Bush rejects troop withdrawal talk

WASHINGTON - President Bush, just back from Iraq, dismissed calls for a U.S. withdrawal as election-year politics and refused to give a timetable or benchmark for success that would allow troops to come home.

“It's bad policy,” Bush said in a news conference Wednesday, about six hours after he returned from Iraq. “I know it may sound good politically. It will endanger our country to pull out of Iraq before we accomplish the mission.”

The news conference was arranged to capitalize on Bush's stealthy 5.5-hour trip to Baghdad Tuesday. The visit marked his first meeting with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, and the president said he was impressed with the new leader's plans and character. “I sense something different happening in Iraq,” Bush said.