Bush rejects timetable for Iraq pullout

BUSAN, South Korea - US President George W. Bush has rejected critics calling for a timetable for withdrawing US troops from Iraq, vowing "we will stay in the fight" until victory.

Bush's remarks amounted to a response to a hawkish Democrat, Pennsylvania Republican John Murtha, who on Thursday urged the administration to pull out US forces as soon as it could be done safely, estimating it would take about six months.

In excerpts of a speech he was to deliver to US troops at Osan Air Base in South Korea, Bush quoted a top US commander in Iraq, Major General William Webster, who said setting a deadline for withdrawal would be "a recipe for disaster".

"And as long as I am the commander-in-chief, our strategy in Iraq will be driven by the sober judgement of our military commanders on the ground. So we will fight the terrorists in Iraq, and we will stay in the fight until we have achieved the victory our brave troops have fought and bled for," he said.

After attending the final session of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, Bush was to speak in Osan then fly to Beijing for talks on Sunday with Chinese President Hu Jintao.

He is on a week-long, four-nation Asia trip that started in Japan and ends on Monday in Mongolia. Throughout the trip he and his aides have fought a rear-guard action trying to deflect criticism from Democrats about the war and whether the administration manipulated intelligence to justify it.

The crossfire between Bush and Democrats over the Iraq war has grown increasingly bitter in recent days with the White House likening one Democrat to Bush's arch-critic, liberal moviemaker Michael Moore.

But officials said Bush in his speech would steer clear of responding to Democrats who have accused him and others in his administration of hyping intelligence to justify the Iraq war.

Some Democrats, and some Republicans, have been demanding Bush set a timetable for a withdrawal, such as six months to a year. But Bush is sticking to a policy that US troops will remain until Iraqis are trained to defend themselves and that to set a timetable would send a wrong signal to the enemy.

"In Washington there are some who say that the sacrifice is too great, and they urge us to set a date for withdrawal before we have completed our mission," Bush said. "Those who are in the fight know better."

Democrats say Bush lacks a clear plan for victory in a war that has cost more than 2,000 American lives.

A CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll this week said 63 per cent of Americans oppose Bush's handling of the Iraq war, and 52 per cent say troops should be pulled out now or within 12 months.

- REUTERS