US has 'security issue' in Iraq, says Bush

US President George W. Bush said today that repeated attacks on US troops in Iraq meant they had to "stay the course".

US President George W. Bush said today that repeated attacks on US troops in Iraq meant they had to "stay the course".

"There's no question we've got a security issue in Iraq," Mr Bush told reporters at a meeting with Botswana President Festus Mogae. "We're going to have to deal with it person-by-person. We're going to have to remain tough."

Two US soldiers were killed in separate attacks in Iraq last night, one when a convoy came under small-arms fire and the other in a rocket-propelled grenade attack.

The deaths bring to 31 the number of US soldiers killed by hostile fire since Mr Bush declared major combat over in Iraq on May 1st. Audiotape messages purportedly from Saddam Hussein, calling on Iraqis to fight the occupation, have surfaced in recent days.

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Asked whether the attacks were making it more important to catch Saddam, Bush said: "Once again the apologists for Saddam Hussein are bringing misery on their country."

But he said the United States was making "steady progress", adding: "It's important for us to stay the course. We will stay the course".

US officials blame the attacks on forces still loyal to the ousted Iraqi president. Others say Iraqis who are resentful of the way US and British forces have handled postwar Iraq have taken up arms against them.