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| Politics
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| Bush asks for 'a chance' on Iraq |
| US President George W Bush has urged America to give his new Iraq strategy
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| UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
, 24-January-2007
10:28:53 AM |
| Failure in Iraq would have "grievous" consequences, Mr Bush told Congress.
His speech also focused on domestic issues, and he called on political opponents to join him in tackling the US's most profound problems.
Energy policy was near the top of the agenda. Mr Bush called for a 20% cut in petrol consumption by 2017.
But the BBC's James Westhead, in Washington, says that the speech overall offered little new to the president's supporters and even less to his opponents.
This is perhaps a sign of diminishing expectations of the remaining two years of this presidency, our correspondent adds.
'Generational struggle'
"Our country is pursuing a new strategy in Iraq, and I ask you to give it a chance to work," the president told a joint meeting of the House of Representatives and Senate.
He described the "war on terror" as a "generational struggle that will continue long after you and I have turned our duties over to others".
Mr Bush added: "On this day, at this hour, it is still within our power to shape the outcome of this battle. So let us find our resolve, and turn events toward victory."
It was his first State of the Union speech since the Democrats took control of Congress.
Recent opinion polls suggest only one-in-three voters approve of the job the president is doing - making him more unpopular than any other president in the last 50 years, except Richard Nixon just before he resigned.
In a tough Democratic response to the address, Senator Jim Webb said the US needed a "new direction" in Iraq.
"The majority of the nation no longer supports the way this war is being fought; nor does the majority of our military," he said.
Green initiatives
Mr Bush said he would ask Congress for $1.6bn (£808m) over the decade to fund research into alternative energy and $2bn in loans for cellulosic ethanol plants.
But there are no indications that he will impose specific limits on greenhouse gas emissions.
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