Bush foresees more foreign troops in Iraq

US President George W

US President George W. Bush last night said more foreign troops would join US forces in Iraq and the occupation was becoming a battle against "al Qaeda type fighters."

"We do need and welcome more foreign troops into Iraq and there will be more foreign troops in Iraq," Mr Bush told reporters during a visit to Seattle. He faced questions on Iraq for the first time since a truck bomb on Tuesday killed 24 people at UN headquarters in Baghdad.

Mr Bush gave no signs that he was prepared to cede any authority to the UN as demanded by countries such as France, Germany and Russia as conditions for a new UN mandate to recruit more troops.

Asked whether he would accept increased UN authority in order to increase the foreign troop presence, Mr Bush said only that talks were underway on a new resolution and he wanted a "vital role," for the United Nations, a longstanding US position.

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Mr Bush said the mission in Iraq had changed since then US-led ouster of Saddam Hussein. "Iraq is turning out to be a continuing battle in the war on terrorism," Mr Bush said.

"There's a foreign element that's moving into Iraq. And these will be al Qaeda-type fighters. They want to fight us there (in Iraq) because they can't stand the thought of a free society in the Middle East," Mr Bush said.

Mr Bush said adding more foreign troops to the occupation force would increase the ability to protect Iraqi infrastructure and let US forces take the battle to their enemies. "That will help free up our hunter teams," he said.