AL-ASAD AIR BASE - US President George W. Bush, on a surprise visit to Iraq Monday, said he would rely on his commanders to appraise troop levels and not on "nervous politicians" back in Washington.
Addressing cheering Marines at this base in Anbar province, Bush rejected intensifying pressure from the Democratic-led Congress to start pulling troops immediately out of the unpopular war in Iraq.
"Those decisions will be based on a calm assessment by our military commanders on the conditions on the ground, not a nervous reaction by Washington politicians to poll results in the media," the president said.
"In other words, when we begin to draw down troops from Iraq, it will be from a position of strength and success, not from the position of fear and failure," Bush said.
The president reiterated his controversial stand that the war in Iraq is a life-or-death struggle against Al-Qaeda extremists.
"If we don't want to hear their footsteps back home, we have to keep them on their heels over here," he said.
Earlier Monday, Bush said that security in Iraq could be maintained with fewer US troops if a turnaround in long-restive Anbar continues.
Bush made the remarks after a meeting of his "war council" with Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and other senior Iraqi leaders just days before General David Petraeus and US Ambassador Ryan Crocker report to Congress on the US surge strategy.
09/03/2007 18:05 GMT