Rapidly running out of congressional allies for his Iraq policy, President Bush on Tuesday called for creation of a bipartisan panel to advise him on the way forward.
“I propose to establish a special advisory council on the war on terror, made up of leaders in Congress from both political parties,” Bush said in his State of the Union address. “We will share ideas for how to position America to meet every challenge that confronts us. And we will show our enemies abroad that we are united in the goal of victory.”
Speaking to a joint session of Congress in the House chamber, Bush tried to explain the Iraq conflict in the context of the larger war on terror. He also sought to connect the dots between success in Iraq and domestic security.
But such arguments did not sway Sen. JimWebb of Virginia, whose son is part of a Bush-backed “surge” of troops into Iraq.
“The majority of the nation no longer supports the way this war is being fought; nor does the majority of our military,” Webb said in the Democratic response to the State of the Union. “We need a new direction.”
Bush also used his speech to express hope that Cuba will transition toward democracy now that dictator Fidel Castro is ailing. The president also expressed a commitment to freedom in places like Belarus and Burma.
