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US President George W. Bush has said "complete sovereignty" will be given to the Iraqi leadership on June 30.
Bush made the remarks in an interview to the French magazine Paris Match to be published on Thursday.
Bush said he doesn't consider all the Iraqis fighting the US occupation to be "terrorists." "The suicide bombers are, but the other fighters aren't. They just don't want to be occupied. Not even me, nobody, would want to be. That's why we're giving them their sovereignty. We are guaranteeing them complete sovereignty from June 30," he said.
He also tried to clear up differences between Washington and Paris over the Iraqi war, calling French President Jacques Chirac his "friend" and France "an ally."
"I have never been angry with the French. France has long been an ally," he said.
"Friends can disagree," Bush said. "Jacques told it to me clearly. He didn't believe the use of force was necessary. We debated it as friends."
Bush will arrive in France on the weekend for the 60th anniversary ceremonies of the D-Day landings in Normandy that will group 15 heads of state and government.
To the question whether he would invite the French president to his ranch in his home state of Texas, Bush said in a laugh: "If he wants to come to see some cows, he's welcome. He can come and see the cows."
(Xinhua News Agency June 3, 2004)
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