that the military, not politicians in Washington, are determining troop levels in Iraq and making other on-the-ground calls. But that is no contradiction to what Bush has been advocating; as he has argued against the recommendation of some to begin bringing troops home immediately, the president has said those decisions must be left to the generals in the field.
Harold Brown, defense secretary under former President Carter, said he suggested a stepped-up focus on the Iraqi insurgency's failure to stop the political process from moving forward and to prevent recruitment into the Iraqi security forces. This also is just what the White House has been arguing.
Albright said she felt she had no choice but to attend, despite political differences with Bush.
"Clearly I didn't go there as a prop," she said. "We can't say we want to be consulted and then, when asked, not go." |
