From the Guardian
Unlimited (UK)
Dated Thursday June 30
No solution and no apology as president runs out of ideas
By Simon Tisdall
George Bush's speech to the country from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, was an opportunity to show he knows what he is doing in Iraq. It was a chance to demonstrate that, despite past mistakes, he has a plan that will work.
Mr Bush also needed to counter the widespread perception that his administration is in a state of denial over the mounting casualties and costs that are dramatically eroding his poll ratings.
His Fort Bragg moment, if handled skillfully, might have enabled him to refute the Republican senator Chuck Hagel's widely quoted, armour-piercing jibe that the White House is "disconnected from reality
making it up as they go along".
But the president fluffed it.
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