US: Amid mounting calls for an early withdrawal of US forces from Iraq, President Bush has outlined a "strategy for victory", but warned it will take "time and patience" before Iraqi forces can replace American soldiers.
In a speech to sailors at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, Mr Bush said that success in Iraq was central to the fight against international terrorism. "The terrorists have made it clear that Iraq is the central front in their war on humanity. They are trying to shake our will to achieve their stated objectives. They will fail . . . We will never back down, we will never give in, and we will never accept anything less than complete victory," he said.
Earlier yesterday, the White House published a 35-page National Strategy for Victory in Iraq that Mr Bush described as an unclassified version of his administration's strategy in Iraq.
The document suggests that US troop numbers in Iraq could fall in 2006 but warns violence could continue "for many years to come" and that the insurgency could prove difficult to defeat.
"No war has ever been won on a timetable and neither will this one," the report says, rejecting calls from Democrats for a withdrawal of US soldiers.
"Although we are confident of victory in Iraq, we will not put a date certain on when each stage of success will be reached, because the timing of success depends upon meeting certain conditions, not arbitrary timetables," it says.
Mr Bush said that Iraqi forces were making progress but he acknowledged there had been some setbacks in training the Iraqi army and in other aspects of US military strategy. He said, however, that US commanders had adapted to changing circumstances on the ground.
"Our strategy in Iraq is clear. Our tactics are flexible and dynamic. We have changed them as conditions required, and they are bringing us victory against a brutal enemy," he said.
The White House strategy paper identifies the enemy in Iraq as "a combination of rejectionists, Saddamists, and terrorists".
It says the rejectionists are the biggest group, made up of mostly of disaffected Sunnis who boycotted elections in January.
"Over time, most rejectionists will be persuaded to support a democratic Iraq led by a federal government that is strong enough to protect minority rights," it says.
The White House is confident it can marginalise Saddam Hussein's remaining loyalists, focusing its energies on defeating "the smallest, but most lethal, group" - the terrorists.
"Their objective is to drive US and coalition forces out; use the vacuum that would be created by an American retreat to gain control; and use Iraq as a base from which to launch attacks against America, overthrow moderate governments in the Middle East, and establish a totalitarian Islamic empire that reaches from Indonesia to Spain," the strategy document says.
Yesterday's speech was the first of a series on Iraq Mr Bush will make before the Iraqi elections on December 15th. Almost two out of three Americans believe the US military campaign in Iraq is going badly.
The US has about 160,000 soldiers in Iraq. More than 2,100 have died since the invasion in March 2003, and almost 16,000 have been so badly wounded that they have had to leave Iraq - the equivalent of a battalion per month.
Moderate Democrats, including Senators Hillary Clinton and Joseph Biden, have called for a new strategy in Iraq and a substantial reduction in the US military presence there during 2006.
