ALBUQUERQUE, New Mexico, Aug 11 (AFP) - US President George W. Bush on Wednesday assailed Democratic White House hopeful John Kerry's pledge, if elected, to slash US troop levels in Iraq by next August.
"We all want the mission to be completed as quickly as possible, but we want the mission to be completed," Bush told cheering supporters during a stop in New Mexico, which he lost by just 366 votes in 2000.
"The mission is not going to be completed as quickly as possible if the enemy thinks that we're going to be removing a substantial number of troops in six months," said Bush.
And "the people that should be making the recommendations as to whether or not the mission is nearly completed to that we can relieve troops are the commanders on the ground," said the president.
"I know what I'm doing when it comes to winning this war, and I'm not going to be sending mixed signals," Bush said, a thinly veiled reference to what he has called his opponent's reversals of position on the invasion.
Under pressure to offer a clear alternative to Bush, Kerry promised last week to "significantly" draw down the 138,000-strong US force in Iraq within eight months of taking office.
The Massachusetts senator said that using diplomacy to secure more international help and accelerating the training of Iraqi security forces, "it is appropriate to have a goal of reducing our troops over that period time."
Bush has vowed to withdraw US troops as soon as possible but refused to set a timetable, and warned while campaigning on Friday that an immediate pullout would lead to "mayhem and bloodshed" in Iraq.