U.S. President George W. Bush will welcome Iraqi Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari to Washington on June 24 to discuss the situation in Iraq, the White House said Thursday. White House spokesman Scott McClellan, while rejecting any kind of timetable, said training and equipping Iraqi forces is critical to the U.S. mission in the country. McClellan added that while the training of Iraqi troops is progressing, challenges still lie ahead, DPA reported. "You have a determined enemy that is willing to strap suicide bombs onto themselves and cause mass damage and kill innocent civilians," McClellan said. When asked if there was evidence that the insurgency is in its last throes, despite daily attacks that kill Iraqis and Americans alike, McClellan said that the terrorists are desperate and that "a free Iraq will be a significant blow to their ambitions". McClellan, in rejecting any discussions on whether Bush should present a timetable to the American people for when troops would be withdrawn from Iraq, said "timetables simply send the wrong message".
