US President George W. Bush renewed on Tuesday his refusal to set a timetable for withdrawing American troops from Iraq, where over 2,500 US soldiers have been killed since the war started in March 2003.

"But we're not going to set an artificial timetable for withdrawal. Setting an artificial timetable would be a terrible mistake," Bush said in speech at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, on the occasion of the 230th anniversary of American independence.

Bush said terrorists in Iraq have suffered a series of significant blows, and setting an artificial timetable at this moment "would breathe new life into their cause."

Such a timetable, he said, would also "undermine the new Iraqi government and send a signal to Iraq's enemies that if they wait just a little bit longer, America will just give up."

The president added that he would make decisions about troop levels in Iraq based on recommendations by American commanders.

The United States was engaged in a global war on terrorism, and victory in Iraq would not in itself end the war on terror, he said.

By achieving victory in Iraq, he said, the United States would deny the terrorists a safe haven from which to plot and plan new attacks on America and other free nations.

(Xinhua News Agency July 5, 2006)