President Bush said Wednesday he didn't expect to get universal support at home for the decision to invade Iraq and said failure there ``is not an option.''
Bush, speaking to reporters on the White House South Lawn after a meeting with a group of governors who returned from a visit to Iraq and Afghanistan, thanked the state chief executives for ``sending a message from home that we care ... we appreciate the fact that people are willing to make sacrifices.''
``I assured them that our goal in Afghanistan and Iraq is victory and there will be a victory'' when those two countries are able to sustain themselves and defend themselves,'' he said. ``I assured the governors that the United States will complete the mission.''
``I fully recognize that the Iaqis must step up and form a unity govenment so that those who went to the polls will recognize'' that they'll have a government that responds to their needs, he said.
``We understand very well that the political process in Iraq must occur very soon,'' the president added. ``I don't expect everybody to agree with my decision to go into Iraq. But I want the American people to understand that failure in Iraq is not an option'' and that success there will ``begin to lay the foundation for a peace'' that will last for generations.
Gov. Mitch Daniels of Indiana said he was heartened by what he saw there, and said that ``every thing that can be done is being done a daily basis'' by U.S. forces in Iraq.
Daniels said the commitment to the mission in Iraq ``is unanimous. They believe they're doing something important.''
West Va. Gov. Joe Machin said the troops there are ``committed to getting the job done ... It was so good to see them in high spirits.''
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