Troops Died Waiting for Bush's Speech
January 10, 2007
It was November 14 of 2006 - if you can cast your mind back that far - when George Bush decided that he required a "sweeping internal review" of policy on Iraq, intended as the basis for a handy strategy alternative should the recommendations of the already-ongoing Iraq Study Group not prove to his liking. The original idea was that this parallel study be completed around the same time as the work of the ISG.
We already know from history, however, that George Bush doesn't much like deadlines when they apply to himself, so it came as no surprise when the president scrapped plans to address the nation on his new and improved Iraq initiative before Christmas. When would he be ready to speak? No one could say. Certainly not his press secretary: