US Seeks More Foreign Troops for 'Changed Battle' in Iraq

Home>>World

Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, August 23, 2003

US Seeks More Foreign Troops for 'Changed Battle' in Iraq

United States President George W. Bush on Friday appealed for more foreign troops to join US forces in Iraq to fight what he called "a changed battle" against terrorism.

DISCUSSION

CHINESE

SEND TO FRIEND

United States President George W. Bush on Friday appealed for more foreign troops to join US forces in Iraq to fight what he called "a changed battle" against terrorism.

Speaking to reporters during a visit to Seattle, Bush said the battle in Iraq was becoming one against "al Qaida-type fighters."

The mission in Iraq had changed since the US-led troops ousted former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein in April, and "Iraq is turning out to be a continuing battle in the war on terrorism," Bush said.

He blamed the infiltration of "foreign element" into Iraq for the worsening security situation in Iraq, where more US troops have been killed than the death toll in the major military operations to oust Saddam.

"And these will be al Qaida-type fighters. They want to fight us there (in Iraq) because they can't stand the thought of a free society in the Middle East," Bush said.

"We do need and welcome more foreign troops into Iraq and there will be more foreign troops in Iraq," he said.

But he declined to promise to cede more authority to the United Nations despite the demand by countries such as France, Germany and Russia for a new UN mandate for troops to Iraq.

France, Germany and Russia had strongly opposed the US-led war against Iraq, which was launched without a UN mandate.

Bush said talks were underway on drafting a new UN resolution on Iraq, promising that the UN should have a "vital role."

Top US officials have said some of the fighters attacking US forces in Iraq are slipping across the border from Saudi Arabia, Iran and Syria.

Bush said adding more foreign troops to the occupation force in Iraq would increase the ability to protect the Iraqi infrastructure and help US forces take the battle to their enemies." That will help free up our hunter teams," he said.

The United States has about 139,000 soldiers in Iraq along with another 24,000 troops from some 30 other countries. US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said he saw no need to send more US troops to Iraq.

Bush was on a two-day trip to the northwestern states of Washington and Oregon, with the aim of focusing on domestic issues and wooing voters as part of his reelection campaign in 2004.

Up to 500 drum-banging demonstrators staged a protest in Seattle Friday to express their anger about the war against Iraq and the government's economic and environmental policies.

"Bush lies, people die," chanted demonstrators as Bush was heading for a fund-raising party at the home of a cell phone mogul in a plush neighborhood.

Defending his economic plan during the tour of the economically-stricken area, Bush said he had cut taxes and the deficit will be cut by half over five years if the Congress keeps a check on "discretionary spending."

In Burbank, the president toured Ice Harbor Lock and Dam on the Snake River, getting a look at how adult and juvenile salmon make their way up and down the waterway without getting killed by the hydroelectric generation system.

Environmentalists have been fighting a long-running battle against businesses to save salmon, demanding that four dams on the Snake River be removed. But business interests insist that dams and fish can coexist, a position backed by Bush.

"We got an energy problem in America," Bush said, referring to the recent widespread outages in the Northwest. "We don't need to be breaching any dams that are producing electricity. And we won't."

Questions?Comments? Click here

US Bids to Involve More Nations in Iraq: Newspaper

US Conducts Land-based Missile Test ( 2 Messages)

Chinese Personages Appeal to Japan to Face up to History ( 2 Messages)

Disgraced Official Highlights Chinks in System ( 3 Messages)

Beijing's Economy Forecast to Grow 9-10 Percent in 2003 ( 2 Messages)

China Puts New Anti-AIDS Drug in Clinical Use ( 2 Messages)