WASHINGTON, May 1 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush termed last week's trip to Iraq by high-ranking U.S. officials as a mission linking Iraq and the United States as partners in peace.
Bush met Monday with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who were in Iraq last week to meet with leaders of the new Iraqi government.
Bush said the Cabinet officials described the new Iraqi leaderships as "optimistic people," "Full of energy and they're very eager to succeed."
Bush said the message Rice and Rumsfeld relayed to Baghdad was his assurance the United States would continue to support efforts to get Iraqi security forces in place, the need to rebuild the infrastructure and strength Iraq's economy and "to make sure that all Iraqis share in the benefits of this new democracy."
"This nation of ours and our coalition partners are going to work with the new leadership to strengthen our mutual efforts to achieve success, a victory in this war on terror," the president said.
"We believe this is a turning point for the Iraqi citizens and it's a new chapter in our partnership."
