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Bush defends foreign policy initiatives

US President George W. Bush defended his much-criticized policies toward Iraq, Iran and North Korea on Wednesday, even as Congress moved toward a vote assailing his Iraq troop increase.

In his first White House news conference of the year, Bush said his new war strategy should be given time to work, denied that the administration was fabricating allegations on Iranian involvement in Iraq and rejected criticism of a nuclear deal with North Korea.

As US and Iraqi troops launched a sweeping security operation on the streets of Baghdad, Bush warned of more bloodshed ahead but defended his war plan as the best way to support the Iraqi government's efforts to contain the violence.

"The fundamental question is, can we help this government have the security force level necessary to make sure that the ethnic cleansing that was taking place in certain neighborhoods is stopped?" he said.

But, he said, "the operation to secure Baghdad is going to take time, and there will be violence."

Bush defended his decision to send 21,500 extra US troops to secure Baghdad and criticized a proposed US congressional resolution -- scheduled to be voted on today -- denouncing the troop buildup.

"Later this week, the House of Representatives will vote on a resolution that opposes our new plan in Iraq before it has a chance to work," Bush said. "People are prejudging the outcome of this."

Three days after anonymous US officials in Baghdad told a roomful of reporters that "the senior levels of the Iranian government" had approved weapons shipments to Iraqi fighters, Bush said he could not vouch for it.

But he stood by charges that the al-Qods brigade of Iran's Revolutionary Guard had provided explosives used against US troops in Iraq, and dismissed as "preposterous" any suggestion that Washington was fabricating charges against Tehran.

"I can say with certainty that the Qods force, a part of the Iranian government, has provided these sophisticated IEDs that have harmed our troops," he said, referring to improvised explosive devices like roadside bombs.

"I do not know whether or not the Qods force was ordered from the top echelons of government," he said. "But my point is, what's worse, them ordering it and it happening or them not ordering it and it's happening?"

Rejecting Washington's accusations, Iran's influential former president Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani said Tehran had no interest in fomenting sectarian conflict and wanted "to preserve the integrity of the territory and the sovereignty of Iraq."

Bush ruled out any direct bilateral talks for now with the Islamic republic.

"If I thought we could achieve success, I would sit down. But I don't think we can achieve success right now," he said, stressing that he believed the ongoing multilateral approach to Iran's nuclear program was paying off.

Amid concerns of a US invasion of Iran, 2008 presidential hopeful and Democratic Senator Hillary Clinton said Bush must seek Congress authorization before any such attack.

"If the administration believes that any, any use of force against Iran is necessary, the president must come to Congress to seek that authority," she said.

On North Korea, Bush defended the nuclear deal against critics who said that offering aid and other guarantees to North Korea in return for disbanding its nuclear network was rewarding "bad behavior" and a sign of US weakness.

Bush hailed the landmark deal as a "good first step" but much would depend on the communist regime keeping its word.

"There is a lot of work to be done to make sure that the commitments made in this agreement become a reality," he said.

Under the accord, North Korea will be given 50,000 tonnes of fuel aid for closing their key Yongbyon nuclear facility north of Pyongyang and allowing UN nuclear inspectors back into the country.
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