U.S. President Bush said Saturday it's "fine with me" if generals recommend no more reductions than those already planned to take the force posture down to about 130,000. Bush used part of remarks to warn Tehran.
"Iran's role in fomenting violence has been exposed," he said as he listed successes the U.S. is helping to bring about in Iraq. "Iranian agents are in our custody, and we are learning more about how Iran has supported extremist groups with training and lethal aid."
After spending a day in Kuwait meeting with its leaders and addressing U.S. troops based here, Bush was traveling to Bahrain.
According to the AP, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, told reporters after Bush spoke that the overall flow of weaponry from Iran into Iraq appears to be down, but attacks with "explosively formed projectiles" tied to Tehran are up by a factor of two or three in recent days. "Frankly, we are trying to determine why that might be," he said.
"My attitude is, if he didn't want to continue the drawdown, that's fine with me, in order to make sure we succeed, see," the American leader told reporters. "I said to the general, `If you want to slow her down, fine. It's up to you.'"
"The only thing I can tell you we're on track for is, we're doing what we said was going to happen," the president said.
