| Page 2 of 2 < |
Bush Stands Firm on Policies
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
The refusal to engage with Pyongyang directly has been condemned by lawmakers in both parties and by diplomats, including U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, who urged the United States yesterday to sit down with North Korea.
"From North Korea to Iraq, the American people have seen clearly what it means to 'stay the course' with the president's failed national security policies," House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) said yesterday. "The president's policies are not making the American people safer. Staying the course won't change that. It's time for a new direction."
On Iraq, Bush was asked about the recent comments of Warner, chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, who returned from a trip to Iraq last week warning that Iraq is drifting "sideways." Warner said major changes should be considered within a few months if the situation there does not improve.
Bush said he agrees with Warner "completely" that "if the plan isn't working, adjust." But he said the overall strategy in Iraq is sound, even as day-to-day tactics might change. Bush said the upsurge in attacks and casualties is happening because U.S. forces are more aggressively confronting the enemy in Baghdad and elsewhere. "We're on the move," he said. "We're taking action."
Bush said he does not find credible a new report in the Lancet, a British medical journal, which estimates that 655,000 more Iraqis have died since coalition forces arrived than would have died without the invasion. In a comment in the journal, the editors said the study was reviewed by four outside experts, all of whom recommended publication, with one noting the "powerful strength" of the research method. The findings, however, have a large margin of error. The low-end estimate of excess deaths (both civilian and military) is 393,000, while the high-end estimate is 943,000.
Bush disputed the study's numbers but did not supply his own. "I do know," he said, "that a lot of innocent people have died, and that troubles me, and it grieves me."
Staff writer David Brown contributed to this report.
