US President George W Bush has refused to outline a specific scenario for a possible US withdrawal from Iraq, saying the emergence of freedom in the violence-torn country will signal the end of the US mission.

The comments, made in an exclusive interview broadcast by NBC News late yesterday, came amid mounting international pressure to step up efforts to restore Iraqi sovereignty and thus lay the groundwork for a gradual drawdown of US forces.

Dozens of people, including some mothers of American soldiers serving in Iraq, demonstrated outside the White House Saturday, demanding that the president bring their loved ones home.

A Gallup opinion poll conducted at the end of last month showed 52% of Americans believed the war in Iraq was not worth all the sacrifices while 45% held the opposite view.

But Bush insisted a new civil society in Iraq will dramatically reshape the Middle East reducing the threat of terrorism - and declined to give even an approximate date when a US pullout could begin.

"And the end is a free Iraq," Bush stated. "I'm not going to pick a timetable."

A proposed UN Security Council resolution granting international legitimacy to Iraq's new interim government was expected to contain a provision limiting a UN mandate for US-led forces in Iraq to the remainder of this year and the next, according to US secretary of state Colin Powell.

But Powell made clear the continued presence of US forces in the country will depend on the wishes of the Iraqi government, rather than a UN sanction.

Bush said the US mission at this juncture was to train and equip Iraqi forces to enable them to stand up to armed insurgents, which, in turn, will take the pressure off coalition forces.

A reassessment of US troop levels, he added, will be possible after this goal was achieved.

"And the American people have got to understand that part of winning the war on terror is to encourage the habits of liberty in parts of the world that need the habits of liberty," Bush pointed out. - Sapa-AFP