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| Bush Seeks Advice from Former Officials on Iraq Policy |
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US President George W. Bush on Thursday held an unprecedented meeting on Iraq policy at the White House with the participation of current and former secretaries of defense and state. The meeting, which took place as insurgent violence in Iraq is turning from bad to worse, were briefed by Gen. George Casey, the US commander in Iraq, and Zalmay Khalilzad, the American ambassador there. In addition to current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Colin Powell, Bush's first secretary of state, William Perry, defense secretary in the administration of President Bill Clinton attended the meeting. Other former secretaries of state from both Republican and Democratic administrations who attended included Madeleine Albright, Lawrence Eagleburger, James Baker, George Shultz and Alexander Haig. Former secretaries of defense included William Cohen, Frank Carlucci, James Schlesinger, Harold Brown, Melvin Laird and Robert McNamara. "Not everybody around this table agreed with my decision to go into Iraq and I fully understand that," Bush said at the meeting, adding that he had listened to their concerns and their suggestions about how to proceed. "I will take to heart the advice." Speaking to reporters about the meeting, White House spokesman Scott McClellan described the meeting as "an opportunity for these key leaders of previous administrations to hear about our plan for victory and hear about the progress we're making directly from our civilian and military leaders on the ground." "Regardless of where they, some of these former officials in previous administrations, stand, I think there's a lot of area of common ground with them on how we move forward in terms of the political process and the training and equipping of Iraqi security forces," McClellan said. "This is part of our efforts to broaden the outreach," McClellan added. While the Bush administration has been emphasizing progress in Iraq, the worsening situation and increasing US death toll in Iraq, which is up to more than 2,100, have prompted American public growing discontent with the nearly three-year war in Iraq. (Xinhua News Agency January 6, 2006) |
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