Senators Urge Bush to Rethink Iraq Policy

[Nicholas_J]

By WILLIAM C. MANN

Associated Press Writer



September 19, 2004, 8:48 PM CDT


WASHINGTON -- Senators from both parties urged the Bush administration on Sunday to make a realistic assessment of the situation in Iraq and adjust its policies aimed at pacifying the country. But Bush readied a firm defense of his Iraq policy -- and a sharp new attack on rival John Kerry's stance -- for a speech Monday.

"The fact is a crisp, sharp analysis of our policies is required. We didn't do that in Vietnam, and we saw 11 years of casualties mount to the point where we finally lost," said Sen. Chuck Hagel, a Vietnam War veteran who is co-chairman of President Bush's re-election committee in Nebraska.

"We can't lose this. It is too important," Hagel, R-Neb., said on CBS' "Face the Nation."

A major problem, said leaders of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was incompetence by the administration in reconstructing the country's shattered infrastructure.

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