Bush upbeat about Iraq's ability to establish peace

US President George Bush, freshly home from a visit to Iraq, acknowledged today that violence in Iraq would never be completely eliminated.

“That’s not going to happen,” he told a news conference at the White House.

But Bush also said that Iraqi and coalition forces were stepping up their activities against insurgents, in part by using new intelligence gathered in raids following the killing of top Iraqi terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi last week.

He said an expectation of “zero violence” was unreasonable. “Obviously we would like violence to go down,” Bush said.

He said that a crackdown ordered by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki that began today, which includes more police and more checkpoints, was intended to decrease violence.

Bush declined yet again to suggest a timetable for bringing home the some 130,000 troops now in Iraq.

“If we stand down too soon, it won’t enable us to achieve our objectives,” the president said.

He said the withdrawal of US and coalition forces would depend on how well the Iraqi people accept Maliki’s new unity government.

Bush said enough American forces would remain in Iraq for the government to succeed.

On another subject, Bush was asked about three suicides last week among terror suspects being held at the US prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

“I’d like to close Guantanamo. I also recognise that we’re holding some people that are darn dangerous,” he said. “Eventually, these people will have trials and they will have counsel.”

Human rights organisations and many foreign leaders have urged the US to shut down the prison.

“I was inspired to be able to visit the capital of a free and Democratic Iraq,” Bush said of his unannounced visit to Iraq yesterday, in which he spent just over five-and-a-half hours in the capital.

Of his meeting Maliki, Bush said: “I saw first hand the strength of his character and his deep determination to succeed.

“Iraqi and coalition forces are still on the offence.”

He cited raids of suspected terrorist targets. “We got new intelligence from those raids which will enable us to keep the pressure on the foreigners and the local Iraqis who are killing innocent lives,” he said.

“We’ll seize this moment of opportunity to help the prime minister,” Bush added.

Responding to growing pressure at home to bring back a substantial number of US troops, Bush said an exit strategy would continue to be driven by “events on the ground.”

Several proposals were before Congress to speed up a withdrawal of US troops, including one by Senator John Kerry, Bush’s 2004 election rival, to withdraw US combat troops from Iraq by year’s end.

“Pulling out too soon will make the world a more dangerous place. It’s bad policy,” Bush said.

“My message to the enemy is, don’t count on us leaving before we succeed,” Bush said.

As to war critics, Bush said: “My message to the critics is, we listen very carefully, and we adjust when needed to adjust.”