CRI听力：Bush Comments on White House Report on Iraq

US President George W. Bush on Thursday, remained defiant against those seeking the return of US troops from Iraq, saying it will only happen when conditions are right, "not because pollsters say it'll be good politics."

Speaking in Washington, Bush's comments followed the release of an interim report, which said that despite progress on some fronts by the Iraqi government, "the security situation in Iraq remains complex and extremely challenging."

"Those who believe that the battle in Iraq is lost will likely point to the unsatisfactory performance on some of the political benchmarks. Those of us who believe the battle in Iraq can and must be won see the satisfactory performance on several of the security benchmarks as a cause for optimism."

In the interim report required by Congress, the Bush administration said the Iraqi government has made only mixed progress toward fulfilling goals for political, military and economic reform.

The report was issued in the fifth year of a war that has taken the lives of more than 3-thousand US troops, many thousands of Iraqis and is costing the United States an estimated 10 billion US dollars a month.

A second report is due in September from General David Petraeus, the commander of US forces in Iraq.