Bush urges Americans be patient with Iraq

By Steve Holland

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President George W. Bush urged
Americans on Wednesday to be patient as Iraq prepares for its
election and vowed he will not be swayed by critics demanding a
quick U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq.

In the last in a series of four speeches in two weeks
laying out his Iraq strategy, Bush again accepted
responsibility for faulty intelligence pointing to weapons of
mass destruction in Iraq that he used as the foundation for his
decision to go to war in 2003.

Bush dismissed Democratic calls for a phased U.S. pullout
as a “recipe for disaster” because it would send the wrong
message to U.S. troops, Iraqis and al Qaeda.

It would tell the troops, he said, that the United States
was “abandoning the mission they are risking their lives to
achieve, and that the sacrifice of their comrades killed in
this struggle has been in vain.”

Bush has used the series of speeches to try to explain his
administration’s strategy amid a drumbeat of criticism from
Democrats who say he does not have a plan and wide public
disapproval of his handling of the war.

The White House hopes a successful election on Thursday
will be a symbolic blow to the insurgency and boost the
confidence of Americans, giving Bush more time to pursue his
goal of training Iraqi security forces before reducing U.S.
troop levels.

Bush asked for patience from Americans to give Iraqis time
to form their new government after the election. After the
vote, he said, there will be “days of uncertainty” and the
winners may not be clear until the early part of January.

“It’s going to take a while. It’s also going to take a
while for them to form a government. The work ahead will
require patience of the Iraqi people and require our patience
as well,” he said.

Bush wants a smooth election to counter daily news of
suicide bombings and the deaths of U.S. troops — more than
2,100 U.S. troops have died since the start of the U.S.-led
invasion in March 2003 — that have soured the American public
on the war.

BUSH DEFENDS WAR DECISION

He said the war was Saddam Hussein’s fault because he
ignored the demands of the international community.

“It is true that much of the intelligence turned out to be
wrong. As president I am responsible for the decision to go
into Iraq, and I am also responsible for fixing what went wrong
by reforming our intelligence capabilities and we’re doing just
that,” he said.

But he called the decision to topple Saddam the right one.

“Saddam was a threat,” said Bush, adding that Americans and
the world are better off because he is no longer in power.

Before he spoke, 40 Senate Democrats and independent
Vermont Sen. James Jeffords urged Bush to offer a plan that
“identifies the remaining political, economic, and military
benchmarks that must be met and a reasonable schedule to
achieve them” to get Iraq on its feet and allow for a phased
redeployment of U.S. troops.

“He hasn’t leveled with the American people or laid out a
strategy for success. He continues to say, ‘stay the course,”‘
said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat.

Bush and other top administration officials met on Tuesday
with a group of House of Representative Democrats to talk about
the Iraq strategy.

The president is facing both low popularity ratings and
waning American public support for the war — with critics
questioning the reasons for the war and asking when Bush will
start bringing home the nearly 160,000 U.S. troops there.

Top members of the House of Representatives subcommittee
that oversees the defense budget said they heard the Pentagon
would seek another $80 billion to $100 billion for the Iraq war
next year, although they said the figure could change.

That would come on top of the $50 billion for the war
Congress was expected to approve in the next few days.

(Additional reporting by Tabassum Zakaria, Adam Entous and
Vicki Allen)