President “Bush wrapped up his Iraq speeches with a prime-time Oval Office address on December 18 [2005], his first since launching the war thirty-three months earlier. …’This work has been especially difficult in Iraq, more difficult than we expected,’ he acknowledged to thirty-seven million viewers. ‘Reconstruction efforts and the training of Iraqi security forces started more slowly than we hoped. We continue to see violence and suffering, caused by an enemy that is determined and brutal, unconstrained by conscience or the rules of war.’ He offered an olive branch to war opponents. ‘We will continue to listen to honest criticism and make every change that will help us complete the mission.’ ”
– Peter Baker, Days of Fire, Pages 436-437