President Bush said Tuesday the decision about when to withdraw all American forces from Iraq will fall to future presidents and Iraqi leaders, indicating that U.S. involvement will continue at least through 2008.
The US leader vowed to keep U.S. soldiers in the fight. "If I didn't believe we could succeed, I wouldn't be there. I wouldn't put those kids there," Bush stated. He also defended Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld. "I don't believe he should resign. He's done a fine job. Every war plan looks good on paper until you meet the enemy," he said, according to the AP.
"Nobody likes war. It creates a sense of uncertainty in the country," he said. "War creates trauma."
CIA spy
Meanwhile, a US television station reported Iraq's foreign minister under Saddam Hussein spied for the CIA before the US-led invasion in 2003 in return for a 100,000 dollar payment. In September 2002, Iraq's top diplomat Naji Sabri traded information on Iraq's alleged weapons program for cash in a French-sponsored New York City hotel room meeting, NBC reported.
US intelligence agents believe Sabri was fully aware he was selling information to the CIA, it said. During the meeting, he denied Saddam had any biological weapons. He confirmed Saddam possessed chemical weapons.
