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Success will drive troop levels, Bush says


Published: March 27, 2008 at 12:11 PM
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DAYTON, Ohio, March 27 (UPI) -- Ensuring success in Iraq will help drive any decision on future troop levels in that country, U.S. President George Bush said in Dayton, Ohio, Thursday.

"I will always remember that the progress in Iraq is real, it's substantive, but it is reversible," Bush told a largely military audience at the U.S. Air Force museum. "And so the principle behind my decision on our troop levels will be ensuring that we succeed in Iraq."

Bush said his administration also hopes to complete a "long-term strategic partnership" with Iraq "in the coming months."

The administration says the pact doesn't need congressional approval, while congressional leaders say it does.

"This partnership would help assure Iraqis that political and economic and security cooperation between our nations will endure," Bush said, as well as ensure protection for U.S. troops when the U.N. mandate for multinational forces expires in December.

"(This) partnership would not bind future presidents to specific troop levels," said Bush, addressing concerns raised about the agreement. "This partnership would not establish permanent bases in Iraq."

The Iraqi people "have chosen to stand with America against our common enemies, and it's in our interest that we stand with them," he said.

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United States President George W. Bush meets with King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa of Bahrain (note shown) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday, March 25, 2008. (UPI Photo/Ron Sachs/Pool)
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