CRAWFORD, Aug 4: President George W. Bush vowed on Thursday that Al Qaeda threats would not drive the United States out of Iraq or the Middle East. Mr Bush said the fact that Osama bin Laden’s deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri, had threatened renewed attacks against Britain and the United States unless they left Iraq showed that the country had become the central front in the “war on terror”.

“Part of their goal is to drive us out of the broader Middle East,” said the US leader making comments after meeting Colombia’s President Alvaro Uribe at his Texas ranch. Mr Bush called Zawahiri’s comments “threatening” but declared that “we will stay the course. We will complete the job in Iraq.”

Though US generals and officials have indicated that plans for a US troop withdrawal in 2006 are already being made, Mr Bush said “Our troops will come home as soon as possible.

“ ‘As soon as possible’ means when those Iraqis are prepared to fight. As Iraq stands up, our coalition will stand down.”

The president said the United States would help Iraq “develop a democracy” and insisted that progress was being made.—AFP