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At Army Base, Bush Boosts Iraq War
President Bush Bush urges soldiers graduating from basic Army training to "stay on the offense" and "keep pressure on the enemy."
(By Anne Mcquary -- Bloomberg News)
VIDEO | Four months into the U.S. troop buildup in Iraq, President Bush said Friday that U.S. military deaths have fallen to their lowest levels in 19 months and that the Iraqi people are 'taking their country back.'
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Responding to Bush and Cheney, Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid (D-Nev.) said in a statement that "once again, President Bush has tried to rally support for his failed strategy in Iraq by overstating the security situation. While the decrease in U.S. and Iraqi civilian deaths is welcome news, violence remains high in Iraq. Our primary goal -- political reconciliation -- is still out of reach, and Iraqi security forces have not met the responsibilities the President himself laid out for them when he announced his escalation strategy in January."
The 1,300 soldiers who graduated in South Carolina on Friday joined the Army during one of the most difficult military recruiting environments in U.S. history.
Gen. William S. Wallace, who leads the Army's Training and Doctrine Command, told reporters at the Pentagon this week that the Army had a difficult time meeting its mission of signing up 80,000 new recruits in fiscal 2007, which ended on Sept. 30. He said it expects to have an even more difficult time in this fiscal year.
Wallace also said that the Army plans to extend its basic combat training from nine to 10 weeks, reflecting a need to emphasize more fundamental skills as new soldiers more quickly find their way into units at war. He said drill sergeants want more time to determine that skills have been learned.
"We need to graduate a soldier that is able to contribute to his unit immediately upon assignment," Wallace said.
Branigin reported from Washington.
