Struggling to maintain public support for his Iraq policy, President George W. Bush vowed yesterday US forces would not leave Iraq and said he never misled Americans about the difficulties of occupying the country.
During a subdued Rose Garden news conference, Mr Bush tempered his oft-stated refrain that major progress is being made in Iraq nearly six months after standing on the deck of the
USS Abraham Lincoln
and declaring major combat operations over.
"Iraq is dangerous, and it's dangerous because terrorists want us to leave, and we're not leaving," he said.
The president sought to drive home a "stay the course" message a day after suicide bombers drove carloads of explosives into five buildings around Baghdad, killing 35 people and wounding 230 in the bloodiest day since President Saddam Hussein was ousted in April.
The extent of the coordinated attacks stunned the White House as Mr Bush strove to maintain Americans' backing for keeping US forces in Iraq to create conditions for a democratic government and search for alleged weapons of mass destruction that the war was fought over and that have not been found.
Mr Bush, under fire from Democratic presidential candidates who said he needs to put forward a plan to stabilize Iraq, said the strategy for dealing with attacks was to increase security around potential targets with blockades and checkpoints and keep US strike forces ready.
"But as well, we've got to make sure that not only we harden targets but that we get actionable intelligence to intercept the missions before they begin. That means more Iraqis involved in the intelligence-gathering systems in their countries, so that they are active participants in securing the country from further harm," he said.
Mr Bush, who has complained in the past that foreign militants were crossing into Iraq from Syria and Iran to take up arms against US forces, said he expected those two countries to enforce border controls to stop infiltrators, but toned down his rhetoric against them.
"We're working closely with those countries to let them know that we expect them to enforce borders, prevent people from coming across borders if, in fact, we catch them doing that," he said.