Seeking to shore up Americans’ sinking support for the Iraq war, President Bush on Wednesday presented a picture of Iraq now climbing back from economic ruin with U.S. help and argued that such progress is one key to building democracy and political stability there.
In the second of four speeches before Iraq’s elections, scheduled for next Thursday to choose a new, permanent government, the president said the United States is helping Iraq build a free-market economy and rebuild Iraq’s roads, electrical systems, schools and other public buildings.
“We’re helping the Iraqis rebuild their infrastructure and reform their economy and build the prosperity that will give all Iraqis a stake in a free and peaceful Iraq,” Bush said.
Bush’s address to the Council on Foreign Relations, a non-partisan organization that seeks to promote understanding of foreign policy and the U.S. role in the world, was intended to convince Americans that the war is making more progress than news accounts suggest and that it ultimately would succeed. At the same time, he acknowledged that serious economic and security shortfalls remain, saying, “Reconstruction has not gone as well as we had hoped.”
Bush presented the efforts to rebuild Iraq politically and economically as the next important steps, along with the campaign to provide security. U.S. deaths in Iraq have reached 2,130, according to a count by The Associated Press.
The speech drew criticism almost as soon as the president finished speaking at a Washington hotel.
Disputing Bush’s claims of progress, Rep. John Murtha (D-Pa.) cited recent government reports as well as his own sources within the military — from front-line troops to generals, he said — to question the president’s portrait of progress in Iraq.
At a news conference, Murtha said that of the $2.1 billion allocated for the production of potable water, only $581 million has been spent. Only occasionally, he said, have electric utilities reached prewar service levels. At the same time, there are shortages of demolition experts, Special Forces personnel, intelligence officers and even translators, Murtha said.
“We lost the hearts and minds of the [Iraqi] people,” said Murtha, who had supported the war but recently called for a withdrawal of U.S. troops.
“The president does himself no good when he describes `amazing progress’ in Iraq without even acknowledging that two-thirds of Iraqis lack electricity,” said Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), the House Democratic whip. “Oil production is below prewar levels, and unemployment is estimated to be as high as 40 percent.”
Bush spoke on the 64th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which he used as a metaphor for the danger of leaving the United States unprotected, in this case in the campaign against terrorism, by failing to foster democracy in Iraq.
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The audience interrupted Bush with only brief applause. It offered a lukewarm response when he completed the 34-minute address.
Bush said the United States has focused on small, local projects that would produce “noticeable improvements and offer an alternative to the destructive vision of the terrorists.” Specifically, he said that in 2 1/2 years, the U.S. has helped Iraq make nearly 3,000 school renovations, “train more than 30,000 teachers, distribute more than 8 million textbooks, rebuild irrigation infrastructure to help more than 400,000 rural Iraqis, and improve drinking water for more than 3 million people.”
The population of Iraq is estimated to be nearly 28 million.
Bush cited two prime examples to argue that the United States is making progress rebuilding Iraq: the cities of Najaf and Mosul.
In Najaf, about 90 miles south of Baghdad, Bush said, the United States worked with local officials to rebuild the police force, repair homes, refurbish schools, restore water and other services, and reopen a soccer stadium. New businesses have opened, and pilgrims are returning to visit the shrine, he said.
Separately, a new poll showed the president’s approval rating rising markedly. In the New York Times/CBS News Poll, 40 percent of those queried gave Bush a positive rating, up from 35 percent a month ago. His gains came primarily among men, independents, 18-to-29-year-olds and conservatives.
Overall, 53 percent of American disapprove of his job performance, down from 57 percent a month ago. However, 52 percent say the administration intentionally misled the public when it made its case for the Iraq war, and 32 percent want the number of U.S. troops in Iraq reduced, while 28 percent want a pullout.
The survey was conducted Dec. 2-6.