Iraqi leaders have 'awesome' responsibility:Bush

TWENTYNINE PALMS, Calif., Apr 24:U S President George W. Bush called Iraqi leaders, including the new prime inister-designate, to congratulate them on moving to form a unity government, saying they had ''awesome responsibilities'' to the Iraqi people.

Yesterday Bush called Shi'ite leader Jawad al-Maliki, prime minister-designate, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, and Sunni Islamist Mahmoud al-Mashhadani, who was elected parliamentary speaker.

''It was a remarkable phone call,'' Bush told Marines in the mess hall at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in the California town of Twentynine Palms.

''They expressed their deep appreciation for the United States of America and our soldiers,'' he said to cheers.

Iraqi leaders agreed last week to form a new coalition government after months of political squabbling and mounting sectarian violence.

Bush has been struggling with poll numbers near the lows of his presidency partly due to growing public discontent over the Iraq war in which more than 2,300 American troops have died.

Bush had been pressing for the Iraqis to put aside differences and form a unity government.

''I told them, I said, that they have awesome responsibilities to their people,'' Bush said.

''They have the responsibility of improving the lives of men and women regardless of their religion. They have the responsibility to defeat the terrorists. They have the responsibility to unite their country, and I believe they will,'' he said.

Bush has repeatedly stressed that the United States will not abandon Iraq and that American troops will not withdraw until Iraqi security forces are able to take over from them.

''The only way we can lose in Iraq is if we lose our nerve and I'm not losing my nerve and I know the United States Marine Corps will not lose their nerve either,'' Bush said.

Reuters

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