United States President George W Bush on Thursday sketched out the agenda for his second term in office.
"I'll continue to reach out to our friends and allies, our partners in the EU and NATO, to promote development and progress, to defeat the terrorists and to encourage freedom and democracy as alternatives to tyranny and terror," he said at his first press conference after defeating his Democratic rival John Kerry in the polls on Wednesday.
"I've earned (political) capital in this election. I'm going to spend it for what I told the people I'd spend it on," Bush said.
The president promised to extend out to "those who share our goals" on the war on terrorism.
"Whatever our past disagreements, we share a common enemy. And we have common duties: To protect our peoples, to confront disease and hunger and poverty in troubled regions of the world," Bush said.
Bush said he would reshuffle his cabinet but did not divulge details. "It is inevitable. There will be changes. It happens in every administration."
"I haven't made any decisions on the cabinet yet," Bush said. Nor about the top staff, he said.
He expressed confidence that his administration would "achieve our objectives in Iraq".
The president said he had not yet decided on whether to increase the number of US troops in Iraq before the Iraqi elections in January.
He dubbed reports of planned increases in soldiers and costs as "pure speculation".
"We're on the path to stability. These elections are important, and we will respond to the requests of our commanders on the ground," he said.
"I've yet to hear from our commanders on the ground that they need more troops."
On British Prime Minister Tony Blair's view that resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was "the single most pressing" issue in world affairs, Bush said, "I agree with him that the Middle East peace is a very important part of a peaceful world."
"My hope is that we'll make good progress," he said.
"Remember I went to London to talk about our vision of spreading freedom throughout the Greater Middle East and I fully understand that that might rankle some and be viewed by some as folly," Bush said.
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