Bush, Blair admit difficulties, errors in Iraq

updated 10:00 p.m. ET May 25, 2006

WASHINGTON - President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair acknowledged difficult times in the Iraq war they launched together in 2003, but both vowed to keep troops there until the new Iraqi government takes hold. Both admitted making costly mistakes.

“Despite setbacks and missteps, I strongly believe we did and are doing the right thing,” Bush said Thursday evening in a White House news conference with Blair. “Not everything has turned out the way we hoped.”

For his part, Blair declared that after a meeting earlier this week with Iraq’s new prime minister, “I came away thinking the challenge is still immense, but I also came away thinking more certain than ever that we should rise to it.”

Regrets for both leaders
In unusually introspective comments, Bush said he regrets his cowboy rhetoric the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks such as his “wanted dead or alive” description of Osama bin Laden and his taunting “bring ’em on” challenge to Iraqi insurgents.

“In certain parts of the world, it was misinterpreted.”

He also cited the mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners at the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad. “We’ve been paying for that for a long time,” Bush said.

Blair regretted the way in which Saddam Hussein’s political allies were purged from the Iraqi military and government soon after the fall of Baghdad. Critics have said the sudden purge left a security vacuum in Iraq and encouraged former regime loyalists to take up arms against the newly installed government.

Blair also said allies seriously underestimated the insurgency.

“It should have been very obvious to us” from the beginning, Blair said.

No withdrawal timetable
Blair, here for talks with Bush that are set to continue into Friday, briefed Bush on his discussions in Baghdad with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who said his forces are capable of taking control of security in all Iraqi provinces within 18 months.

But neither Bush nor Blair would give specifics on when soldiers from their countries can begin to go home.

“We’re going to work with our partners in Iraq, the new government, to determine the way forward,” Bush said. He said the goal remains “an Iraq that can govern itself and sustain itself and defend itself.”

Bush declined to discuss news reports that the Pentagon hoped that the U.S. force, now at 131,000 troops, could be reduced to about 100,000 by year’s end.

He called that “speculation in the press.” He said he has not discussed troop levels with commanders on the ground. “We’ll keep the force level there necessary to win,” Bush said.

Britain has about 8,000 troops in Iraq. Blair, asked about Maliki’s 18-month target for Iraqi control, said the goal remains that Iraqi security forces could “take control progressively of their own country.”

“For that to happen, the first thing obviously we need is a strong government in Baghdad” prepared to enforce its rule throughout the country.

Incentives for Iran?
On another topic high on the agenda, neither Bush nor Blair would reveal their thinking on a possible package of incentives to draw Iran back to negotiations over its suspected nuclear-weapons program.

“Of course, we’ll look at all options. But it’s their choice right now — they’re the ones who walked away from the table,” Bush said. “I think we ought to be continuing to work on ways to make it clear to them that they will be isolated.”

Bush was dismissive of recent back-channel overtures from Tehran, including a letter to him Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Bush said he read the letter, and “I thought it was interesting.”

But he added: “He didn’t address the issues of whether or not they’re going to continue to press for a nuclear weapon. That’s the issue at hand.”

In Britain, where Blair’s alliance with Bush has drawn fierce criticism, the news conference aired beginning at half an hour past midnight.

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