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Bush and Blair seek global support for Iraqi government

Posted on: Thursday, 25 May 2006, 19:08 CDT

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Tony Blair said on Thursday it was the duty of the entire international community, as well as Britain and the United States, to support the new Iraqi government.

Blair and President Bush, giving a joint news conference after talks at the White House, also declined to set timetables for the withdrawal of American and British troops from Iraq.

Both leaders acknowledged the decision to invade Iraq in 2003 had been divisive, but agreed it was time to look to the future now that the Iraqis had gone to the polls and freely elected a new government.

"It is our duty, but it is also the duty of the whole international community to get behind this government and support it," Blair said.

Both Bush and Blair have seen their poll numbers plummet in part because of the increasingly unpopular and deadly war in Iraq and are under pressure to bring home some of their troops.

Iraq's new prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, said his forces were capable of taking control of security within 18 months, but that he needed more recruits, training and equipment.

"First of all, we're going to work with our partners in Iraq, the new government, to determine the best way forward in achieving an objective, which is an Iraq that can govern itself and sustain itself and defend itself," Bush said.

The leaders declined to set a timetable for the withdrawal of U.S. and British troops from Iraq. There are now about 132,000 U.S. troops and 8,000 British troops in the country.

Source: REUTERS

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