国产热热热精品,亚洲视频久久】日韩,三级婷婷在线久久,99人妻精品视频,精品九热人人肉肉在线,AV东京热一区二区,91po在线视频观看,久久激情宗合,青青草黄色手机视频

   

Bush makes war assessment in Iraq

(AP)
Updated: 2007-09-03 23:28

AL-ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq - President Bush and his national security team made a first-hand assessment of the war in Iraq and prospects for political reconciliation Monday before a showdown with Congress over the US troop buildup.


President George W. Bush meets General David Petraeus, the top US Commander in Iraq, upon his arrival at Al-Asad Air Base in Anbar Province, Iraq, September 3, 2007.  [Reuters]

The president secretly flew 12 hours to this dusty air base in a remote part of Anbar province, bypassing Baghdad in a symbolic expression of impatience with political paralysis in the nation's capital. The gesture underscored the US belief that the spark for progress may come at the local level.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates arrived ahead of Bush and conferred with senior US officials, including Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker, before a session with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, President Jalal Talabani, and other top Iraqi officials from Baghdad.

To a large degree, the setting was the message: Bringing al-Maliki, a Shiite, to the heart of mostly Sunni Anbar Province was intended to show the administration's war critics that the beleaguered Iraqi leader is capable of reaching out to Sunnis, who ran the country for years under Saddam Hussein.

The temperature topped 110 degrees as Bush stepped off Air Force One. The president stopped at a small building where a Marine Cobra pilot briefed him about the positives and negatives of current troop rotations. He told the president that troops were not getting enough time at home and did not have enough time for training.

"Morale?" asked Bush. "How's morale?"

"Very high sir," the pilot, Capt. Lee Hemming, said.

Bush's six-hour stay was being confined to Al-Asad Air Base, an airfield once part of Saddam Hussein's military.

National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said the trip was conceived about six weeks ago when top White House advisers began discussing Bush's role as Congress returns to Washington and debate over the war heats up. It was decided that progress in Anbar made it the perfect place to showcase the administration's strategy.

There has been a drop in violence in Anbar, where Sunni tribal leaders and former insurgents have teamed up with US troops to hunt down al-Qaida and other extremists.

      1   2   3     


Top World News  
Today's Top News  
Most Commented/Read Stories in 48 Hours
锦州市| 阳西县| 繁峙县| 绥江县| 南平市| 陵水| 吴川市| 徐州市| 个旧市| 临汾市| 蕲春县| 日喀则市| 安远县| 措勤县| 保德县| 永新县| 江安县| 宁晋县| 瑞昌市| 桂林市| 芒康县| 黎城县| 睢宁县| 夏津县| 株洲市| 开阳县| 南投县| 安国市| 双鸭山市| 桃源县| 兴安县| 荔浦县| 昌宁县| 镇康县| 天柱县| 九龙县| 惠水县| 泸州市| 叙永县| 江津市| 双牌县|