Bush pleads for Iraq plan: ‘Give it a chance’

Despite widespread opposition to his policies, Bush said that “both parties and both branches should work in close consultation.”

Iraq: ‘A generational struggle’
Increasingly isolated, Bush remained unyielding on Iraq.

Bush said the Iraq war had changed dramatically with the outbreak of sectarian warfare and reprisals, calling the possibility of a regional conflict “a nightmare scenario.”

“We could expect an epic battle between Shia extremists backed by Iran, and Sunni extremists aided by al-Qaida and supporters of the old regime,” he said. “A contagion of violence could spill out across the country — and in time the entire region could be drawn into the conflict.”

Unlike the friendly Republican-dominated Congress of the past six years, the new Congress has not shied away from challenging the president. Bush moved to shore up support for his policies in Iraq by announcing a special advisory council.

“We will share ideas for how to position America to meet every challenge that confronts us,” he said.

Bush also asked Congress to approve an increase the ranks of the Army and Marine Corps by 92,000 troops over the next five years, as well as establish a volunteer Civilian Reserve Corps that would “ease the burden on the Armed Forces by allowing us to hire civilians with critical skills to serve on missions abroad when America needs them.”

A call for less gasoline consumption
Bush also called for Americans to slash gasoline consumption by up to 20 percent by 2017.

Bush envisions the goal being achieved primarily through a sharp escalation in the amount of ethanol and other alternative fuels that the federal government mandates must be produced. The rest would come from raising fuel economy standards for passenger cars.

“We need to reform and modernize fuel economy standards for cars the way we did for light trucks — and conserve up to eight and a half billion more gallons of gasoline by 2017,” Bush said.

The president is proposing to set the amount of ethanol and other alternative fuels to be blended into the fuel supply at 35 billion gallons by 2017, up from 7.5 billion gallons in 2012.

Though some argue that such a drastic increase is unrealistic, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Joel Kaplan previously said the White House is banking on the new mandate — which would need approval from Congress — spurring investments in the industry and giving technological research a boost.

Rewriting mileage rules
The other piece of Bush’s energy proposal is something he has unsuccessfully asked Congress for in the past — the ability to rewrite mileage rules for new car fleets. The White House calls it a safe way to improve car mileage, but some critics suggest that it could instead spur automakers to produce more gas guzzlers.

The Transportation Department already has revamped its rules for pickups, sport utility vehicles and minivans, setting a sliding mileage scale that is based on a vehicle’s size. The overall standard was increased slightly; smaller vehicles now must meet higher mileage requirements than do larger ones. The biggest SUVs were exempted until 2011.

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