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Bush rejects timetable for Iraq pullout
19.11.2005
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PUSAN, South
Korea - U.S. President George W. Bush rejected
critics calling for a timetable for withdrawing U.S.
troops from Iraq on Saturday, vowing "we will stay
in the fight" until victory.
Bush's remarks amounted to a response to a hawkish
Democrat, Pennsylvania Rep. John Murtha, who on
Thursday urged the administration to pull out U.S.
forces as soon as it could be done safely,
estimating it would take about six months.
In excerpts of a speech he was to deliver to U.S.
troops at Osan Air Base in South Korea, Bush quoted
a top U.S. commander in Iraq, Major General William
Webster, who said setting a deadline for withdrawal
would be "a recipe for disaster." |
US President W. George Bush J.
Photo: White House |
"And as long as I am the commander-in-chief, our
strategy in Iraq will be driven by the sober
judgment of our military commanders on the ground.
So we will fight the terrorists in Iraq, and we will
stay in the fight until we have achieved the victory
our brave troops have fought and bled for," he said.
After attending the final session of the
Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit,
Bush was to speak in Osan then fly to Beijing for
talks on Sunday with Chinese President Hu Jintao.
He is on a week-long, four-nation Asia trip that
started in Japan and ends on Monday in Mongolia.
Throughout the trip he and his aides have fought a
rear-guard action trying to deflect criticism from
Democrats about the war and whether the
administration manipulated intelligence to justify
it.
In Beijing, Bush will attend Sunday church services
to show he believes China should allow religious
freedoms and urge Hu to take steps to open up
markets.
MEETS INDONESIAN PRESIDENT
Before attending the last APEC sessions, Bush met
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.
The crossfire between Bush and Democrats over the
Iraq war has grown increasingly bitter in recent
days with the White House likening one Democrat to
Bush's arch-critic, liberal moviemaker Michael
Moore.
But officials said Bush in his speech would steer
clear of responding to Democrats who have accused
him and others in his administration of hyping
intelligence to justify the Iraq war.
Some Democrats, and some Republicans, have been
demanding Bush set a timetable for a withdrawal,
such as six months to a year. But Bush is sticking
to a policy that U.S. troops will remain until
Iraqis are trained to defend themselves and that to
set a timetable would send a wrong signal to the
enemy.
"In Washington there are some who say that the
sacrifice is too great, and they urge us to set a
date for withdrawal before we have completed our
mission," Bush said. "Those who are in the fight
know better."
Democrats say Bush lacks a clear plan for victory in
a war that has cost more than 2,000 American lives.
The White House had a blistering response to Murtha
on Thursday.
"It is baffling that he is endorsing the policy
positions of Michael Moore and the extreme liberal
wing of the Democratic Party," said White House
spokesman Scott McClellan.
Presidential counselor Dan Bartlett defended the
attack on Murtha by saying even some Democrats
appeared uncomfortable with his position.
"He has come to a conclusion that puts him at the
extreme side of ... his party that is fairly vocally
represented by the likes of Michael Moore," he said.
A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll this week said 63
percent of Americans oppose Bush's handling of the
Iraq war, and 52 percent say troops should be pulled
out now or within 12 months.
Reuters
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