In a fresh series of speeches delivered to hand-picked audiences, Bush tries to raise public morale and bring rebels in line within his own party , reports Khaled Dawoud from Washington US President George W Bush revealed nothing new in the first of a fresh series of speeches he decided to deliver on Iraq in an obvious bid to calm fears among an increasingly sceptical American public. A Washington Post -ABC poll released last week indicated that nearly 80 per cent of Americans believe Iraq faces the danger of civil war. More worrying for President Bush and his Republican Party, one opinion poll after another revealed that two-thirds of Americans do not believe that their president has a clear plan or strategy on Iraq, despite his repeated claims to the contrary. Worse is that this negative mood is growing ahead of upcoming mid-term Congressional elections in November, leading some key Republican figures to distance themselves from the president's policies. While marking the third anniversary of the invasion of Iraq, Bush's tone is definitely humble compared to his festive mood only three weeks after the so-called end of military operations, declaring "mission accomplished" 1 May 2003 and that the US had "prevailed." The US president, whose popularity rate reached an unprecedented low of 34 per cent in one recent poll, did not give up his marked confidence in victory during the speech he delivered to a pre-selected audience -- as usual -- at George Washington University (GWU). Yet, while providing numerous figures and details on how much progress has been achieved in Iraq (including a new measurement on the degree of growing control of Iraqi security forces by square miles: now 30,000 out of Iraq's total 169,000), Bush conceded that the future might not be rosy. "We still have difficult work ahead in Iraq," Bush told his audience. With GWU students on spring break -- assuring the president there would be no angry heckling by anti-war protestors -- the audience included a group of Iraqis residing in the United States who were given front row seats. Unsurprisingly, they provided the most heated applause when the US President mentioned the "progress" made in Iraq. When he finished, an Iraqi woman started chanting slogans praising the US leader. She told reporters, "President Bush for us is just an angel God sent from heaven." While asserting that, "We have a comprehensive strategy for victory in Iraq," Bush admitted that Americans should not expect an end of violence in Iraq anytime soon. "I wish I could tell you that the violence is waning and that the road ahead will be smooth. It will not," Bush said. He added, "There will be more tough fighting and more days of struggle -- and we will see more images of chaos and carnage in the days and months to come." Sticking to the official line of blaming the media for growing public dissatisfaction with the Iraq war -- an argument preferred by US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld -- Bush claimed that, "the terrorists are losing on the field of battle, so they are fighting this war through the pictures we see on television and in the newspapers every day. They're hoping to shake our resolve and force us to retreat. They are not going to succeed." Fears that Iraq might be descending into civil war increased sharply following the bombing of one of the holiest Shia shrines in Samarra last month. White House and Pentagon officials insist on watering down the consequences, Bush noting in his speech how Iraqi leaders quickly sought to overcome resultant tensions and avoid a massive outbreak of violence between Shias and Sunnis in Iraq. "Iraqis have shown the world they want a future of freedom and peace, and that they will oppose a violent minority that seeks to take that future away from them by tearing their country apart," Bush said. He also renewed his appeal to Iraqi leaders to conclude talks on forming a permanent national unity government, long overdue three months after parliamentary elections were held. Shortly before those Iraqi elections on 15 December, Bush delivered a similar round of speeches, also in hope of increasing public support for the war. At that time, the speeches seemed to slightly improve his popularity ratings, only to see them decline a few weeks later as violence continued unabated. Amid fears of widespread sectarian clashes following the catastrophe in Samarra, even some prominent neoconservatives, believed to be the main political group behind the Iraq war, seem to favour a speedy exit. From their point of view, the US has achieved its main goal of removing the threat posed by the former Iraqi regime; that the time has come for Iraqis to handle their own affairs. In his speech, Bush noted progress made in training Iraqi security forces and army while admitting that some Iraqi police units are infiltrated by members of religious militias and promising to work on this issue in cooperation with the interim Iraqi government. Referring to the most deadly weapon that the Iraqi resistance has been using in attacking US troops, Bush revealed that he has increased the budget for combating improvised explosive devices (IEDs) from $150 million in 2004 to $3.3 billion now. Observers, meanwhile, also pointed to how Bush made a point to criticise Iran while reviewing challenges to stability in Iraq. Attacking Iran has become a regular line in recent Bush speeches amid the growing confrontation between the two countries over Iran's alleged nuclear ambitions. "Some of the most powerful IEDs we're seeing in Iraq today includes components that came from Iran," Bush charged. "Such actions -- along with Iran's support for terrorism and its pursuit of nuclear weapons -- are increasingly isolating Iran, and America will continue to rally the world to confront these threats," he warned.
