US President George W. Bush and visiting British Prime Minister
Tony Blair, at a joint press conference held after their talks in
the White House on Thursday, vowed to keep US and British troops in
Iraq until the new Iraqi government takes control.
Bush said that before the Iraqi government achieves the goal of
governing itself, sustaining itself and defending itself, the
United States will not withdraw its 130,000 troops.
Bush also declined to discuss reports saying that the Pentagon
hoped to reduce US troops in Iraq to about 100,000 by the end of
this year. It was just "speculation in the press," Bush said.
According to a report by the New York Times on May 23, senior
Pentagon officials spoke late last year of cutting American troops'
strength to about 100,000 by the end of this year, but senior Bush
administration officials, including Defense Secretary Donald
Rumsfeld, have backed away from such statements in recent
weeks.
For his part, Blair, who has just concluded a visit to Iraq on
Monday, said all the Iraqis he talked with during his stay wanted
the US-led coalition troops to remain in the country.
"Not a single one of the people I talked to, not one of the
political leaders, from whatever part of the spectrum in Iraq that
I talked to ... not one of them wanted us to pull out
precipitately. All of them wanted us to stick with it and see the
job done," Blair said.
Although Bush and Blair insisted on not withdrawing troops out
of Iraq, increasing domestic pressure has forced them to adjust US
and British troops roles in Iraq on one hand and make preparations
for future withdrawals on the other.
As the Iraq war has become more and more unpopular in both the
United States and Britain, the approval ratings of Bush and Blair
have plummeted. A New York Times/CBS News poll released on May 10
showed that Bush's approval rating hit a new low of 31 percent, the
lowest in his presidency. And Blair was no better. According to a
poll by the Daily Telegraph on May 10, Blair's approval rating was
only 26 percent, making Blair the least popular prime minister from
the Labor Party.
"As the new Iraqi government grows in confidence and capability,
America will play an increasingly supporting role," Bush said on
Wednesday, signaling a changing role for the US military in
Iraq.
Actually, the United States has been changing its tactics in
Iraq as Iraqi security forces now shoulder more and more security
responsibilities and American forces become less visible.
Moreover, Peter Schoolmaker, the Army Chief of Staff, said on
Thursday that he was planning for the possibility of maintaining
the current troop level in Iraq for the next two years, while
anticipating potential troop cuts.
On the other hand, British officials have said they expect all
foreign troops to be out of Iraq within four years. This has been
the firmest statement yet from Britain, the most staunch ally of
the United States in the Iraq war.
All this shows the dilemma both the United States and Britain
have been facing: on the one hand, they need to maintain enough
strength in Iraq to help the Iraqi government fight insurgents and
more importantly, to achieve its strategic objective in Iraq and in
the Middle East; on the other hand, they have to make preparations
for troop cuts because of increasing domestic pressure.
Both Bush and Blair admitted that the past three years after the
downfall of the Saddam Hussein regime had been difficult. It is
believed that the two staunch allies will still have to make the
more difficult choice of when to reduce troops, or when to
completely withdraw from Iraq in the future.
(Xinhua News Agency May 26, 2006)
