President Bush delivers remarks on the
fourth anniversary of the Iraq War, from the Roosevelt Room of the White
House in Washington, March 19, 2007. (Xinhua/Reuters photo) Gallery>>>
WASHINGTON, March 19 (Xinhua) -- With the Iraq war
entering its fifth year, U.S. President George W. Bush on Monday asked the
American people for patience with the war.
"The new strategy will need more time to take effect.
And there will be good days and there will be bad days ahead as the security
plan unfolds," Bush said in remarks marking the fourth anniversary of the war.
The president announced a plan in January of sending
over 20,000 additional U.S. combat troops to Iraq, to help quell violence in the
Iraqi capital, Baghdad, and Anbar Province.
At present, the "most important mission" for the
United States was to help the Iraqis secure their capital, he said.
"Until Baghdad's citizens feel secure in their own
homes and neighborhoods, it will be difficult for Iraqis to make further
progress toward political reconciliation or economic rebuilding --steps
necessary for Iraq to build a democratic society," he said.
The Iraqi government, with U.S. help, was carrying
out an aggressive plan to secure Baghdad, and the United States was continuing
to train the Iraqi security forces so that they could ultimately take full
responsibility for the security of their own people, he said.
The administration's plan to bring security to
Baghdad was till "in its early stages and success will take months, not days or
weeks," said the president.
"I want to stress that this operation is still in the
early stages; still in the beginning stages. Fewer than half of the troop
reinforcements we are sending have arrived in Baghdad," he said.
"It could be tempting to look at the challenges in
Iraq and conclude our best option is to pack up and go home. That may be
satisfying in the short run, but I believe the consequences for American
security would be devastating," he said.
Bush's plan of more troops for Iraq has met strong
resistance from Democrats.
In February, the House passed a nonbinding resolution
that opposes the Bush administration's plan to increase the number of troops in
Iraq, and in early March, House Democrats introduced legislation that would have
U.S. combat troops out of Iraq by August 2008.
NEW YORK, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of protestors
marched to the UN headquarters in Manhattan, New York, on Sunday to call for an
end to the Iraq war and no military attacks on Iran on the eve of the fourth
anniversary of the U.S. preemptive strike on Baghdad.
"As everyone has seen, war does not resolve problems,"
said Leslie Kielson, a member of United for Peace and Justice (UFPJ), an
anti-war nongovernmental organization which called the demonstration. "Thousands
of Iraqis were killed and U.S. soldiers were dying," she said.
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