President Bush Expresses Grief Over Fallen Soldiers In Iraq
ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush says he is saddened by the deaths in Iraq, but he insisted again today U.S. forces will remain in the country "until the job is done." CNN's Chris Plante joins us now from the Pentagon. Chris, I don't know how many people actually thought that the U.S. was going to withdraw all their forces. But have you gotten any sense as to just how many they might withdraw after June?</s>CHRIS PLANTE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: No, it's not at all clear at this point. It depends on the stability of the situation, the security of the situation in Iraq. It also depends on how many foreign troops, international troops are brought in, if any, between now and then, how many Iraqis are trained up between now and then. But as you mentioned, President Bush returning from a weekend at Camp David today came back, and after expressing sadness for the events that had taken place over the weekend, offered some fairly hard language, looking at the big picture in Iraq rather than the specific events that have occurred over the weekend.</s>GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The sacrifice that our folks are making in Iraq will serve our nation's interests in the short term and long term. It's best to defeat the terrorists in Iraq so we don't have to defeat them here. As well, a free and stable Iraq in the heart of a part of the world where there is frustration and anger, where the recruiters of hatred are able to find terrorists, a free Iraq will be a transforming event.</s>PLANTE: And Senator Tom Daschle, the Democratic leader in the Senate, took the president's policy to task today and also suggested that the administration's effort to accelerate the turnover of political power to Iraqis may in fact just be a rush to get out of there, regardless of how difficult the situation may still be.</s>SEN. TOM DASCHLE (D-SD), MINORITY LEADER: I would say that it's too early to tell whether we're winning or losing. We're certainly not winning the hearts and minds of a lot of Iraqis today given our current set of circumstances. The president needs a plan for success, not an exit strategy. And I'm afraid he's forgotten that.</s>PLANTE: Now, the president also said that the people that are opposing the coalition and U.S. forces there are former Ba'athists who have spent their careers torturing, maiming and killing in order to stay in power. And he insisted the United States would not budge -- Andrea.</s>KOPPEL: Chris, from talking to your sources at the Pentagon, how popular is the president's decision to, as some have described it, reverse course and hand over power, at least provisionally, to the Iraqi people sooner rather than later?</s>PLANTE: Well, it's kind of a mixed bag there. It depends to some extent on who you ask, of course. There are a lot of, believe it or not, varying political opinions even inside the Pentagon. People certainly here would like to see the process be accelerated to the extent that it can be done so reasonably. They'd like to see the Iraqis take more control over their own situation. They'd like to see the situation stabilize more before that happens, certainly. With the number of casualties being taken, there's no appetite for drawing this process out any longer than it absolutely needs to be drawn out. But of course everyone wants to see the job get done, for the most part, and have it done correctly before the U.S. decides to withdraw militarily.</s>KOPPEL: OK. And that could still be some many months down the road. Chris Plante at the Pentagon. Thanks, Chris.</s>PLANTE: Thanks. USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com Iraq>