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Wizdom
17-06-06, 19:48
Bush urges nations to keep Iraq pledges
Sat Jun 17, 2006 11:07am ET


CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) - President George W. Bush on Saturday urged other nations to make good on $13 billion in pledges to help the new Baghdad government and said the United States had come too far to abandon Iraq now.

Bush, who is keen to show progress even as polls say a majority of Americans think the 2003 invasion was a mistake, laid out an ambitious agenda for U.S. assistance, including helping the Iraqis increase oil and electricity production by working to protect pipelines from attack.

He said coalition transition teams would continue to be embedded in Iraqi army and police units and the United States would help the new Iraqi ministers of defense and interior improve command and control, root out corruption and investigate and punish human rights violations.


And he promised U.S. support for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's efforts to rein in militias and build a judicial system.

"It is vital for the Iraqi people to know with certainty that America will not abandon them after we have come this far," Bush said in his weekly radio address from his ranch in Crawford, Texas. "The challenges that remain in Iraq are serious."

He called on other countries to step up to the plate.

"We will encourage other nations to fulfill the monetary pledges they have already made to help the new Iraqi government succeed," Bush said. The international community promised about $13 billion, but so far only about $3 billion has been paid out.

U.S. diplomats will go to Asia, Europe and the Middle East to prod donors, some of whom fear their money will be used for security rather than reconstruction.

'DETERMINED ENEMIES'

Bush said that as Iraq made progress in the political, economic and security areas, the international community in return would provide Iraq with "more robust" political and economic support.

Although the deadly and unpopular war has helped sink his poll numbers to the lowest level of his presidency, Bush gave no hint of any imminent drawdown of the 129,000 U.S. troops in Iraq despite domestic political pressure to do so before crucial congressional elections in November.

"We face determined enemies who remain intent on killing the innocent, and defeating these enemies will require more sacrifice and the continued patience of our country," he said.


The number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq reached 2,500 this week, more than three years into a conflict that finds U.S.-led forces locked in a struggle with a resilient Sunni Arab insurgency, including al Qaeda.

Bush has refused to set a deadline for withdrawing American troops, saying it depends on the performance of Iraqi forces.

Some Democrats have demanded U.S. forces be pulled out soon.

"At the earliest practicable time, the United States must begin the responsible redeployment of its troops, and the Iraqis must assume the burden of defending their own country," said Nancy Pelosi, the top Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives.

With the mounting cost of the war in lives, money and the U.S. reputation abroad, Americans were insisting on a new direction in Iraq, the California congresswoman said in the Democratic radio address. "We must change the course."