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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ish who wrote (16054)	11/13/2003 6:52:32 PM
From: LindyBill	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 793677

Bush blunt with Bremer: He wants results By Richard Benedetto and Judy Keen, USA TODAY WASHINGTON — For months, President Bush has insisted he was satisfied with the pace of progress in Iraq. No more. In three private, top-level meetings at the White House on Wednesday morning, Bush made his impatience and frustration clear, telling chief Iraq administrator Paul Bremer he had to find a way to make the transition to Iraqi rule work faster and better. Bremer said the Iraqi Governing Council (IGC) was not failing in its work to prepare the transition to civilian rule, but that " they face a very difficult time." By Pablo Martinez Monsivais, AP Bush and Bremer met first in a National Security Council meeting that included Vice President Cheney, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and Secretary of State Colin Powell. Next, in a meeting with Rice, Bremer and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz filling in for Rumsfeld, Bush was direct, making it clear he expected results. Finally, Bush and Bremer met privately in the Oval Office. Mindful of rumors Bremer's job was at risk, Bush told him he was doing good work in a difficult position. Then Bremer was dispatched to the White House lawn to explain to reporters that he would head back to Baghdad to find ways to accelerate a transfer of power to an Iraqi government. The unspoken message: Making it work is Bremer's responsibility. One option is for Bremer to try to persuade the Iraqi Governing Council to choose a single leader from among its 24 members, or a smaller group that would have more power. When the White House abruptly summoned Bremer home from Baghdad and convened urgent meetings to alter its Iraq policy Tuesday, critics thought they detected a whiff of panic. Weeks of worsening news from Iraq had steadily weakened public support for Bush's policy. But the realization that the current plan was not working provoked the administration to change course, and to do it publicly and boldly. Some longtime observers of the presidency saw not panic, but a calculated shift that bowed to reality and artfully buffed Bush's take-charge image. (Related story:CIA report: Resistance grows as faith falters) "Being president often means you don't have to say you're sorry, but it is clear that they have to do some very important midcourse corrections," says Stephen Hess, presidential scholar at Washington's Brookings Institution, a liberal-leaning think tank. "This is a response to reality. .. at the same time, it is in keeping with their ability to pull victory out of the jaws of defeat. It's very shrewd in terms of political timing." The new goal is to quickly move more governing and security responsibility to the Iraqis as a prelude to getting most U.S. forces out of there before the 2004 elections. The White House was clearly anxious. "There's churning going on over the frustration they are feeling. They can't find an effective formula," says Robert Dallek, a presidential historian who says he's no fan of Bush. "They're certainly worried.. .. The president has to understand that Iraq at this point is becoming a large albatross around his neck," says Ted Galen Carpenter, foreign policy analyst at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank in Washington. Other analysts, however, see the shift as part of a pattern Bush has forged repeatedly from the early days of his administration, in which he gradually comes round to a position he had rejected earlier and claims it as his own. •When congressional Democrats first proposed creation of a Homeland Security Department in response to 9/11, Bush said it wasn't necessary. But when the idea grew more and more popular, he embraced it as his own. •Bush at first said no United Nations resolution or congressional vote was needed to go to war in Iraq. But when the criticism grew too loud to ignore, he acquiesced on both, and prevailed. •Now, after insisting for months that authority could not be handed over to Iraqis until a constitution was created and elections were held, Bush appears to be adopting the view of the French and others who said power must be handed over more quickly. "For a person who has been attacked for being rigid and not bending to convention, the facts are that he does," Hess says. Find this article at: usatoday.com