"Completing the five steps to Iraqi elected self-government will not be easy," Bush said. "There is likely to be violence before the transfer of sovereignty and after the transfer of sovereignty."
He talked of the assassination this month of the president of the Iraqi Governing Council, Izzadine Saleem, and the beheading of American civilian Nicholas Berg. But he continued to express his resolve, saying, "No power of the enemy will stop Iraq's progress."
He said coalition forces and Iraqis have the same enemies -- terrorists, illegal militia and loyalists of Saddam Hussein. "Working as allies, we will defend Iraq and defeat these enemies," he said.
That was a very powerful and moving part of the speech--at the beginning when FR went down and I wanted to transcribe, but as others noted, had to listen with more care than usual.
Fred concluded that he doesn't want to come across as a crepe hanger that Peter King referred to. He says it was OK overall but still wants more security reassurance and the president probably helped himself politically.
Ceci said she was going to say almost exactly the same thing (ok).
Krauthammer said those who said the president doesn't have a plan are wrong and he presented it tonight, complete with dates. It succeeded, he said.