Bush to address the nation on Iraq

President Bush will give a rare, nationally televised speech during prime time tomorrow, laying out his case for staying the course on Iraq, where U.S. casualties have mounted.

White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan said the 15-minute speech, to be delivered at 8:30 p.m. from the White House, comes at a “critical moment in the war on terrorism.”

“Iraq is now a central part in the war on terrorism,” the spokesman told reporters. “The world has a stake in helping the Iraqi people realize a better future, realize a free and democratic society. The world has a stake in confronting the terrorists that have come into Iraq.”

A senior administration official said the president will use the speech to remind Americans that while the stakes are high in Iraq, the United States has a strategy to win. The president will also emphasize that peace in Iraq, with its strategic location in the Middle East, is critical to U.S. security interests.

“We must never forget the lessons of September 11, 2001, a sobering reminder that oceans no longer can protect us from forces of evil who can’t stand what America stands for,” Mr. Bush said yesterday in a speech on the economy in Indianapolis.

The political climate for Mr. Bush is dramatically different than the last time he gave a televised address, a May 1st speech from the deck of the carrier USS Abraham Lincoln to triumphantly announce the end of major combat operations.

Since then, 149 Americans have died in Iraq, exceeding the 138 who perished during major combat operations. That has prompted Democratic presidential candidates and members of Congress to sharply increase their criticism of Mr. Bush, whose prosecution of the war on terror was once considered politically untouchable.

“This president is a miserable failure,” declared Rep. Richard A. Gephardt of Missouri during a Democratic presidential debate Thursday.

Yesterday, Rep. David R. Obey of Wisconsin, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, called on Mr. Bush to fire Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld and Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz. He said they had made “repeated and serious miscalculations.”

The Washington Times on Wednesday disclosed a secret report for the Joint Chiefs of Staff that said planning for the rebuilding phase of the Iraq war was late in starting and not ready for activation when the war began March 19.

Tomorrow’s speech was announced late yesterday, as the president traveled in Indiana to talk up the economy and raise funds for his re-election campaign. With the economic recovery showing signs of acceleration, Mr. Bush decided to turn his attention back to the less-hopeful topic of Iraq.

Mr. McClellan told reporters traveling with the president that the speech would recount America’s progress in Iraq and sketch out “our needs going forward.” A senior administration official said Mr. Bush decided in principle Aug. 26 at his ranch in Texas to give the speech, then made the final decision yesterday.

The White House asked the broadcast networks to carry the speech live and in its entirety. The cable news channels have already agreed to do so.

That allows the president to sidestep what he considers an often-unflattering media “filter” and take his message directly to the American public. He is expected to characterize Iraq as merely the latest battle in a broader war against terrorism that includes Afghanistan and the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians.

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