U.S. President George W. Bush has said that the United States
want to keep its troops in Iraq for years but will not establish
permanent bases.
"I do believe it is in our interests and the interests of the
Iraqi people that we do enter into an agreement on how we are going
to conduct ourselves over the next years," Fox New television
quoted Bush as reporting on Sunday.
However, Bush noted that "We won't have permanent bases."
Bush made the remarks when the Bush administration, which plans
to trim U.S. forces in Iraq from the current 160,000 troops, is
negotiating with the Iraqi government to maintain U.S. military
presence beyond the end of 2008, when their UN mandate expires.
Bush said last month that the United States is on track to
complete the planned withdrawal of 20,000 troops from Iraq by
mid-year.
(Xinhua News Agency February 11, 2008)