WASHINGTON, Dec 9: President George W. Bush said on Thursday he understands the concerns of US soldiers deployed in Iraq and said that they were being addressed.

If I were a soldier overseas, wanting to defend my country, I would want to ask the secretary of defence the same questions, and that is, 'Are you getting the best we can get us?'" Bush said. "And they deserve the best."

Soldiers waiting in the Kuwaiti desert to enter Iraq challenged Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld on Wednesday in a tough question-and-answer session. "And I've told many families I've met with, 'We're doing everything we possibly can to protect your loved ones in a mission which is vital and important.' And that mission is to spread freedom and peace," Bush added.

One of some 1,800 soldiers present was loudly cheered at Camp Buehring as he told Rumsfeld soldiers were "digging through landfills" to find scrap metal to bolster the hundreds of US trucks and other military vehicles that pour across the frontier into Iraq each day. Others asked what would happen to US troops after the January 30 election in Iraq, about missing pay and other worries over conditions. -AFP