U.S. President George W. Bush rejected critics calling for a timetable for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq in a speech on Saturday to U.S. troops laying out why he believes the Iraq war is worth the sacrifice.

"In Washington there are some who say that the sacrifice is too great, and they urge us to set a date for withdrawal before we have completed our mission. Those who are in the fight know better," Bush said in excerpts of a speech he was to deliver to U.S. troops at Osan Air Base in South Korea.

Iraqi leaders, meeting at a reconciliation conference in Cairo, urged an end to violence in the country and demanded a timetable for the withdrawal of coalition troops from Iraq.

In a final statement, read by Arab League chief Amre Moussa, host of the three-day summit, they called for "the withdrawal of foreign troops according to a timetable, through putting in place an immediate national program to rebuild the armed forces." No date was specified.

"The Iraqi people look forward to the day when the foreign forces leave Iraq, when it's armed and security forces will be rebuilt and when they can enjoy peace and stability and get rid of terrorism," the leaders said in the statement.

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