7.22.2005
Bush Praises Australia's Howard (CNN.com)
Tuesday, July 19, 2005; Posted: 2:11 p.m. EDT (18:11 GMT)
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Tuesday defended his country's continuing troop presence in Iraq and refused to put a timetable on bringing soldiers home from the U.S.-led campaign, echoing the position of his host, President Bush.
"We will stay the distance in Iraq," Howard told reporters in a joint White House news conference with Bush, whom he praised as a friend. "We won't go until the job has been finished."
Bush and Howard said they understand that people in both their countries want to know when troops will leave Iraq, where insurgent violence has steadily escalated since Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari announced his Shiite-dominated government in April.
"There's a great temptation to get me or John to put a timetable on our actions there, but that doesn't make any sense," Bush said. "Why would you tell the enemy how long you're going to stay somewhere? Why would you -- we're at war and during a war you do the best you can to win the war. And one way to embolden an enemy is to give him an artificial timetable."
Australia has 1,400 troops in and around Iraq. Just last week, Howard said he would send 150 elite troops to Afghanistan by September to help quell insurgent violence there.
(More ... CNN.com - Bush praises Australia's Howard - Jul 19, 2005) ¶ 19:28
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Australian Prime Minister John Howard on Tuesday defended his country's continuing troop presence in Iraq and refused to put a timetable on bringing soldiers home from the U.S.-led campaign, echoing the position of his host, President Bush.
"We will stay the distance in Iraq," Howard told reporters in a joint White House news conference with Bush, whom he praised as a friend. "We won't go until the job has been finished."
Bush and Howard said they understand that people in both their countries want to know when troops will leave Iraq, where insurgent violence has steadily escalated since Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari announced his Shiite-dominated government in April.
"There's a great temptation to get me or John to put a timetable on our actions there, but that doesn't make any sense," Bush said. "Why would you tell the enemy how long you're going to stay somewhere? Why would you -- we're at war and during a war you do the best you can to win the war. And one way to embolden an enemy is to give him an artificial timetable."
Australia has 1,400 troops in and around Iraq. Just last week, Howard said he would send 150 elite troops to Afghanistan by September to help quell insurgent violence there.
(More ... CNN.com - Bush praises Australia's Howard - Jul 19, 2005) ¶ 19:28
