Bush says US to stay in Iraq till mission complete

RIGA, Nov 28 (Reuters) President George W Bush brushed aside talk of civil war in Iraq today and insisted the United States would not withdraw its forces before its mission of building a stable democracy there was complete.

Rejecting growing skepticism by allies and influential voices within the United States about his aim of spreading democratic change in the Wasia, Bush said he remained committed to that agenda.

Critics say chaos in Iraq, the sectarian struggle in Lebanon and stalled peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians are evidence US policies in the region are failing.

''Some doubt whether the people of that region are ready for freedom, or want it badly enough, or have the courage to overcome the forces of totalitarian extremism,'' Bush said in the Latvian capital Riga where he is attending a NATO summit. ''I understand these doubts but I do not share them.'' Bush said he would press Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, whom he will meet in Jordan this week, on strategies for quelling the worst sectarian bloodshed since the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

But he added in a speech at the University of Latvia: ''There is one thing I'm not going to do. I am not going to pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete.'' Jordan's King Abdullah, who will dine with both leaders on Wednesday night, told the ABC talk show ''This Week'' that ''something dramatic'' must come out of the Bush-Maliki meeting to stop the violence spinning out of control.

Asked earlier at a news conference in Estonia what was the difference between the current bloodshed in Iraq and civil war, Bush said the latest bombings were part of a nine-month-old pattern of attacks by al Qaeda militants.

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