Bush sees no timetable for US withdrawal from Iraq
17/1/2005 11:33
US President George W. Bush said the US military would pull out of Iraq
"as quickly as possible," but set no timetable for the withdrawal, according to
the Washington Post Sunday.
"American troops will be leaving as quickly as
possible, but they won't be leaving until we have completed our mission," Bush
said in a wide-ranging interview with the Post aboard Air Force One on
Friday.
In the interview, Bush twice declined to endorse Secretary of State
Colin Powell's recent statement that the member of Americans serving in Iraq
could be reduced by year's end.
Bush said it is premature to judge how many
US men and women will be needed to defeat the insurgency and plant a new and
sustainable government in Iraq. He also declined to pledge to significantly
reduce US troop levels before the end of his second term in January
2009.
"The sooner the Iraqis are..better prepared, better equipped to fight,
the sooner our troops can start coming home," he said.
A new report released
last week by US intelligence agencies warned that the war in Iraq has created a
training ground for terrorists. Bush called the report "somewhat speculative"
but acknowledged "this could happen."
There are currently about 150,000 US
troops in Iraq, including some 12,000 soldiers added to boost security in the
country before the elections on Jan. 30.
Xinhua News
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