Bush seeks money, support for Iraq reconstruction

2.40pm

UPDATE - President Bush, facing growing doubts at home, asked Congress today for US$87 billion ($154.28 billion) for the US military and reconstruction in Iraq.

He also urged the United Nations to set aside past differences and help out in Iraq.

"This undertaking is difficult and costly, yet worthy of our country, and critical to our security," Bush said in an 18-minute prime-time address aimed at reassuring Americans jittery about scenes of chaos and daily attacks against US troops in Iraq.

As the country prepares to mark the second anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks, Bush asked Americans for patience and cautioned more casualties should be expected in the face of guerrillas who "want us to leave Iraq before our work is done."

"Enemies of freedom are making a desperate stand there -- and there they must be defeated. This will take time, and require sacrifice. Yet we will do what is necessary, we will spend what is necessary, to achieve this essential victory in the war on terror," he said.

The president offered no timetable on withdrawing the troops, nor did he say how close the US-led occupation force might be to finding weapons of mass destruction. He said the current deployment of 130,000 US troops should be sufficient.

He said he would soon submit to Congress a request for US$87 billion and that it would include some assistance for Afghanistan.

The US$87 billion includes US$66 billion for the US military deployment and intelligence operations, Bush said. It would push the nation's budget deficit to well above the half-trillion-dollar mark for the first time.

After the bitter UN dispute over whether to go to war in Iraq, Bush sounded a conciliatory tone as he sought to get Security Council backing for a new UN resolution that would establish a multinational force.

It was a shift from Bush's insistence that the United States and Britain would take the lead role in Iraq. So far antiwar powers France, Germany and Russia want more UN control than Bush is offering.

"I recognise that not all of our friends agreed with our decision to enforce the Security Council resolutions and remove Saddam Hussein from power. Yet we cannot let past differences interfere with present duties," Bush said.

Secretary of State Colin Powell said he expected up to 15,000 new foreign troops to join the occupation.

Bush's speech was the most public acknowledgment of dashed hopes for a rapid transition to a peaceful, self-governing Iraq, as forecast by such administration hawks as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Vice President Dick Cheney.

The president struck a somber tone in the White House Cabinet Room, in contrast to the celebratory "Mission Accomplished" speech he gave aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1 when he declared major combat operations over in Iraq.

He is coming under criticism from Democratic candidates for president as he gears up for his re-election campaign. His poll numbers have eroded. A CNN/Time poll said his approval had dropped to 52 per cent, down from the 60-70 per cent range he had enjoyed in recent months.

Bush, who went to war over weapons of mass destruction that have never been found and who insisted Iraq had ties to al Qaeda that have never been substantiated, said Iraq has now become the "central front" in the war on terrorism triggered by the Sept 11, 2001, attacks.

The US$87 billion figure was at the high end of expectations. Some members of Congress said they expected Bush to get what he asked for but wanted him to detail how long US troops would remain in Iraq and outline a strategy for bringing them home.

"We must keep this commitment in Iraq. It's going to be hard. I will support him. I will support spending that money," Sen Joe Biden of Delaware, ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on CNN.

Missouri Rep Richard Gephardt, a Democrat running for president, said Bush's efforts to enlist US allies was long overdue.

"Now that the president has recognised that he has been going down the wrong path, this administration must begin the process of fully engaging our allies and sharing the burden of building a stable democracy in Iraq," he said.

Bush, who made no mention of the elusive Saddam or Osama bin Laden, said some of the attackers in Iraq are "foreign terrorists who have come to Iraq to pursue their war on America and other free nations."

"We cannot be certain to what extent these groups work together. We do know they have a common goal - reclaiming Iraq for tyranny," he said.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq