Bush: U.S. not to have permanent bases in Iraq

U.S. President George W. Bush talks about the economy after touring Hallmark Card headquarters and visitors' center in Kansas City Feb. 1, 2008.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 10 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W. Bush has said that the United States want to keep its troops in Iraq for years but will not establish permanent bases.

"I do believe it is in our interests and the interests of the Iraqi people that we do enter into an agreement on how we are going to conduct ourselves over the next years," Fox New television quoted Bush as reporting on Sunday.

However, Bush noted that "We won't have permanent bases."

Bush made the remarks when the Bush administration, which plans to trim U.S. forces in Iraq from the current 160,000 troops, is negotiating with the Iraqi government to maintain U.S. military presence beyond the end of 2008, when their UN mandate expires.

Bush said last month that the United States is on track to complete the planned withdrawal of 20,000 troops from Iraq by mid-year.