John Nichols: A Tepid Response to Bush's Iraq Plea (The Nation)

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BLOG | Posted 01/23/2007 @ 10:36pm
A Tepid Response to Bush's Iraq Plea


The most pained look of the night on which President Bush delivered his most difficult State of the Union address came from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

The president had just delivered the key lines from the foreign-policy section of a speech that -- despite much emphasis on domestic issues such as health care, education, immigration and energy alternatives -- everyone knew would be judged primarily on his effectiveness of his remarks regarding the Iraq War.

This was the point at which Bush needed to convince a skeptical Congress, and he gave it his all.

"If American forces step back before Baghdad is secure, the Iraqi government would be overrun by extremists on all sides. We could expect an epic battle between Shia extremists backed by Iran, and Sunni extremists aided by al Qaeda and supporters of the old regime. A contagion of violence could spill out across the country -- and in time the entire region could be drawn into the conflict," said Bush, who was making the case for his surge of 21,5OO additional troops to Iraq. "For America, this is a nightmare scenario. For the enemy, this is the objective. Chaos is their greatest ally in this struggle. And out of chaos in Iraq, would emerge an emboldened enemy with new safe havens... new recruits ... new resources ... and an even greater determination to harm America."

Then, again seeking to forge the clumsy link between the terrorist attacks of 9-11 and his war of whim in Iraq, Bush declared: "To allow this to happen would be to ignore the lessons of September 11th and invite tragedy. And ladies and gentlemen, nothing is more important at this moment in our history than for America to succeed in the Middle East ... to succeed in Iraq ... and to spare the American people from this danger."

The carefully-crafted applause line brought Rice to her feet, and she scanned the House chamber to see if it had connected with a Congress that has in recent weeks heard bipartisan expressions of concern about the president's scheming to expand the war. There was little question that she was hoping for a signal that members of the House and Senate were prepared to give Bush the time he was pleading for in a speech that featured the line: "Our country is pursuing a new strategy in Iraq -- and I ask you to give it a chance to work."

The response to the "nothing is more important" line on Iraq was anything but enthusiastic, as many -- perhaps most -- members remained seated. The applause died within moments.

Senator Barack Obama may have put it best when he said, "The pall over the room was Iraq." ...(more)

The rest of the article is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/thebeat?bid=1&pid=159942