Last update - 00:00 12/03/2007
Bush urges Iran, Syria to act on vow to help end Iraq violence
By Reuters
U.S. President George W. Bush called on Iran and Syria on Sunday to back up with action their promises to help end the violence in Iraq and praised a regional conference in Baghdad as a good start.
A day after delegates from the United States and Iraq's regional neighbors met on Saturday, Iran said it had backed any efforts to quell violence in Iraq and described the regional meeting as a "good step."
Syrian state-controlled newspapers said Damascus supported a "political solution" to end violence in Iraq.
Bush, who believes both Iran and Syria are stirring trouble in Iraq, said he wanted action because "words are easy to say in politics and international diplomacy."
"There's all kinds of ways to measure whether they are serious about the words they utter. We of course welcome those words. Those are nice statements, and now they can act on them," Bush said at news conference with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe in Bogota, one stop on his Latin American tour.
If they really want to stabilize Iraq, he said, "there are things for them to do, such as cutting off weapons flows and/or the flow of suicide bombers into Iraq."
Bush on Saturday formally requested Congress approve about $3.2 billion to pay for the additional deployment of 4,400 U.S. troops to Iraq and 3,500 to Afghanistan, even as he and Democratic lawmakers battle over his Iraq strategy.
Bush defended his request as necessary to support the 21,500 reinforcements he ordered deployed to Iraq as part of a troop buildup that prompted a vote of opposition last month from the Democratic-led House of Representatives.
"The support troops [are] necessary to help the reinforcements do the job," he said and called on Congress to approve a $100 billion funding request for fighting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The troops in Afghanistan will help train Afghan forces against an expected spring offensive from the Taliban, he said.
The Baghdad conference is to be followed by a second one in April involving higher-level envoys, such as U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Bush said overall he thought the Saturday conference was positive and gave the Iraqi government some needed confidence as it seeks to overcome sectarian differences and reach a political solution.
"This young democracy had nations from around the neighborhood and around the world come talk to them in a way that was constructive and positive. Part of the success in Iraq is going to be whether or not this government has got the confidence necessary to make hard decisions," Bush said.