WORLD
SYDNEY, Australia – President
Bush vigorously defended his troop
buildup in Iraq on Wednesday and
got a boost when Australian Prime
Minister John Howard said his
country’s forces there won’t change
for the foreseeable future.
“Our commitment to Iraq remains,”
pledged Howard, one of Bush’s few
remaining staunch war allies. “This
is not the time for any proposals of
a scaling down of Australian forces.”
The two men spoke at a news conference.
Bush, his voice rising before he
had even been asked a question about
the war, spoke forcefully about the
30,000 additional American troops
he sent to Iraq this year. His decision
raised troop levels in Iraq to about
160,000.
“If I didn’t think we could succeed,
I wouldn’t have our troops there,”
he said.
Bush said it was important “that
we hang in there with the Iraqis and
help them.”
Bush made a surprise, eight-hour
stop in Iraq on the way to Australia
and filled Howard in on what he
learned. As he does with U.S. lawmakers
and coalition partners around the
world, he urged that decisions about
troops be based on conditions on the
ground rather than internal politics.
Bush returns to Washington
this weekend ahead of an expected
showdown with war opponents on
Capitol Hill, kicked off next week
with testimony from the top U.S.
commander and diplomat in Iraq and
their expected release of a progress
report on the fighting.
Administration officials said Gen.
David Petraeus, the top U.S. commander
in Iraq, and Ambassador
Ryan Crocker are recommending
that Bush stand by his current war
strategy. The offi cials also said the
president is unlikely to order more
than a symbolic cut in troops before
the end of the year.
Bush’s troop increase will end, by
default, in April or May, when one of
the added brigades is slated to leave,
unless Bush makes other changes to
hold the number steady.
In Iraq on Monday, Bush met
with Iraqi government and Sunni
tribal leaders, U.S. troops and their
commanders at a military base in the
heart of Anbar province, once rife
with Sunni insurgents.
