In a primetime address to the nation on Iraq last night, Bush wasted a
precious opportunity to level with the American public about the
struggle we face ahead of us in Iraq, the mistakes that have been made,
and the need to change course. Instead, we heard a president who had
only two objectives on his mind: 1) wrap 9-11 and Iraq together to help
bolster his public approval and support for the war; and 2) stubbornly
refuse to change course. As the New York Times noted in an editorial
today, Bush "raise[d] the bloody flag of 9/11 over and over again to
justify a war in a country that had nothing whatsoever to do with the
terrorist attacks." The speech "offered few new ideas for dealing with
an insurgency that has claimed more than 1,700 American lives" and
"rejected any change in course, ruling out either a deadline for troop
withdrawals or an increase in troop levels."

HOW BUSH TURNED IRAQ INTO A TERRORIST TRAINING GROUND: The thrust of
President Bush's address last night was that the Iraq war has now
become the "latest battlefield" in the war on terror, and that we must
"defeat [the terrorists] abroad before they attack us at home." There
is little doubt, as a new CIA report concludes and director Porter Goss
said previously, that Iraq has become the new Afghanistan -- the
training ground for the next generation of insurgent fighters. But Iraq
certainly wasn't this type of breeding ground before the war. In fact,
one rationale Bush proffered for the war was to prevent Iraq from
becoming "a training ground" for terrorists. Bush said in November
2002: "Imagine a terrorist network with Iraq as an arsenal and as a
training ground..." We don't have to imagine anymore; Bush's war has
made it a reality due to the whole host of mistakes that were made in
the post-war phase.

THE 9-11 STRATEGY: Last night, President Bush called on Americans to
remember "the lessons of September 11th." Coming on the heels of Karl
Rove's politicization of the 9-11 attacks, it seems clear the White
House has turned to the aid of that tragic day to help prop up a
reeling president. In a speech littered with references to 9-11, Bush
circumvented the real problems facing U.S. forces in Iraq by attempting
to inspire imagery of another attack on our homeland. The Washington
Post helped propagate Bush's deception: "[C]ritics long have accused
Bush of falsely drawing a connection between Iraq and Sept. 11 as a way
to justify the original decision to launch the war in Iraq. That was
not the point Bush made last night." Oh really? Here's what Bush said
last night: "The troops here and across the world are fighting a global
war on terror. The war reached our shores on September the 11th, 2001."
The argument that we had to go to war in Iraq because we were attacked
on 9-11 is blatantly false. And Bush knows it -- he previously said he
"couldn't make that claim" that Iraq was connected to 9-11 and that he
had "no evidence" that Saddam was connected to 9-11. Yet, it appears
that not everyone has caught on to the deception.

BUSH FAILED TO BE CANDID ABOUT THE REAL PROBLEMS: As the daily toll of
America's sacrifice in lives and dollars in Iraq continues to increase,
Bush did little last night to allay the fears of those who see no end
in sight. Moreover, he gave little impression that he understands the
nature of the insurgency raging in Iraq. Bush declined to weigh in on
the dispute between Rumsfeld and Cheney about whether the insurgency is
in its "last throes" or will last another decade. He described the
insurgents as filled with "blind hatred" yet he did not comment on
Rumsfeld's confirmation that the U.S. is now negotiating with the those
insurgents. Bush failed to admit any mistakes that have been made (and
thus give any indication that he has corrected course), and he failed
to explain any new strategy for winning the hearts and minds of Iraqis,
defeating the terrorist insurgents, reconstructing Iraq, and bringing
our troops home.

BUSH RECYCLED OLD IDEAS AS "NEW": Bush claimed last night to offer
"three new steps" which weren't new at all. His supposed three new
ideas were to "partner coalition units with Iraqi units," embed
"transition teams" inside Iraqi units (if you don't know the difference
between those two, you're not alone), and third, work with the Iraqi
Ministries of Interior and Defense to "coordinate anti-terrorism
operations" (which is really newsworthy only because the coordination
apparently wasn't taking place before). In May 2004, Bush delivered a
much-hyped speech at the Army War College that was supposed to outline
"specific steps" for achieving our goals in Iraq. In that address, he
said we were working with Iraqi forces to establish both a "chain of
command" and an improved "vetting and training" process. Bush also said
in that May 2004 speech that "America and other countries will continue
to provide technical experts to help Iraq's ministries of government."
The media wasn't fooled into thinking that Bush was offering anything
new last night. The New York Times reported, Bush "offer[ed] no new
strategies in a war that has now stretched for 25 months," and he
delivered what was "in essence, a repeat of a speech he delivered 13
months ago...during an appearance at the Army War College."