Bush: 30.000 Iraqi civilians have died, "more or less"

wbaltv: Bush Acknowledges 30,000 Civilian Deaths In Iraq

You can't form a democracy without "challenges, setbacks and false starts."

Speaking to the Philadelphia World Affairs Council Monday, President George W. Bush acknowledged that Iraq has paid a high price to get to this point in its transistion to freedom, with "30,000, more or less" Iraqi civiilans having been killed in the war.

Afterward, aides told reporters that was not an official U.S. estimate of Iraqi deaths, just an estimate based on news accounts.

Meanwhile, in his appearance before the city's World Affairs Council, Bush voiced no doubt about his decision to send U.S. troops into Iraq.

When a questioner disputed any linkage between Iraq and the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Bush said he remains sure Saddam Hussein was a threat. He said knowing what he knows today, he'd still order the invasion.

Bush said the removal of Saddam "makes this world a better place and America a safer country." Link