Bush Halts Troop Pull-Outs from Iraq after July, While Shortening Tours

WASHINGTON — President Bush, again citing progress in Iraq while acknowledging "there's more to be done," on Thursday enacted Gen. David Petraeus' recommendation to halt troop withdrawals from Iraq after July to allow time to re-evaluate U.S. military levels there.

U.S. and Iraqi forces, Bush said in a White House speech, "have made significant progress" in quelling sectarian violence, restoring "basic security" and driving out terrorists.

"While there's more to be done, sectarian violence is down dramatically. Civilian deaths and military deaths are also down," he said.

Bush said Petraeus will get "all the time he needs" to assess when and if more U.S. troops can leave Iraq.

The president also announced that troops arriving in Iraq or Afghanistan after Aug. 1 will serve 12-months tours, instead of the 15-month tours initiated last year as part of the surge. The new schedule also will allow troops to spend 12 months at home before being redeployed to Iraq.

Bush's 18-minute speech also included an ambitious effort at persuading Americans that the war, despite its high cost, is worth it. His pitch came as Democrats increased their effort to link the war with the nation's economic woes, a convergence of the two problems plaguing Bush in his final months in office.

"The president has taken us into a failed war, he's taken us deeply into debt and ... that debt is taking us into recession. We need some answers from the president," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, criticizing Bush's troop deployment decision as "just dragging this out so he can put it at the doorstep of the new president of the United States."

"And may I add, if he doesn't change his economic policy, he will be leaving a failed war policy and a failed economy at the doorstep of that new president," Pelosi said.

Bush was aggressive in portraying the war as cost-effective.

"Some in Washington argue that the war costs too much money," he said, adding "there's no doubt that the costs of the war have been high."

"But during other major conflicts in our history, the relative cost has been even higher," Bush said, launching into a thumbnail economic assessment of the Cold War.

To date, the war has cost more than $500 billion and claimed the lives of more than 4,000 U.S. troops.

The defense budget during the Truman and Eisenhower administrations was as high as 13 percent of the gross domestic product and was at 6 percent during the Reagan administration, according to Bush. The current defense budget is 4 percent of GDP, he said, as "we face an enemy that is not only expansionist in its aims but has actually attacked our homeland, and intends to do so again."

"This is still a large amount money," Bush said. "But it is modest, a modest fraction of our nation's wealth. And it pales when compared to the cost of another terrorist attack on our people. We should be able to agree that this is a burden worth bearing."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, offering his own math, did not agree, figuring the war is costing U.S. taxpayers "$5,000 a second, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, every week of the month, no holidays, no weekends, $5,000 a second, $12 billion a month."

And Reid said this week's congressional hearings on the war showed a bottom line that doesn't add up.

"Has the war made us any safer? Are our troops any closer to coming home? On both counts, after the hearings, the answer is 'no,'" Reid said.

Bush and the Democrats are headed for a fight on his call for an additional $108 billion in spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Democratic leaders plan to try to add more spending for domestic programs, including highway construction and increased unemployment and food stamp benefits. Bush said he would veto it if it came to his desk with additional spending.

Reid noted that Bush's decision to suspend withdrawals in July would leave more U.S. troops in Iraq than there were before the surge that began last year. About 30,000 additional troops were added during the surge.

"This is not a so-called troop withdrawal pause," Reid said. "With today's announcement, the president signaled to the American people that he has no intention of bringing home any more troops. Instead, he's leaving all the tough decisions to the only person that is going to have to make those tough decisions, the next president of the United States."

"The president has a time line: January 20th of next year." Reid said, referring to Bush's last day in office. "Our troops also need a time line."

Reid also said the new 12-month troop deployment schedule is an improvement but should also have included 24 months – not 12 months – off duty between combat tours.