Bush with Blair: “It’s bad in Iraq”, “I believe we need a new approach”

ABC News’ Karen Travers Reports: President Bush said he will announce his new strategy in Iraq after receiving additional reports from parts of his administration but said the Baker-Hamilton report issued yesterday is a "really important" part of his considerations.

"The thing I liked about the Baker-Hamilton report is it discussed the way forward in Iraq.  And I believe we need a new approach," the President said. "I’d call it a very important report in a very important part of our working to a new approach, a new way forward in Iraq."

President Bush indicated he will announce this new approach in an upcoming speech, but did not indicate when that would happen beyond "coming up."

Bush reiterated that he is not pleased with the rate of progress in Iraq. "I do know that we have not succeeded as fast as we wanted to succeed. I do understand that process is not as rapid as I had hoped."

Situation in Iraq – “it’s bad”
President Bush got a little prickly with a BBC reporter who suggested that he is still in denial about "how bad things are in Iraq" and asked why it took so long for him to acknowledge that.

Bush cut him off before he finished his question and said, "It’s bad in Iraq. That help?"

He then launched into a long defense:

"You know, in all due respect, I’ve been saying it a lot," he said. "I understand how tough it is, and I’ve been telling the American people how tough it is. And they know how tough it is."

He talked about the American troops serving in Iraq and how difficult it is for their families. "I talk to the families who die…I understand how hard our troops are working. I know how brave the men and women who wear the uniform are. And, therefore, they’ll have the full support of this government."

"I understand what long deployments mean to wives and husbands and mothers and fathers, particularly as we come into a holiday season. I understand. And I have made it abundantly clear how tough it is. I also believe we’re going to succeed.  I believe we’ll prevail. Not only do I know how important it is to prevail, I believe we will prevail."

"I understand how hard it is to prevail.  But I also want the American people to understand that, if we were to fail — and one way to assure failure is just to quit — is not to adjust and say it’s just not worth it. If we were to fail, that failed policy will come to hurt generations of Americans in the future."

Bush later reiterated his point: "You want frankness: I thought we would succeed quicker than we did. And I am disappointed by the pace of success."

Regional involvement in Iraq – Iran and Syria
President Bush said that if people come to the table to discuss Iraq, they need to understand their responsibilities: "to not fund terrorists, to help this young democracy survive, to help with the economics of the country."

"[I]f Syria and Iran is not committed to that concept, then they shouldn’t bother to show up," he said.

Bush did not change course in his stance that the U.S. will only change policy and engage with the Iranians if they verifiably suspend their nuclear enrichment program.

"We’ve made our choice.  Iran now has an opportunity to make its choice," he said.

To Syria, the President said they need to support the Siniora government, stop allowing funding and arms to cross into Iraq and stop providing a safe haven for terrorist groups

"We’ve made that position very clear. And the truth of the matter is — is that these countries have now got the choice to make. If they want to sit down at the table with the United States, it’s easy. Just make some decisions that’ll lead to peace, not to conflict."