In Vietnam, Bush speaks on Iraq

“The elections mean the American people want to know if we have a plan for success. I assured John that any repositioning of troops — if that’s what we choose to do — will be done with close consultation with John and his government. But I also assured him that we’re not leaving until this job is done — until Iraq can govern, sustain and defend itself.”

A new Associated Press-Ipsos poll conducted after the election indicates that Americans’ approval of Bush’s handling of Iraq has dropped to just 31 percent — the lowest level ever.

He brushed off suggestions that the United States might beef up its forces in Iraq and said, “I’m going to listen to our commanders. Ours is a conditions-based strategy.”

Vietnamese officials greeted Bush and his wife, Laura, at the airport on humid and hazy morning. Two young girls, wearing traditional white garments called ao dai that flowed with the breeze, presented each with a colorful bouquet of flowers.

Interest in Bush’s arrival seemed subdued compared with the massive, joyous crowds that stayed up late for President Clinton’s unannounced midnight flight into Hanoi’s international airport in 2000.

Before attending a state dinner Friday evening, Bush was to drop by the headquarters of the Communist Party to talk with its general secretary.

Warning to North Korea
Bush came to Vietnam for a summit of Asia-Pacific leaders and individual meetings with a handful of leaders — all of them curious whether election setbacks had unsettled Bush.

Bush will draw on his powers of personal diplomacy in meetings Saturday and Sunday with Russia’s Vladimir Putin, China’s Hu Jintao, Japan’s Shinzo Abe and South Korea’s Roh Moo-hyun. All are partners with the United States in talks aimed at persuading a defiant North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapons.

Bush flew here from Singapore after warning North Korea against peddling its weapons and vowing the United States will not retreat into isolationism.

Although Republicans lost control of Congress, Bush directly challenged newly empowered Democrats who are demanding a fresh course in Iraq and fearful that free-trade agreements could cost U.S. jobs.

“We hear voices calling for us to retreat from the world and close our doors to these opportunities,” the president said in a speech at the National University of Singapore. “These are the old temptations of isolationism and protectionism, and America must reject them.”

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