Excerpts: Bush and Blair on Iraq

Blair and Bush: Close allies on Iraq

US President George W Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have marked the early transfer of political power to Iraqis, on the sidelines of a Nato summit in Istanbul.

Here are key excerpts from the leaders' statements.

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US President George W Bush:

Today, Iraq threatens no other country, and its democratic progress will be an example to the broader Middle East.

Iraq today still has many challenges to overcome. We recognise that. But it is a world away from the tormented, exhausted and isolated country we found last year.

Iraq's interim government has gained broad international support and has been endorsed by the UN Security Council. The United States and our coalition partners are helping prepare Iraqis for the defence of their own country.

All this progress is being attacked by foreign terrorists and by thugs from the fallen regime.

A civilised world will not be frightened or intimidated.

The Iraqi people will not stand alone

The struggle is first and foremost an Iraqi struggle... America, Great Britain, our coalition, respect that spirit, and the Iraqi people will not stand alone.

Our military will stay as long as the stability of Iraq requires and only as long as their presence is needed and requested by the Iraqi government.

In Iraq we are serving the cause of liberty... peace... of our own security, striking the terrorists where we find them instead of waiting for them to strike us at home. For all these reasons, we accepted a difficult task in Iraq. And for all these reasons, we will finish that task.

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British Prime Minister Tony Blair:

Today is obviously an important staging post on the journey of the people of Iraq toward a new future... in which all the people of Iraq can look forward to the possibility and the hope of an Iraq that genuinely guarantees a future for people from whatever part of Iraq they come.

... On one side, you have the Iraqi government, the Iraqi people, the international community that has now spoken through the United Nations, who want a free, stable, pluralist, democratic Iraq.

And on the other hand, you have some of the former Saddam supporters, you have outside terrorists, you have fanatics and extremists of one sort or another, who want to stop the possibility of that new Iraq happening.

The strategy of these terrorists is to try and prevent Iraq becoming a symbol of hope

... The strategy of these terrorists is to try and prevent Iraq becoming a symbol of hope not just for the Iraqi people, but actually for their region and the wider world.

And that is why... the battle for Iraq and its future... is... the front line of the battle against terrorism and the new security threat that we face.

And that security threat, which is about this new and poisonous and evil form of extremism linked to a perversion of the true faith of Islam and repressive unstable states that proliferate in and deal in chemical, biological and nuclear weapons... is the threat of our times.

And the reason why it is so important that Nato fulfils its functions in respect of Afghanistan and Iraq is that, in both those countries, the same struggle for democracy and freedom is going on.

And that's why it's important that Nato helps with the training of the Iraqi security forces.

I think it has its role today. It is to support that process of transition and change the world over.