Q But over the past five years, there were many instances where the President has said things like "making progress," "turning the corner." The Vice President says "last throes." Is there a danger that with this kind of sweeping language, he's again raising false hope?

MS. PERINO: Well, Mark, look at the rest of the speech. The President says, this is fragile, it's not irreversible, we have a lot more work to do. The President is being very honest with the American people, that we have made gains -- that's undeniable -- both on the security side and on the political side. And the Iraqis have helped us get there.

But we have a lot more to do. And that includes making sure that they follow through on the laws that they've just passed, make sure that they're implemented appropriately, make sure that we continue to support our men and women in uniform so that they have all the tools that they need for the mission that we've asked them to do, and that this is a long ideological struggle. He's called it the generational -- this is his generation's big decision on how we're going to handle a global war on terror, and do we have the stomach to continue fighting -- because, in the President's mind, we have to stay on the offense or else we'll run the risk of becoming targets again.

Wendell.

seen at 14:09, 19 March in Whitehouse Press Briefings. Email this to a friend.
Next item; Original source; Previous item;