White House Report, Nov. 4: Bush remarks on Iraq while in California

President Bush emphasized progress toward stabilizing and rebuilding Iraq in a brief exchange November 4 with reporters in Harbison Canyon, California after touring fire-ravaged areas of the state.

"We had a very successful donors conference" in Madrid in October, Bush said, and he noted that the U.S. Congress November 3 approved a bill for $87.5 billion in supplemental spending this fiscal year in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I look forward to signing it. I believe I'm going to sign it tomorrow," Bush said.

The legislation, he pointed out, "is a commitment by our government and our country to help the Iraqis rebuild their society.

"And that rebuilding is part of the development of a peaceful and free Iraq. And a peaceful and free Iraq is essential to the security of the United States.

"This will help change the world in a positive way, so that years from now, people will sit back and say, 'thank goodness America stayed the course and did what was necessary to win this battle in the war on terror.'"

Asked if the process of turning functions over to Iraqis is being accelerated, Bush replied: "[F]rom the moment of liberating the country from Saddam Hussein, we have now stood up over 70,000 Iraqi citizens to be police, border patrol and beginnings of the military, so that Iraqis will be able to run their own country.

"That has been our mission all along, to develop the conditions such that a free Iraq will emerge, run by the Iraqi citizens.

"You remember early on, I kept saying I've got great confidence in the capacity of the Iraq people to run their own country. And it is to this nation's advantage that there be a peaceful and free Iraq. It's in our security interests. And it will help promote world peace for Iraq to emerge as a free and peaceful country."

Asked whether he believes Saddam Hussein is behind the recent attacks, Bush said the deposed dictator is seeking to "stir up trouble," but "we'll get him, we'll find him."

"I can't tell you what he's doing. All I can tell you is, he's not running Iraq," and some people are upset by the fact that he's no longer in power, Bush said.

Saddam Hussein loyalists, the people that used to benefit from his regime, are among those "creating the havoc, trying to create the conditions so that we leave, testing our will," Bush said.

Asked whether mounting U.S. casualties in Iraq mean that major combat operations are resuming, Bush said: "No. We're back to finding these terrorists and bringing them to justice."

The terrorists "want us to retreat, they want us to leave, because they know that a free and peaceful Iraq in their midst will damage their cause. And we will stay the course, we will do our job," Bush said.

Bush also paid tribute to the U.S. soldiers killed when their helicopter was shot down near Falluja on November 2.

"They were making America more secure. And I want to thank their families for the ultimate sacrifice," said the president. They died for "a noble cause," he said, "which is the security of the United States."

Bush was to return to Washington from California late November 4.

(Distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)