Bush: No decision yet on troop reduction in Iraq

US President George Bush said today he has made no decision on withdrawing more US troops from Iraq, and if his top commander did not want to go beyond the reduction of forces already planned, “that’s fine with me”.

“The only thing I can tell you is we’re on track for what we’ve said was going to happen,” Bush said, referring to plans to withdraw some 30,000 troops from Iraq by July.

He spoke at Camp Arifjan, a sprawling, dusty brown US military base in Kuwait and home to 9,000 American troops.

Bush said the additional troops he ordered to Iraq a year ago had turned the country into a place where “hope is returning”.

He predicted a US force presence in Iraq that would long outlast his presidency.

“We must do all we can to ensure that 2008 will bring even greater progress,” Bush told reporters.

He said long-term success in Iraq was vital to stability in the Middle East, and warned that the US should not turn its back on its friends.

Bush maintained his long-held stance that a further reduction in force levels would depend on conditions in Iraq, and that he would defer to the top US commander there, General David Petraeus, who is scheduled to make a recommendation in March.

“My attitude is if he didn’t want to continue the drawdown, that’s fine with me,” Bush said.

US Ambassador to Iraq Ryan Crocker is also due to give Congress a new update on the war in March.

After their report in September, Bush announced he would withdraw some troops from Iraq by July – essentially the 30,000 sent as part of a buildup ordered a year ago – but still keep the US level there at about 130,000.

The war remains deeply unpopular to the US public and to Democratic leaders in Congress, who have been unable to force Bush’s hand on troop withdrawals.

US commanders credit a Sunni backlash against al-Qaida in Iraq with helping reduce violence over the past six months. But devastating attacks persist even as Iraqi casualties are down by 55% nationwide since June 2007.

Bush said he and his top general did not talk about specific troop levels. Instead, Bush said they discussed the parameters for continuing to assess the situation leading into the March report, including Bush’s edict that “any position he recommends needs to be based upon success”.

“That’s what happened the last time,” he said. “It’s that same principle that’s going to guide my decision. I made that clear to the general.”

He defended his decision a year ago to order a buildup of troops to Iraq.

“The new way forward I announced a year ago changed our approach in fundamental ways,” he said. “Iraq is now a different place from one year ago.”

Bush also defended the progress made by the central government in Baghdad, which has lagged in passing legislative reforms seen as key to damping down the sectarian violence that still plagues the country and hampers other progress.

“What they’ve gone through to where they are now is good progress,” Bush said, adding it still was not enough.

“I’m not making excuses for the government,” he added. “They have got more work to do.”

Bush’s comments came during an eight-day trip to the region, as he pivoted from Middle East peacemaking to the war that has defined his presidency.

Afterwards, Bush gave about five minutes of thank-you remarks to cheering troops at the base.

“It’s hard work that you’re doing. But it’s necessary work,” the president told them. “There is no doubt in my mind that we will succeed. There is no doubt in my mind that when history is written, the final page will say, ’Victory was achieved by the US of America for the good of the world’.”

Kuwait is the first of five Arab countries on Mr Bush’s itinerary aimed at pressing them to support Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas in any deal he strikes with Israel.

Bush earlier held two days of talks in Israel and the Palestinian-governed West Bank.

Bush will notify Congress on Monday of his intention to sell $20bn (€13.5bn) in weapons, including precision-guided bombs, to Saudi Arabia, a senior official said in Washington.

Arriving at the airport in Kuwait, the president got a ceremonial red-carpet welcome and was presented with a bouquet of flowers. But he saw nothing like the torrent of public adulation showered on his father in a visit 15 years ago.

The tiny, oil-rich nation was invaded by Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and liberated by a US-led war ordered by Bush’s father in 1991. Now, Kuwait is a major hub for US troops and equipment deployed to Iraq.

At a palace surrounded by palm trees, Bush met the emir, Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah.

He told Bush he was delighted to have him in Kuwait. “We are equally delighted to see you working on issues that are very important to all of us here,” Sheikh Sabah said. It was not clear what issues he meant.

Like other Gulf Arab nations, Kuwait is nervous about tensions between the US and Iran, and uneasy with the rise of Tehran. Kuwaitis also fear sectarian violence in Iraq could spill over their border.