Rejecting that Iraq was becoming another Vietnam, US President George W Bush has said American forces will stay the course in the country till terror was defeated, but insisted Washington was determined to hand over power to the Iraqi people on June 30.
"I think the analogy [Iraq another Vietnam] is false. I also happen to think that analogy sends the wrong message to our troops and sends the wrong message to the enemy," Bush said in a televised White House news conference on Tuesday night.
"We are in a long war," Bush warned. "The war on terror is not going to end immediately. The war on terror is a war against people who have no guilt in killing innocent people."
The US president acknowledged that the US had suffered a series of "tough weeks in Iraq" but added he intended to send additional forces.
He said he was sending Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage to the Middle East to discuss how they can help an independent Iraq.
"It is important that we meet the deadline. As a proud, independent people, Iraqis do not support an indefinite occupation and neither does America," he added.
Bush said he wants a new UN Security Council resolution to try to convince more nations to send troops to aid US-led efforts in Iraq.
"Failure in Iraq would be unthinkable. In this conflict there is no alternative to resolute action," he said in a 17-minute statement at the outset of the prime time news conference.
Striving to appear confident about Iraq, Bush said the weapons of mass destruction could still be found in Iraq. "They could still be there. I'm of the belief that we'll find out the truth of the weapons...they could be hidden like the 50 tons of mustard gas in a turkey farm."
It was Bush's first prime-time news conference since March 6, 2003.
Stating that the recent increase in violence in Iraq is neither a civil war nor a popular uprising, Bush said: "The violence we've seen is a power grab by extreme and ruthless elements" from inside Iraq and from outside.
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