US President George W. Bush said Monday that US forces still have a lot of work to do in Iraq and will stay in the oil-rich country as long as necessary.
"We will stay as long as necessary to make sure that the Iraqi people have a government of, by and for the Iraqi people. And then we'll come home," Bush said while addressing a rally in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
"We have a lot of work to do in Iraq. Haven't been there very long, by the way. Less than 60 days ago that we started our mission," Bush said.
He said having removing a threat to US security, the US forces will stay in Iraq to "make sure that the Iraqi people have got the security necessary, the food necessary, the medicines necessary, the conditions necessary."
In a proposal submitted to the UN Security Council on Friday last week, Washington proposed that the council lift economic sanctions on Iraq and grant US-led coalition forces at least one year authority to run the oil-rich country.
(Xinhua News Agency May 13, 2003)
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