Bush tells Iraqis America will stay until job is done
President Bush, left, shakes hands with U.S. Army General George Casey, before Bush spoke at the U.S. Embassy on Tuesday in Baghdad. Associated Press
Jun 14, 2006
Last updated on May 12, 2016 at 03:19 a.m.
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) – President Bush told Iraq’s new leader in a surprise face-to-face visit on Tuesday that the fate of his war-scarred country is in Iraq’s own hands – and was pressed in turn not to withdraw U.S. troops too quickly.
“There’s a worry almost to a person that we will leave before they are capable of defending themselves,” Bush said as he flew back to the United States after his long-distance trip to meet with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
“And I assured them that they didn’t need to worry,” Bush said. “They are counting on us to continue to take the lead until such time as they are ready to take the lead.”
Bush said that top U.S. military and policy officials would sit down with Iraqi officials in the days ahead “and devise a way forward.” The president also said he would step up pressure on other world leaders to do more to help Iraq.
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“I am going to call these leaders again and remind them that a stable and secure Iraq is part of a stable and secure Middle East,” Bush said.
In a secret mission designed to both showcase U.S. support for the new unity government and to ease war concerns at home, the president said the United States would stand by the new government as it works to achieve stability.
“When America gives its word, it keeps its word,” Bush said.
At the same time, he emphasized that Iraq must control its own destiny.
“The decisions you and your cabinet make will be determinate as to whether or not a country succeeds that can govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself,” he told al-Maliki.
Bush’s trip comes at a time when many Democrats – and some in his own party – are calling for a substantial number of American troops to be brought home by the end of this year.
War anxiety has been the driving force behind Bush’s plunge in the polls and a cause of Republican distress about holding control of Congress in the November mid-tem elections.
Bush spent just more than 5 1/2 hours in Baghdad. It was his second unannounced visit in the three-year war. He met with American troops at Thanksgiving 2003 in a visit confined to the airport and limited to several hours.
