Bush admits errors, but orders more troops to Iraq

President Bush took responsibility Wednesday night for mistakes made in Iraq but rebuffed calls for phasing out U.S. involvement and outlined a new policy that includes sending an additional 20,000 American troops to the country.

"To step back now would force a collapse of the Iraqi government" and would require U.S. troops to stay longer, Bush said in a 21-minute address from the White House while protesters outside chanted "stop the war."

The president said previous efforts in Baghdad, where most of the new troops would be headed, failed because there were too few soldiers and too many restrictions on their activities. "Where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me," he said.

He also warned that even if this plan works, "deadly acts of violence will continue."

The speech put the president on a collision course with Democrats who now control Congress and at odds with some lawmakers from his own party, not to mention a growing number of Americans who are critical of the situation in Iraq.

In what could be a last-ditch effort to turn the tide in Iraq and rally his increasingly skeptical countrymen to his side, Bush said this latest strategy for the war would succeed where others had failed because the United States would now have sufficient troops to not only clear but to also hold conquered territory. And the newly augmented forces will also have a "green light" to move into neighborhoods racked by sectarian violence, Bush said.

Bush outlined a series of steps to be taken by the Iraqi government and warned that the U.S. commitment was not open-ended. But he set no timetable for drawing down either the new troop deployment or the U.S. commitment in general.

Bush also promised a renewed diplomatic initiative, saying U.S. allies in the region would be enlisted to support the Iraqi government. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will leave for the region Friday.

"Failure in Iraq would be a disaster for the United States," as well as for other countries in the Middle East, he said.

The Democratic response was swift and strong.

"It's time to begin the orderly redeployment of our troops so they can begin coming home soon," said Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill. He said the extra troops were "too few" to make a difference and "too many" to put at risk. In a separate statement, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said the latest Bush plan would "endanger national security."

Even some of Bush's staunchest backers had lukewarm reactions. House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, for example, did not take a stand on the call for additional troops, saying only that victory "is our only option" and that Bush's plan "deserves thorough consideration by the U.S. Congress."

And Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., while backing Bush, said his presidency would probably be judged by "his success or failure in Iraq."

Not all Democrats are opposed to Bush's plan. Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Conn., said Bush "did not take the easy path, but he took the correct and courageous course."

Lieberman, whose backing of the war helped cost him his party's nomination in last year's Senate primary and forced him to run as an independent, also said Bush outlined "a comprehensive program to chart a new course in both winning the military struggle to establish order and in achieving the political and economic objectives to build a more promising future for Iraqis."

While most Democrats were critical of the plan, they took pains to say they opposed the handling of the war, not the job done by U.S. troops.

"The issue is do you support the president's policy. That will be the vote," Pelosi said after she and other lawmakers met with Bush before the speech. "Democrats will always support our troops."