US President George W Bush has insisted American troops will remain in Iraq as long as the Iraqi authorities want them there.
Speaking after meeting with Iraqi president Nouri al-Maliki in Jordan today, Mr Bush acknowledged the pressure at home for troop withdrawals but said, "We'll be in Iraq until the job is complete, at the request of a sovereign government elected by the people."
He said the United States - which now has about 140,000 troops in Iraq - will stay "to get the job done so long as the government wants us there."
US President George W Bush
Bush reiterated support for Maliki, who has been criticised for failing to curb militias controlled by his Shia allies.
"I'm talking to the man face-to-face and he says that he understands that a unified government, a pluralistic society, is important for success and he's making hard decisions to achieve that," he said repeatedly referring to Maliki as a man of "courage".
Bush's show of support came after US officials insisted the Iraqi leader was not offended by a critical White House memo and had not snubbed Bush in Amman yesterday when the two had been expected to hold an initial meeting.
"He's the right guy for Iraq and we're going to help him and it's in our interest to help him," Bush told a joint news conference with Maliki in the Jordanian capital.
"It's in our interests to help liberty prevail in the Middle East, starting with Iraq. And that's why this business about graceful exit simply has no realism to it at all."
Bush said he and Maliki had ruled out any idea of dividing Iraq as a way to end the violence.
"The prime minister made clear that splitting his country into parts, as some have suggested, is not what the Iraqi people want and that any partition of Iraq would only lead to an increase in sectarian violence. I agree," he said.
The two men held their news conference after a working breakfast and a subsequent meeting without aides.
Bush said they had agreed to speed up the training of Iraqi security forces and handing over security authority to Iraqis. US troops were in Iraq to "get the job done" and would stay as long as the Baghdad government wanted them there.
"It's not easy for a military to evolve from ground zero," he said of Maliki's efforts to build Iraqi forces, acknowledging that the Iraqi leader was "frustrated by the pace".
Bush was speaking after it was reported the Iraq Study Group will recommend the US military shift from combat to a support role in Iraq, and will call for a regional conference that could lead to direct US talks with Iran and Syria, both accused by Washington of fomenting violence in their neighbour.
Maliki said his country wanted good ties with its neighbours but warned against external meddling.
"Iraq is for Iraqis. Its frontiers are defended and we will not allow them to be violated or let people interfere in our internal affairs," he said.
Bush had expected to see Maliki yesterday, along with Jordan's King Abdullah. He was told on the way from Latvia, where he attended a NATO summit, that the Jordanians and Iraqis had decided against a three-way meeting, a US official said.