Bush: Israel is a model for Iraq

Small comfort to be better than Iraq!

 

June 29, 2007
 
Bush touts Israel as yardstick for Iraq 

By Jennifer Loven
Associated Press
 
 
NEWPORT, R.I. -- President Bush held up Israel as a model for defining success in Iraq on Thursday, saying the U.S. goal there is not to eliminate attacks but to enable a democracy that can function despite violence.

With his Iraq policies under increasing fire from the American public and lawmakers from both parties, Bush went to the U.S. Naval War College here to declare progress. As the president pleaded for patience, his top national security aide went to Capitol Hill to meet with Republican critics.

Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., the senior Republican on the Foreign Relations Committee, delivered a lengthy floor speech earlier this week contending Bush's war strategy won't have time to work and that U.S. troops should start leaving now.

National security adviser Stephen Hadley met with Lugar and others, including Sen. John Warner, R-Va. Hadley wouldn't discuss the meetings, but Warner said a defense policy bill expected to attract several war-related amendments in July was a main topic.

The White House thought it had until an expected September assessment by military commanders to deal with political fallout on the unpopular war.

But criticism is mounting. A majority of senators now believe troops should start coming home within the next few months. And House Republicans want to revive the independent Iraq Study Group to give the nation new options.
In Israel, Bush said, "terrorists have taken innocent human life for years in suicide attacks. The difference is that Israel is a functioning democracy and it's not prevented from carrying out its responsibilities. And that's a good indicator of success that we're looking for in Iraq."

It was likely to be controversial for Bush to set out Israel as a model for a Muslim Middle Eastern nation. Israel has been locked for decades in a dispute with Palestinians in the neighboring occupied territories.