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Bush Promotes Pivotal Election in Iraq
WASHINGTON - President Bush has described this week's election in Iraq as a milestone for the Iraqi people, but the stakes are also high for Bush himself.
The president is banking on a successful election, which would establish Iraq's first permanent, democratically elected government, to signal that his war plan is working. If the voting establishes a successful government, it eventually could lead to the withdrawal of U.S. forces.
"The White House is drawing attention to this election, betting that it will be successful and it can point to this as another benchmark in the transition to fuller Iraqi sovereignty," said Lee Feinstein, who was a senior adviser to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and now is a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
The president could use some more good news in Iraq. With the violence showing no sign of waning, most Americans are unhappy with his handling of the war and some lawmakers are questioning how long the troops should stay.
Bush has been pushing back aggressively against that negative image with a series of speeches in recent weeks. Karlyn Bowman, a public opinion analyst from the American Enterprise Institute, said the speeches seem to be helping improve public opinion of the president's handling of Iraq.
"The erosion (of support) has clearly stopped," she said. "And I think that's more because the administration has decided to fight back."
Bush scheduled the last in his series of four speeches to take place at the Woodrow Wilson Center on Wednesday, the eve of the vote in Iraq that he has promoted as a mark of progress in what has been a politically unpopular war.
In the Senate, 40 Democrats and one independent signed a letter to Bush on Wednesday in which they urged him to be more frank with Iraqis and the American public.
The administration, the letter said, should "tell the leaders of all groups and political parties in Iraq that they need to make the compromises necessary to achieve the broad-based and sustainable political settlement that is essential for defeating the insurgency in Iraq within the schedule they set for themselves."
Bush, the letter said, also must present "a plan that identifies the remaining political, economic, and military benchmarks that must be met and a reasonable schedule to achieve them."
Karen Hughes, undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, said the election represents an historic opportunity for the people of Iraq.
"Tomorrow the people of Iraq begin to write a new chapter. Tomorrow is the end of the transition period and the beginning of a new and unified and stable Iraq. This is a permanent election," said Hughes, a longtime Bush adviser. "This is a real opportunity for a turning point, for a a milestone for Iraq to permanently elect a governmen and take control of theire own country," she said on CBS's "The Early Show."
Asked on NBC's "Today" show if the president had been sufficiently open-minded about U.S. strategy there, she replied, "He's had to make some hard decisions. ... He believes in his head he's right."
A key indicator of success will be turnout of Iraq's minority Sunni Arabs, the community that is the backbone of the insurgency. Bush said if Sunnis get more involved in government, they will solve disputes through politics instead of violence.
Sunnis largely shunned Jan. 30 elections for an interim parliament that wrote the nation's constitution — Iraq's first free vote in decades. The result was a legislature dominated by members of the Shiite Muslim majority and the strong Kurdish minority.
This time Sunnis in Iraq were pressing for a strong turnout to build their numbers in the 275-member legislature.
Thomas Mann, a political scientist at the Brookings Institution, said the importance of this election will depend on the whether the legislature that is elected revises the constitution to address the concerns of the Sunnis.
"By all accounts, the Sunnis are participating, so they will have some representation," Mann said. "But what kind of government gets formed is very much up in the air. And if that government doesn't revise the constitution to deal with the concerns, then we could be set back rather than move forward."
Iraq has already held two elections this year — the election of the transitional government in January and the adoption of the constitution in October. Mann said that although there was a sense of euphoria after the first election, it has been followed by more violence that has damped support for the president's mission.
"So there is no reason to think that an election in and of itself is going to make a big difference," he said. "The mega-challenges lie ahead."
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WASHINGTON - President Bush has described this week's election in Iraq as a milestone for the Iraqi people, but the stakes are also high for Bush himself.
The president is banking on a successful election, which would establish Iraq's first permanent, democratically elected government, to signal that his war plan is working. If the voting establishes a successful government, it eventually could lead to the withdrawal of U.S. forces.
"The White House is drawing attention to this election, betting that it will be successful and it can point to this as another benchmark in the transition to fuller Iraqi sovereignty," said Lee Feinstein, who was a senior adviser to former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and now is a fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
The president could use some more good news in Iraq. With the violence showing no sign of waning, most Americans are unhappy with his handling of the war and some lawmakers are questioning how long the troops should stay.
Bush has been pushing back aggressively against that negative image with a series of speeches in recent weeks. Karlyn Bowman, a public opinion analyst from the American Enterprise Institute, said the speeches seem to be helping improve public opinion of the president's handling of Iraq.
"The erosion (of support) has clearly stopped," she said. "And I think that's more because the administration has decided to fight back."
Bush scheduled the last in his series of four speeches to take place at the Woodrow Wilson Center on Wednesday, the eve of the vote in Iraq that he has promoted as a mark of progress in what has been a politically unpopular war.
In the Senate, 40 Democrats and one independent signed a letter to Bush on Wednesday in which they urged him to be more frank with Iraqis and the American public.
The administration, the letter said, should "tell the leaders of all groups and political parties in Iraq that they need to make the compromises necessary to achieve the broad-based and sustainable political settlement that is essential for defeating the insurgency in Iraq within the schedule they set for themselves."
Bush, the letter said, also must present "a plan that identifies the remaining political, economic, and military benchmarks that must be met and a reasonable schedule to achieve them."
Karen Hughes, undersecretary of state for public diplomacy and public affairs, said the election represents an historic opportunity for the people of Iraq.
"Tomorrow the people of Iraq begin to write a new chapter. Tomorrow is the end of the transition period and the beginning of a new and unified and stable Iraq. This is a permanent election," said Hughes, a longtime Bush adviser. "This is a real opportunity for a turning point, for a a milestone for Iraq to permanently elect a governmen and take control of theire own country," she said on CBS's "The Early Show."
Asked on NBC's "Today" show if the president had been sufficiently open-minded about U.S. strategy there, she replied, "He's had to make some hard decisions. ... He believes in his head he's right."
A key indicator of success will be turnout of Iraq's minority Sunni Arabs, the community that is the backbone of the insurgency. Bush said if Sunnis get more involved in government, they will solve disputes through politics instead of violence.
Sunnis largely shunned Jan. 30 elections for an interim parliament that wrote the nation's constitution — Iraq's first free vote in decades. The result was a legislature dominated by members of the Shiite Muslim majority and the strong Kurdish minority.
This time Sunnis in Iraq were pressing for a strong turnout to build their numbers in the 275-member legislature.
Thomas Mann, a political scientist at the Brookings Institution, said the importance of this election will depend on the whether the legislature that is elected revises the constitution to address the concerns of the Sunnis.
"By all accounts, the Sunnis are participating, so they will have some representation," Mann said. "But what kind of government gets formed is very much up in the air. And if that government doesn't revise the constitution to deal with the concerns, then we could be set back rather than move forward."
Iraq has already held two elections this year — the election of the transitional government in January and the adoption of the constitution in October. Mann said that although there was a sense of euphoria after the first election, it has been followed by more violence that has damped support for the president's mission.
"So there is no reason to think that an election in and of itself is going to make a big difference," he said. "The mega-challenges lie ahead."
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