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WASHINGTON, Mar 11 (AP): President George W. Bush said the key to slowing sectarian violence in Iraq is to get a unity government up and running and train Iraqi security forces to help their nation toward democracy.
He said Iraqi society has stepped back from "the abyss" following last month's bombing of a holy Shiite mosque, which threatened to push Iraq into civil war.
"There are some who are trying to, obviously, sow the seeds of sectarian strife," Bush said. "They fear the advancement of a democracy. They blow up shrines in order to cause this Iraqi democracy that is emerging to go backwards, to not emerge."
Bush spoke Friday at the National Newspaper Association's government affairs conference in Washington. He and other administration officials are about to begin a new effort to convince Americans that the United States is on the right path to defeat terrorists and insurgents in Iraq.
White House press secretary Scott McClellan said upcoming speeches on Iraq, marking the three-year anniversary of the U.S.-led March 2003 invasion, will give the president a chance to talk about lessons learned and ways the administration is trying to fix what is not working in Iraq.
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