Bush says US won't attack N-Korea

WASHINGTON—President Bush called Wednesday for stiff sanctions on North Korea for its reported nuclear test and asserted that the United States has "no intention of attacking" the reclusive regime.
In a Rose Garden news conference, Bush said the United States remains committed to diplomacy, but also "reserves all options to defend our friends in the region."
He also vowed increased military cooperation with allies, including bolstering ballistic missile defenses in the region and increased efforts to prevent Pyongyang from importing missile and nuclear technology.
As Bush spoke, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan urged the United States to hold one-on-one talks with North Korea, something the U.S. has refused to do.
Bush rejected criticism from Democrats that his administration had not paid enough attention to the brewing North Korean nuclear crisis, saying that Pyongyang had turned its back on a 1994 deal negotiated by the Clinton administration.
"It is the intransigence of the North Korean leader, Kim Jong Il, that led to the current situation, he said.
On Iraq, Bush acknowledged "tough times" in the wartorn country where sectarian violence has surged recently. But, he added, "It is in our interests that Iraq succeed."
Bush staunchly defended his Iraq policy, saying that he had adjusted tactics to reflect changing conditions on the ground.
He was asked about a recent comment by the Republican chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Sen. John Warner (news, bio, voting record), that Iraq was drifting "sideways" and that the U.S. should consider major changes if Baghdad doesn't get the violence under control within the next few months.
"I appreciate Sen. Warner from going over there and taking a look," said Bush. "I completely agree."
Still, he insisted, "We're constantly changing tactics."
As to direct talks with North Korea, as the U.N. secretary general and many other diplomats have urged, Bush suggested that direct Clinton administration contacts with the communist regime showed they were unprofitable.
"It didn't work in the past. ... I learned a lesson from that. You have a better diplomatic hand with others sending the message," Bush said. He supports a resumption of six-way talks among North Korea, South Korea, China, Russia, Japan and the United States.
Such talks have been suspended for more than a year.
Bush dismissed as "just not credible" a controversial new study that contends nearly 655,000 Iraqis have died because of the war.
The study was based on interviews by researchers with Iraqi families and suggests a far higher death toll than other estimates.
Bush, who in the past has suggested 30,000 civilian deaths in Iraq, would not give a figure for overall fatalities.
"A lot of innocent people have lost their life," he said.
With just four weeks before the midterm elections, Bush acknowledged that the war in Iraq is having a political impact. It is "tough on the American psyche," he said, repeating a phrase he had used before.
Bush said there were "loud voices" in the Democratic Party for him to withdraw troops. But, Bush said, he was not going to "get out before the job is done."
"You empower your generals to make the decisions on what you do to win," he said.
Bush said the leading issue for voters should not be the war, but the economy, where he pointed to signs of significant improvement in job creation, lower energy prices and tax cuts that he said are working.
He predicted that his party would maintain control of both the House and Senate in next month's midterm elections. In the House, Democrats need a 15-seat pickup to gain control. In the Senate, they need six.—Agencies