WASHINGTON – President Bush expressed frustration Wednesday that Iraqis have so far failed to form a unity government, but he said withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq too early would damage U.S. security.
“I want the Iraqi people to hear I’ve got great confidence in their capacity to self-govern,” Bush said. “I also want the Iraqi people to hear: It’s about time you get a unity government going.
“In other words, Americans understand you’re newcomers to the political arena. But pretty soon it’s time to shut her down and get governing.”
The successful creation of a unified central authority remains key to the hoped-for start of an American troop withdrawal this summer. Withdrawing U.S. troops before Iraqi security forces can protect the fragile democracy, however, would yield adverse results, Bush said.
“While it might sound attractive to some, it would have disastrous consequences for American security,” Bush said in his third speech this month trying to bolster public support for the war.
If democracy fails, Bush predicted that terrorists would use Iraq as a base to overthrow moderate governments in the Middle East and launch further attacks against the United States.
Bush spoke to Freedom House, an independent organization that supports democracy worldwide, before flying to Cancun, Mexico, to meet with Mexican President Vicente Fox and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
The United States has been pushing Iraq to speed up the formation of a unity government, seen as the best option to subdue the violence gripping several Iraqi cities.
Hundreds of Iraqis have been killed in sectarian violence since the Feb. 22 bombing of an important Shiite shrine in Samarra.
Political talks remain fragile in a country with deep sectarian differences between Shiites and Sunnis. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad has asked one of Iraq’s most prominent Shiite politicians to seek the withdrawal of Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari’s contentious nomination for a second term.
Bush countered critics who wonder whether toppling Saddam Hussein caused the current divisions and instability.
“In fact, much of the animosity and violence we now see is the legacy of Saddam Hussein,” Bush said. “He is a tyrant who exacerbated sectarian divisions to keep himself in power.”
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