In an interview with ABC News' George Stephanopoulos, Bush was asked whether he agreed with the opinion of columnist Tom Friedman, who wrote in The New York Times today that the situation in Iraq may be equivalent to the Tet offensive in Vietnam almost 40 years ago.
"He could be right," the president said. "There's certainly a stepped-up level of violence, and we're heading into an election."
"George, my gut tells me that they have all along been trying to inflict enough damage that we'd leave," Bush told ABC. "And the leaders of al Qaeda have made that very clear.
"Look, here's how I view it. First of all, al Qaeda is still very active in Iraq. They are dangerous. They are lethal. They are trying to not only kill American troops, but they're trying to foment sectarian violence. They believe that if they can create enough chaos, the American people will grow sick and tired of the Iraqi effort and will cause government to withdraw."
President Bush could not imagine any circumstances under which all US troops would be withdrawn from Iraq before the end of his presidency, ABC said.
"You mean every single troop out? No," he told Stephanopoulos. "If we were to leave before the job is done, in my judgment, the al Qaeda would find a safe haven from which to attack. This is exactly what they said," Bush said.
Asked whether the midterm elections are a referendum on Iraq, he said: "I think they're a referendum, from my perspective, which is kind of like your perspective, which is the Washington perspective, based upon: who best to secure this country from further attack and who best to help this economy continue to grow."
"I'm not on the ballot," he pointed out. "This set of elections is much different from a presidential election year."
Asserting that he reads "every casualty," the President said: "The hardest part of the presidency is to meet with families who've lost a loved one."
Assessing the situation in Iraq, he said: "I'm patient. I'm not patient forever. But I recognize the degree of difficulty of the task, and therefore, say to the American people, we won't cut and run."
Asked what he meant by describing North Korea as a 'grave threat' after it conducted a nuclear test last week, Bush responded: "Well, time they find out, George. One of the things that's important for these world leaders to hear is, you know, we will use means necessary to hold them to account. If we get intelligence that they're about to transfer a nuclear weapon, we would stop the transfer, and we would deal with the ships that were taking the -- or the airplane that was dealing with taking the material to somebody."
"My point is that I want the leader to understand -- the leader of North Korea to understand that he'll be held to account," Bush said. "Just like he's being held to account now for having run a test."
He also felt that China may be more committed to the recent round of UN sanctions on North Korea than it has publicly endorsed.
"I'm getting a little different picture from Condi [Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice]," he said. "They don't particularly want to board ships. But, on the other hand, if there's good intelligence, they'll work with us on that intelligence. They're inspecting cargoes coming across their border."
Asked which personal quality is going to be important for the next president, Bush responded: "Determination and compassion. " When asked what advice he might have for his successor, Bush told ABC News, "Stand on principle."
