Bush arrives in the UAE
Bush meets Kuwaiti and Bahraini rulers as part of ongoing tour of Gulf Arab states.
Earlier, Bush became the first US president to visit Bahrain, when he was greeted at the airport by King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa. Later, Bush held talks with Hamad.
Protesters waving Shia Lebanese Hezbollah, Palestinian and Bahraini flags, carried banners that read “Bush, you care about one Israeli prisoner but what about 10,000 Palestinian civilian prisoners?”
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“What has to happen in order for there to be a peaceful settlement of a long-standing dispute is … outlines of a state clearly defined.” |
They also carried giant poster for Bush, under which they wrote in English: “Aggression against Iraq people is a war crime and a genocide.”
Several political groupings, mainly from the opposition, organised a picket outside the US embassy in Manama after Bush’s arrival.
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Sharif warned that taking part in or aiding any US military attack against Iran would be fatal for the Bahraini people due to the US military presence on their soil.
Earlier, in Kuwait, Bush told troops at a US military base that “hope is returning to Iraq” because of the troop surge he ordered a year ago, but warned US forces would likely remain in Iraq beyond his presidency.
He maintained his long-held stance that a reduction in force levels will depend on conditions in Iraq, and that he would defer to General David Petraeus, the US military commander, who is scheduled to make a recommendation in March.
“My attitude is if he didn’t want to continue the drawdown, that’s fine with me,” Bush said.
“The only thing I can tell you is we’re on track for what we’ve said was going to happen,” he said, referring to plans to withdraw some 30,000 troops from Iraq by July.