Bush: U.S. In Iraq Till ‘Job is Done’

U.S. troops will stay in Iraq until the job is done and Iraq is democratic and stable, U.S. President George Bush said at the Pentagon.

We’re not going to give up, Bush said in a Wednesday news conference after discussing the Iraq situation with senior military leaders. The stakes are too high and the consequences too grave to turn Iraq over to extremists who want to do the American people and the Iraqi people harm.

The president said he would not be rushed into changing his strategy for Iraq.

I also want the new secretary of Defense to have time to evaluate the situation, so he can provide serious and deliberate advice to me, Bush said.

Bush also said he thought the military alone could not resolve the Iraq crisis.

Our military needs a political strategy that is effective, he said.

Bush pledged to work with the new, Democratic-controlled Congress on Iraq, but said leaving Iraq too soon would hand that country over to an enemy that would do us harm, which he said was demonstrated Sept. 11, 2001.