WASHINGTON — President Bush said Tuesday that U.S. troops would remain in Iraq beyond his presidency, a message that could complicate his effort to reassure an increasingly skittish public that the military deployment is not open-ended.
The complete withdrawal of U.S. troops "of course is an objective, and that will be decided by future presidents and future governments of Iraq," Bush said at a White House news conference that was dominated by questions about Iraq. The president had not previously stated that the military role would continue beyond the end of his second term, on Jan. 20, 2009, a White House spokesman said.
It was the fourth consecutive day that Bush commented publicly about Iraq, a communications offensive that comes as polls show rising pessimism about the war there and the president's approval rating falling to new lows.
"There will be more tough fighting ahead," Bush said. But, he added, "if I didn't believe we could succeed, I wouldn't be there. I wouldn't put those kids there."
The president also echoed statements by other administration officials that Iraq was not in a state of civil war despite the sectarian divisions between Shiite and Sunni Muslims that have grown increasingly violent. On Sunday, Iyad Allawi, the former Iraqi interim prime minister who has been an ally of Bush, said he believed that Iraq was in a civil war.
Referring to the spasms of violence that shook Iraq after the Golden Mosque, a Shiite shrine in Samarra, was destroyed a month ago amid sectarian conflict, Bush said: "This is a moment where the Iraqis had a chance to fall apart, and they didn't. And that's a positive development.
"The Iraqis took a look and decided not to go to civil war," he said. "The army didn't bust up into sectarian divisions. The army stayed united."
In addition, he said, religious leaders denounced violence, and political leaders representing different factions committed themselves to a unified government.
The news conference was the president's second this year. He is scheduled to speak again on the Iraq war today during a trip to West Virginia.
Speaking energetically, Bush on Tuesday turned nearly every question on Iraq into a megaphone for his latest message on the war: that he understands Americans' concerns about its progress and cost, but that it must be fought to deny terrorists an Iraqi base from which they could attack the United States. Bush also said that despite the violent images coming from Iraq, U.S. troops and Iraqi allies were succeeding against the insurgents.
