Finding Saddam Hussein remains part of the strategy in Iraq, President Bush says today.

Interviewed in the FT and other newspapers the president vowed to stick it out on Iraq. "We are not pulling out until the job is done. Period," said Bush.

Whilst he said it was "inconceivable" that the US would exit Iraq, he said the Iraqi people were "plenty capable" of running their own affairs.

Asked whether finding Saddam and al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden remained a priority, he said: "Yes, that's part of it. But even bigger is a free and democratic society. That is the mission."

Paul Bremer, the chief US administrator in Iraq, has returned to the country to put in place plans to accelerate the handover of sovereignty to the Iraqi people.

Foreign secretary Jack Straw was in the US yesterday for talks with his US counterpart Colin Powell.

The president, who says he is not worried about the threat of protests, will meet with the families of servicemen killed in Iraq during his visit to the UK next week, it is confirmed today.