President
George W. Bush has warned against pulling the plug on his Iraq
strategy and assured the US public -- now more worried about the
US economy than the war -- that help was on the way.
With barely 12
months before his term ends, and less before the race to the
November elections all but sidelines him, Bush also vowed to
"confront" Iran where necessary and do "everything we can" to
reach a Middle East peace deal.
The president
used his final annual State of the Union address to defend his
deeply unpopular handling of what US voters say are their top
two concerns: the nearly five-year-old Iraq war and economic
turmoil.
"In the long
run, Americans can be confident about our economic growth, but
in the short run, we can all see that that growth is slowing,"
he said, urging lawmakers to speed approval of a
150-billion-dollar (102-billion-euro) stimulus package he agreed
last week with Congressional leaders.
With the lower
House of Representatives due to vote on Bush's economic package
Tuesday, the Senate meanwhile unveiled a rival plan to include
billions of dollars for seniors and the unemployed, and extra
tax breaks for businesses.
Senate Finance
Committee Chairman Max Baucus in a statement reacting to the
address said he hoped Bush would take on board these extra
proposals -- but reports predicted a clash, since they include
plans already rejected by the president.
On Iraq, Bush
defended his decision one year ago to "surge" 30,000 more troops
into the war-torn country and warned that a hasty troop
withdrawal would ruin the fragile political and security
progress there.
"Having come so
far and achieved so much, we must not allow this to happen," he
declared, adding that US forces were starting to come home and
more would do so in 2008 as their role there changes.
"Our objective
in the coming year is to sustain and build on the gains we made
in 2007, while transitioning to the next phase of our strategy.
American troops are shifting from leading operations, to
partnering with Iraqi forces, and, eventually, to a protective
overwatch mission," he said.
Bush cautioned
that "we can still expect tough fighting ahead." A senior aide
said a progress report due by April would shape any draw-down
decision beyond current plans to bring some 20,000 soldiers home
by July.
Bush had
promised the crackdown would quiet sectarian violence that he
blamed for thwarting Iraqi national reconciliation and that
Iraqi security forces would be in charge of the whole country by
November.
But 2007 proved
the deadliest year for US troops since the 2003 invasion, major
political progress has been elusive, and Iraqi officials have
suggested that it may not be until 2012 that they can assume
full control of security.
The president
unveiled no bold new proposals, instead frequently invoking "the
past seven years" in a speech that, at times, sounded as if he
were polishing his legacy, anticipating his own political
obituary.
Democrats hope
that deep dissatisfaction with his record will help them retain
control of Congress and reconquer the White House. Some of his
Republicans worry he could be a liability.
A January 20-22
Wall Street Journal survey found that 64 percent of Americans
disapprove of Bush's handling of the economy and 67 percent his
record on Iraq -- issues that will shape the race to succeed
him.
The leading
Democratic presidential hopefuls, Senators Hillary Clinton and
Barack Obama, roundly criticized Bush on the leading issues in
his speech.
Clinton called
it "more of the same -- a frustrating commitment to the same
failed policies that helped turn record surpluses into large
deficits, and push a thriving 21st-century economy to the brink
of recession."
Obama described
the speech as "full of the same empty rhetoric the American
people have come to expect from this president."
The Republican
nationwide presidential frontrunner according to poll averages,
John McCain, backed Bush's economic package. "We should pass it
quickly," he told CNN news. Bush urged Iran to freeze uranium
enrichment that Washington fears is a step towards nuclear arms,
and to stop backing extremists abroad.
"America will
confront those who threaten our troops, we will stand by our
allies, and we will defend our vital interests in the Persian
Gulf," he warned.
He called for
the United States to stay the course in Afghanistan, for his
giant tax cuts to be made permanent, and pressed the Congress to
approve free trade pacts with Colombia, Panama and South Korea.
