**bush/iraq - iraqi troops flee***

Here is part of what President George Bush said at a year-end news conference.

"And so the American people are taking a look at Iraq and wondering whether the Iraqis are eventually going to be able to fight off these bombers and killers," Bush said in perhaps his clearest expression of frustration with Iraqi forces. Bush's strategy calls for American troops to protect Iraq while local police and soldiers are trained to do the job themselves, eventually allowing the United States to withdraw.

"Now I would call the results mixed in terms of standing up Iraqi units who are willing to fight," Bush said in a candid assessment. "There have been some cases where, when the heat got on, they left the battlefield. That's unacceptable. Iraq will never secure itself if they have troops that, when the heat gets on, they leave the battlefield." What is needed, he said, is a better military command structure........"

Full article at:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&u=/ap/20041221/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush

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"Iraq will never secure itself if they have troops that, when the heat gets on, they leave the battlefield," said President Bush.

Why do Iraqi troops "when the heat gets on ...leave the battlefield." Is it that they are cowards? Or could there possibly be another reason? Like just maybe they do not believe in what they are fighting for and being asked to risk their lives for?