Bush Defends Strategy In Iraq, Pledges to 'Complete the Mission'

Jim VandeHei, Staff Writer, Washington Post, Tuesday, June 21, 2005; Page A04

President Bush said yesterday that "cold-blooded" killers will fail in their attempt to drive the United States out of Iraq prematurely, as he defended the administration's war strategy and its policies for secretly detaining hundreds of alleged terrorists around the world.
After meeting with two leaders of the European Union at the White House, Bush told reporters he regrets the mounting loss of life in Iraq but has no plans to change the U.S. policy for securing Iraq, training a new Iraqi military and staying as long as necessary to prevail. A growing number of lawmakers and military experts are predicting it will be at least two years before Bush can significantly reduce the number of U.S. troops, currently about 140,000. Some lawmakers, including Republicans who supported the war, have proposed setting a timetable to begin pulling out by this fall.