Special Report: Tension accelerates in Iraq

Relared: Bush praises Olmert's West Bank plan
           U.S. not to withdraw troops from Iraq in near future
           Rice urges Iran to play positive role in Iraq

US President George W. Bush (R) and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert shake hands at the White House in Washington May 23, 2006. (Photo:

    WASHINGTON, May 23 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W. Bush said here on Tuesday that he will make a new assessment of Iraq's need for U.S. military help after the formation of Iraq's new government.

    Speaking to reporters after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Bush said that Americans should not judge what is happening in Iraq solely on the basis of the unrelenting violence, insisting that "we're making good progress" in Iraq.

    "We're now able to take a new assessment about the needs necessary for the Iraqis," Bush said, citing the establishment of Iraq's permanent unity government, even though some of its most important ministries have not been filled.

    However, with the reign of Iraq's new government, the Bush administration remains reluctant to talk about military withdrawal from Iraq.

    "We're not going to sort of look at our watches and say, oop, time to go," Snow said of the issue of troop withdrawals from Iraq at a news briefing on Tuesday.

    "We'll stay only as long as the Iraqi government wants us to stay there. But at this point, we are not going to harness ourselves to an artificial timetable."

    Bush, who has never offered timetable for American troops withdrawal from Iraq, said in a speech in Chicago on Monday: "As the new Iraqi government grows in confidence and capability, America will play an increasingly supporting role." Enditem