In a speech that mentioned the September 11 terrorist attacks six times, President George W. Bush reiterated that the policy of the United States is to continue fighting the war in Iraq. Bush’s speech came amidst rising public discontent about the war, some of which has even reached members of his own party who are now beginning to call for an exit plan for Iraq. Instead of acknowledging the fact that the majority of people in the United States want the US to leave Iraq, Bush outlined that the United States will stay in Iraq in order to “finish the task” and “honor the sacrifice” of the 1,869 soldiers that have died in Iraq (two more were killed on the day of the speech) by continuing the occupation. Throughout his speech, the President made efforts to tie the occupation to the “war on terror” and pledging that the United States, along with Iraqi security forces, will continue to “fight the terrorists” together.
Bush praised both the January 30 elections and the current work on the Iraqi constitution, despite the fact that the constitutional drafting process has missed two deadlines. Additionally, in order to achieve even the limited progress thus far, the United States had to relent and allow Islamic law to become a source of Iraqi law despite its previous position that Iraq must be secular.
While Bush has touted the constitution as an important achievement, many are skeptical of the constitution’s achievements. Analyst Juan Cole has pointed out that the Iraqis are using a variety of dubious parliamentary moves to keep the process alive and that the draft presented last night was unfinished and contained large blank portions. Many Sunnis are upset with the constitution’s form of federalism that they argue will give more power to the Kurds and the Shi’ia and may even set the stage for a civil war. Iraqi women have also expressed concern that the constitution will diminish women’s rights. Still, Bush is touting the progress of the constitution and stated today that the US presence has allowed Iraq to shift from a dictatorship to a democracy.
The speech was the first time Bush acknowledged the number of US soldiers that have died in Iraq, but as would be expected, he made no mention of the 26,000 Iraqis that have died in the war.
