Bush: Calls for Troop Drawdowns Unrealistic - washingtonpost.com

Bush: Calls for Troop Drawdowns Unrealistic - washingtonpost.com: "Bush: Calls for Troop Drawdowns Unrealistic
At Summit, President Stands by Iraqi Prime Minister, Discusses Speeding Up Security Handover

By Michael Abramowitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, November 30, 2006; 11:48 AM

AMMAN, Jordan, Nov. 30 -- President Bush delivered a staunch endorsement of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Thursday morning and dismissed calls for U.S. troop withdrawals from Iraq as unrealistic, following a summit meeting in which the two leaders discussed cracking down on sectarian violence and speeding the turnover of security responsibilities.

'He's the right guy for Iraq,' Bush said an a news conference in the Jordanian capital, as he stood next to a somewhat stiff and unsmiling Iraqi premier.

Bush sought to preempt a growing clamor to start a phased withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq, a policy shift advanced by the results of the Nov. 7 midterm elections and expected to be endorsed by a high-level commission headed by former secretary of state James A. Baker III and former Rep. Lee H. Hamilton (D-Ind.)."