KUWAIT CITY (AP) -- Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld expressed hope Monday - but did not explicitly predict - that American troops would be out of Iraq by the end of President Bush's second term.

Rumsfeld, 72, ticked off a list of reasons he agreed to Bush's request last week to stay in his post, including good health and a good working relationship with the president. He also said he looked forward to continuing work on unfinished Pentagon projects.

Rumsfeld would not say whether he planned to remain the full four years of Bush's presidency but seemed to suggest that he might.

When a reporter asked whether Rumsfeld thought the troops would be gone before the end of his term, he prefaced his answer by saying he took that to mean four years. Then he said, speaking of whether troops would be out of Iraq within four years: "I would certainly expect that to be the case, hope that to be the case.

"But the answer to your question is not that. The answer is the president has said they'll stay as long as they are needed and not a day longer."

The Pentagon announced last week that it was increasing the number of troops in Iraq from 138,000 to a wartime high of 150,000 in January to bolster security in advance of the Iraqi elections.