President Bush told Iraqi officials yesterday that while he is “impressed” with recent progress on security, there are “still problems” to be solved.
“I told them that I am impressed with the progress taking place, the security progress,” Bush said after meeting with Iraqi Vice President Adil Abd al-Mahdi, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih and Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari at the World Economic Forum in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
“We talked about Basra, the success of the Iraqi government in Basra in dealing with Shia extremists,” Bush said. “We talked about the economic progress that is being made. We also talked about the fact that more work needs to be done. There are still problems.”
In an interview with NBC yesterday before leaving Sharm el-Sheikh, Bush was asked how he felt about Iran's increased influence in the region following the Iraq war.
“That's a premise I don't necessarily agree with,” Bush said. “As a matter of fact, I think Iran is troubled by the fact that a young democracy is growing in Iraq.”
The idea that “somehow if Saddam Hussein were in power everything would be fine in the Middle East is a ludicrous notion,” Bush said, defending his decision to go to war in March 2003.
“Saddam Hussein was a sponsor of terror. And can you imagine what it'd be like to see an arms race between Saddam Hussein and (Iranian President Mahmoud) Ahmadinejad, in terms of creating instability in the Middle East,” Bush said.
