Bush says Iraq pullout would be wrong
(AP)
Updated: 2005-08-12 18:21

President Bush, acknowledging that some families of U.S. soldiers serving in Iraq want to bring the troops home now, believes that would be a big mistake, the Associated Press reported.

President Bush, joined at right by senior members of his administration, talks to reporters after meeting on defense and foreign policy issues at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, Thursday, Aug. 11, 2005. [AP]

"Pulling the troops out would send a terrible signal to the enemy," he said.

Speaking to reporters at his ranch, the president noted that the United States sent more soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan before elections and was considering doing so again before another round of Iraqi elections in December.

Reports that the Pentagon may increase or decrease troop levels in Iraq next year were simply "speculation and rumors," he said between meetings Thursday with his military and foreign affairs advisers.

Gen. George Casey, the top commander in Iraq, has said repeatedly that "fairly substantial" reductions were expected after the election if the political process stayed on track, if the insurgency did not expand and if the training of Iraqi security forces proceeded as planned.

Bush said he would make any decision to remove troops based on recommendations by Casey, who gave a briefing by videolink during the president's ranch meeting with advisers.

"My position has been clear, and therefore, the position of this government is clear," Bush said. "Obviously, the conditions on the ground depend upon our capacity to bring troops home."

The president said Casey reported that Iraqi security units were becoming more capable, although he acknowledged they were not ready to work alone without support from U.S. forces. He described the Iraqis' progress as improving from "raw recruit" to "plenty capable."

"I know it's hard for some Americans to see that progress," Bush said. "But we are making progress."

As for bringing the troops home, the president said he had "heard the voices of those saying, `Pull out now.'"

"I've thought about their cry and their sincere desire to reduce the loss of life by pulling our troops out. I just strongly disagree," he said.

Bush spoke as a California mother, Cindy Sheehan, sat on the road outside his ranch with a growing group of war protesters. Sheehan's son, Casey, was killed five days after he arrived in Iraq last year at age 24.

Sheehan began her standoff on Saturday, declaring she would stay for the entire month that Bush plans to stay in Texas if he won't meet with her. Since then, dozens of other activists have joined her, including at least three other parents who have lost children in the war, although the protesters began facing increased antagonism Thursday from locals and opposition from other military families.

"The president says he feels compassion for me, but the best way to show that compassion is by meeting with me and the other mothers and families who are here," Sheehan said. "All we're asking is that he sacrifice an hour out of his five-week vacation to talk to us, before the next mother loses her son in Iraq."

An AP-Ipsos poll early this month showed just 38 percent of respondents approved of Bush's handling of Iraq. More than 1,840 members of the U.S. military have died since the beginning of the war in March 2003

"I sympathize with Mrs. Sheehan," Bush said. "She feels strongly about her position. She has every right in the world to say what she believes. This is America."

The White House put out an accounting of all the meetings that Bush has had with families of the war dead — 900 relatives of 272 people who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sheehan met the president in June 2004 but said she deserves another visit since there have been so many revelations about faulty pre-war intelligence since then.

On Friday, Bush was to turn from policy to politics. He was scheduled to visit a neighbor's ranch for a barbecue where he was to help raise a couple million dollars for the GOP just by showing up.

The fundraiser for some 230 people at Stan and Kathy Hickey's Broken Spoke Ranch, a 478-acre spread next to Bush's ranch, was expected to raise at least $2 million for the Republican National Committee, according to RNC spokeswoman Tracey Schmitt.