Bush acknowledges tough going in Iraq

12.00pm

President George W. Bush has acknowledged the United States faced "tough" going in Iraq but he insisted elections will be held in January and that US troops will come home when the country is on a path to democracy.

Bush, at a campaign event, spoke at length about the occupation in an apparent response to a withering attack from Democrat John Kerry who accused Bush of "living in a fantasy world of spin" and failing to tell the truth about chaos and violence in Iraq.

Bush, who has always avoided talking about when US troops might come home, was a bit more expansive on Friday amid mounting US casualties and efforts by the US military to train Iraqis for their own army and police.

"Once we get these folks trained and get them on the path of building a democracy, our folks are coming home, for the honor they earned," Bush said.

He again defended his decision to go to war despite the failure to find weapons of mass destruction. He spoke of the search for these weapons in the past tense, after holding out hope for months they might be found some day.

Officials said yesterday that a draft report by the top US weapons inspector in Iraq, Charles Duelfer, concluded that no stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction would be found but that there was evidence Saddam Hussein had intended to resurrect weapons programmes.

"We didn't find the stockpiles we thought we would find, the stockpiles that everybody thought was there. But I do know, that he had the capability of making those weapons, and he could've passed that capability on to an enemy ... Knowing what I know today, I would've made the same decision," Bush said.

A CIA report prepared for Bush in July, and which leaked out this week, cited a worst-case scenario of a slide into civil war and said the most optimistic outlook involved continued instability and security concerns, according to officials who have seen it.

Suicide car bombings have taken a deadly toll in Iraq this week and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan cast doubt on whether elections could go ahead as planned in January because of the security situation.

"We're making progress, we're making progress," Bush said. "It's tough, of course it's tough, because there are killers there who are trying to shake our will and shake the will of the Iraqis. It's tough on the Iraqi citizens," Bush said.

He added: "There will be free elections in Iraq in January ... People want to vote. People want to participate."

Bush, preparing to speak to the UN General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, also said Iraqi Prime Minister Iyad Allawi will be in Washington next week to give a speech to a joint session of Congress and to meet him at the White House.

"I'm looking forward to the American people hearing him. It's important that we hear from someone there on the ground who believes that (the Iraqi) people want to be free," he said.

Bush was campaigning in the home state of Kerry's running mate John Edwards. Bush advisers felt confident the state would stick with Bush despite the Edwards connection, pointing to polls showing Bush with a solid lead.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq