On 4th anniversary of Iraq war, Bush asks Americans for patience

WASHINGTON – With Democrats pushing for an end to the Iraq war now entering its fifth year, President Bush pleaded for more patience Monday, saying success is possible but “will take months, not days or weeks.”\nThe war has stretched longer, with higher costs, than the White House ever predicted. On the fourth anniversary of the day Bush directed the invasion to begin, the president made a televised statement to defend continued U.S. involvement.\nHe said his plan to send 21,500 additional U.S. troops to secure Baghdad and Iraq’s troubled Anbar province “will need more time to take effect,” especially since fewer than half of the troop reinforcements have yet arrived in the capital. Bush added: “There will be good days and bad days ahead as the security plan unfolds.”\nDemocrats are bringing up this week in the House a war spending bill that would effectively require the withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq by the fall of 2008, on top of providing funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan for the year. The White House has been pushing aggressively against this legislation, and Bush did so again on Monday.\n“It can be tempting to look at the challenges in Iraq and conclude our best option is to pack up and go home,” Bush said. “That may be satisfying in the short run. But I believe the consequences for America’s security would be devastating.”\nDemocrats swiftly sought to refute Bush’s assertion that the legislation would reduce flexibility needed by the military to win the war.\n“There is nothing in this legislation that will be considered this week that micromanages the war,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md. No military general “will in any way be constrained from the tactics or the strategies that they deem best to employ on the ground in Iraq.”\nHouse Minority Leader John Boehner reiterated that Republicans would vote against the bill. Without GOP support, Democrats have been struggling to make sure they have enough votes within their own party.\n“Our troops have not quit on us, and Republicans will not quit on them,” said Boehner, R-Ohio, who has predicted “99 percent” of GOP lawmakers will vote against the Democratic proposal.\nBush said he had received news of positive signs during a morning briefing on the war with his National Security Council, and during a closed-circuit television conference call with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki from Baghdad.\nBush ridiculed House Democrats’ legislation to remove troops, a measure he has promised to veto because it contains a timeline. He called it an abdication of U.S. commitments to Iraqis.