Conservatives see tough year in 2008

WASHINGTON, July 25 (UPI) -- U.S. President George W. Bush must begin saying U.S. troops will leave Iraq if the GOP is to win the 2008 elections, insist some conservative activists.

To assuage an angry public, the White House needs to state clearly, and soon, the war will end, said Grover Norquist, a conservative leader and the head of Americans for Tax Reform.

"The one-paragraph explanation of what we're doing in Iraq has to have the word 'leaving' in there," Grover, who foresees a tough political landscape next year, The Hill, a Washington newspaper, reported Wednesday.

That tactic would help Republican presidential and congressional hopefuls focus on domestic issues that could energize the base and win the votes of independents, The Hill said.

Focusing on an end to the war would reshape the debate about what happens to Iraq after U.S. soldiers leave, a subject conservatives feel has been neglected by Capitol Hill's continued focus on whether to withdraw troops, The Hill reported.