Bush and Maliki agree to speed up transfer of security responsibility

US President George Bush said today that he and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki agreed to speed a turnover of security responsibility to Iraqi forces but pledged US troops will remain in Iraq as long as needed to strengthen the prime minister’s authority.

“One of his frustrations with me is that he believes that we’ve been slow about giving him the tools necessary to protect the Iraqi people,” Bush said. “Today we had a meeting that will accelerate the capacity for the prime minister to do the hard work necessary to help stop this violence.”