If U.S. troops pull out of Iraq too quickly, it will trigger the kind of violence seen after the American withdrawal in Vietnam, U.S. President George W. Bush said Wednesday.

"One unmistakable legacy of Vietnam is that the price of America's withdrawal was paid by millions of innocent citizens whose agonies would add to our vocabulary new terms like boat people, re-education camps and killing fields," Bush said in Kansas City.

U.S. soldiers listen as President George W. Bush delivers a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars national convention on Wednesday in Kansas City.
(Evan Vucci/Associated Press)

After U.S. troops pulled out of Vietnam and the war ended in 1975, thousands of people were sent by the Vietnamese government into re-education camps, which human rights activists say were essentially slave labour camps. Thousands of other people fled Vietnam on over-crowded boats.

Bush, speaking at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention, said the U.S. departure in Vietnam gave future terrorists like Osama bin Laden ammunition to label Americans losers who cut and run.

Bush does not often invoke Vietnam, where the U.S. suffered what many call a humiliating defeat.

During his speech Wednesday, Bush did point to the success of the Korean War, saying millions of South Koreans would be living under a brutal regime if it weren't for the United States.

14 U.S. soldiers die in helicopter crash

Bush's remarks about Vietnam came as his administration is under fire from Democrats and even some fellow Republicans to pull out of war-torn Iraq, where more than 3,700 American soldiers have died since the U.S. invasion in March 2003.

The day Bush made his comments, 14 soldiers were killed when their helicopter crashed in northern Iraq. It was the deadliest U.S. helicopter accident in Iraq since 31 soldiers were killed in a crash in January 2005.

While Bush tackled the issue of troop withdrawal Wednesday, he was also forced to elaborate on comments he made about Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

On Tuesday, Bush expressed frustration with al-Maliki and suggested if the leader and his government don't respond to the demands of Iraqis, the Iraqi people will replace them.

On Wednesday, Bush clarified that.

"Prime Minister Maliki's a good guy, good man with a difficult job and I support him," he said. "And it's not up to the politicians in Washington, D.C., to say whether he will remain in his position."

With files from the Associated Press and Canadian Press