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Bush vows to stay in Iraq until it`s `free, peaceful`
Washington, Nov 15: President George W. Bush vowed that the United States will stay in Iraq until it is free and peaceful as he sought to allay concerns from Congress that he was trying to get out of Iraq too rapidly.
Washington, Nov 15: President George W. Bush vowed that the United States will stay in Iraq until it is free and peaceful as he sought to allay concerns from Congress that he was trying to get out of Iraq too rapidly.
Bush met Italian President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi just days after 18 Italians were killed in southern Iraq in a suicide bombing that caused Italy's worst military losses since World War II.
Bush reacted to concerns from members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, that the US shift in strategy to speed up the transfer of authority to the Iraqi people could lead to a premature withdrawal of US forces and leave the country in chaos.
''Look, we will stay until the job is done, and the job is for Iraq to be free and peaceful. A free and peaceful Iraq will have historic consequences,'' Bush said.
The concerns of a too-rapid pullout were voiced by, among others, Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota.
"I think it would be wrong to accelerate without having the pieces in place. If we pull out, if we change the set of circumstances we're facing without assurances that we're going to have the stability we're looking for it could be self-defeating,'' Daschle said on a television news network.
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said last week that 43,000 Reserve and National Guard troops and nearly 70,000 regular Marine and Army soldiers were being notified for duty in an Iraq rotation plan that would reduce US forces there from 132,000 now to 105,000 by mid-2004.
The concern is that an early withdrawal will leave Iraq open to even more attacks from guerrillas, who the United States believes are largely Saddam Hussein loyalists.
Senior US officials have been discussing with Iraqi leaders the formation of a temporary government in the first half of next year.
White House officials deny that the Bush administration, faced with mounting casualties at a time when Bush is running for re-election, is letting the US political calendar dictate strategy.
''We will stay there until the job is done, and then we'll leave,'' Bush told reporters in the Oval Office during a picture-taking session with Ciampi.
Bush suggested the United States would stay in Iraq at least until ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is found. ''We'll find Saddam Hussein,'' he said.
He was more explicit on this point on Wednesday when he told British journalists the United States would not give up until both Saddam and al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden are found.
Ciampi said Italy agreed on the need to accelerate the transfer of power to the Iraqi people.
''We support the idea of drawing a road map for the Iraqi political process in order to establish a full- fledged government,'' he said. Bureau Report
Bush reacted to concerns from members of Congress, both Democrats and Republicans, that the US shift in strategy to speed up the transfer of authority to the Iraqi people could lead to a premature withdrawal of US forces and leave the country in chaos.
''Look, we will stay until the job is done, and the job is for Iraq to be free and peaceful. A free and peaceful Iraq will have historic consequences,'' Bush said.
The concerns of a too-rapid pullout were voiced by, among others, Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota.
"I think it would be wrong to accelerate without having the pieces in place. If we pull out, if we change the set of circumstances we're facing without assurances that we're going to have the stability we're looking for it could be self-defeating,'' Daschle said on a television news network.
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said last week that 43,000 Reserve and National Guard troops and nearly 70,000 regular Marine and Army soldiers were being notified for duty in an Iraq rotation plan that would reduce US forces there from 132,000 now to 105,000 by mid-2004.
The concern is that an early withdrawal will leave Iraq open to even more attacks from guerrillas, who the United States believes are largely Saddam Hussein loyalists.
Senior US officials have been discussing with Iraqi leaders the formation of a temporary government in the first half of next year.
White House officials deny that the Bush administration, faced with mounting casualties at a time when Bush is running for re-election, is letting the US political calendar dictate strategy.
''We will stay there until the job is done, and then we'll leave,'' Bush told reporters in the Oval Office during a picture-taking session with Ciampi.
Bush suggested the United States would stay in Iraq at least until ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is found. ''We'll find Saddam Hussein,'' he said.
He was more explicit on this point on Wednesday when he told British journalists the United States would not give up until both Saddam and al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden are found.
Ciampi said Italy agreed on the need to accelerate the transfer of power to the Iraqi people.
''We support the idea of drawing a road map for the Iraqi political process in order to establish a full- fledged government,'' he said. Bureau Report