George W. Bush US President George W. Bush said Monday he would oppose any effort to set a timetable for a US withdrawal from Iraq and said that a US-led security crackdown had reduced sectarian violence there.
"There's been some progress. There's been some horrific bombings, of course, but there's also a decline in sectarian violence," Bush said as he met in the Oval Office with the US commander in Iraq, General David Petraeus.
Petraeus was due to brief US lawmakers amid a pitched political battle between the White House and Democratic leaders of Congress who seek to set a withdrawal timetable as part of a 100-billion-dollar war funding package.
"I believe strongly that politicians in Washington shouldn't be telling generals how to do their job. And I believe artificial timetables of withdrawal would be a mistake," said Bush.
"An artificial timetable of withdrawal would say to an enemy, 'just wait them out.' It would say to the Iraqis, 'Don't do hard things necessary to achieve our objectives.' And it would be discouraging for our troops," he said.
"And, therefore, I will strongly reject an artificial timetable withdrawal and/or Washington politicians trying to tell those who wear the uniform how to do their job," said the US president.
Congressional sources said Friday that they expected the final emergency spending bill to reach Bush's desk late this week with language setting a withdrawal of combat forces in 2008 as a goal -- not a requirement.
"I will, of course, be willing to work with the Congress, both Republicans and Democrats, on a way forward," said Bush, but "no matter how tough it may look ... for the Congress to micromanage this process is a mistake."
He spoke as a string of bomb attacks in Iraq on Monday killed more than 20 people and wounded dozens of others, one day after insurgents killed 50 people and one week after a series of blasts killed about 200 people.
