US President George W. Bush said Tuesday that he would send additional forces to Iraq if they were needed there.

Bush made the remark at a televised news conference at the White House Tuesday night.

The number of US troops in Iraq would be determined by the ground situation there, he said.

There are currently about 130,000 US soldiers serving in Iraq, but some of them are scheduled to rotate out the country as their term expires this spring.

US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld is expected to order up to20,000 American troops now preparing to rotate out of Iraq to remain there for as long as three more months to help combat the current surge of violence, a news report said Tuesday.

Source: Xinhua