CAMP DAVID, Md. -- President Bush said Friday that it's not yet clear when Iraqi forces will be able to take control of their country's security, a key step in bringing U.S. troops home. Making that determination depends on an assessment of the new government in Baghdad, which just on Thursday installed a new defense minister and other top national security posts, Bush said.
"I think we'll get a realistic appraisal about the capacity for standing up Iraqi troops as this new government begins to function," the president said, appearing here with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, a staunch U.S. ally in Iraq.
The meeting came a day after the disclosure that terrorist leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi had been killed by a U.S. airstrike in Iraq. Bush said again that al-Zarqawi's death would not stop the violence there or bring a speedy withdrawal of troops, but he celebrated it nonetheless.
"Removing Zarqawi is a major blow to Al Qaida," Bush said. "It's not going to end the war. And it's certainly not going to end the violence. But it's going to help a lot."
Fogh Rasmussen recently visited Baghdad to meet with the new Iraqi Prime Minister, Nouri al-Maliki, who told him that he is optimistic that Iraqi forces can be in charge throughout the country in 18 months. Bush said that assessing this claim is a main reason that he is holding two days of talks on the way forward in Iraq next week at Camp David, with his national security advisers and military commanders.
White House officials have said the meetings Monday and Tuesday will not set precise timetables for U.S. troop withdrawals. With confidence in the president's handling of Iraq is at its lowest point ever, according to an AP-Ipsos poll, the president is under pressure to give Americans a sense of how much longer U.S. troops will be there.
