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Bush stands firm on Iraq strategy

July 14, 2007 11:09 AM

ABC News' Jennifer Duck reports:  One day after Sens. John Warner (R-VA) and Richard Lugar (R-IN) announced a bill calling for a timetable for withdrawal from Iraq by mid-October, President Bush reasserted his commitment to keeping troops in Iraq until "our military commanders say the conditions on the ground are right."

In his weekly radio address, dedicated exclusively to the Iraq war, Bush discussed Thursday's interim report on the recent military surge. Bush pointed to satisfactory improvement in 8 areas, such as security stations in Baghdad and funding.  He says it shows that "conditions can change, progress can be made, and the fight in Iraq can be won." 

"Most Americans want to see two things in Iraq:  They want to see our troops succeed, and they want to see our troops begin to come home.  We can do both, and we will."

Bush reiterated that the current strategy in Iraq is "markedly different" from the one pursued last year.  He warned that a premature withdrawal of US troops before the approval of the military "would mean surrendering the future of Iraq to al Qaeda" and "risking a humanitarian catastrophe."

A final report on the effectiveness of the recent military surge is due to Congress in September.

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