President Bush said Friday the U.S. will continue to adjust tactics in the struggle against terrorists in Iraq, but the White House insisted there will be no change in overall strategy.
“Our goal hasn’t changed, but the tactics are constantly adjusting to an enemy which is brutal and violent,” Bush said at a National Republican Senatorial Committee fundraiser.
“Our strategy is three-fold: to help rebuild that country; to help the political process move forward; and to help the Iraqis stand up security forces that are capable of defeating the enemy themselves,” he added.
White House Press Secretary Tony Snow said Bush would not fundamentally alter his Iraq strategy, despite polls that show an increasing number of Americans growing weary of the war.
“He’s not somebody who gets jumpy at polls,” Snow said of Bush. “The president is not going to alter his approach based on political considerations, but instead on the business of trying and moving toward having an Iraq that can sustain, govern and defend itself.”
Bush has tried to discourage speculation that he will change strategy based on possible future recommendations by the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel co-chaired by Democrats Lee Hamilton and Republican James Baker III.
“We’re not in a collaboration with the Baker-Hamilton committee,” he told ABC this week. But he added: “I think this is a good idea, to get people outside to come and take a look.”
The White House has already made clear it will not accept any recommendation to partition Iraq into three semi-autonomous states for Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites. Nor will Bush entertain recommendations for a timetable to pull U.S. forces from Iraq, an idea embraced by many Democrats.
“He is eager to hear about other ideas,” Snow said. “But leaving is not going to work.
“And a partition is simply off the table,” he added. “It’s a nonstarter because you don’t want to re-create the Balkans.”
