Bush pledges to tear down notorious Iraq prison

US President George Bush has promised to seek the incoming Iraqi government’s permission to demolish the Baghdad jail at the centre of prisoner abuse allegations.

In a speech at the US Army War College in Pennsylvania aimed at dispelling rising doubts about the war, Mr Bush said Abu Ghraib prison would be replaced by a new US-constructed maximum-security jail "fit for a new Iraq".

He also said that the US would keep its troop level at the current 138,000 as long as necessary but that commanders were constantly reassessing needs.

“If they need more troops, I will send them,” Mr Bush said.

With nearly 800 US soldiers killed so far in Iraq, the President warned that the violence would continue.

“There are difficult days ahead and the way forward may sometimes appear chaotic,” he said.

Five months before the US presidential election, Iraq has helped push down Mr Bush's approval rating to a new low and has increased doubts about his handling of the war.

In a speech lasting around 30 minutes, he outlined five steps that he said would help Iraq achieve democracy and freedom: transferring authority to a sovereign new Iraqi government, helping establish security in areas still gripped by chaos, urging broader international support, reconstructing the country and setting up national elections.

“Completing the five steps to Iraqi elected self-government will not be easy,” he said. “There is likely to be violence before the transfer of sovereignty and after the transfer of sovereignty.”

He talked of the assassination this month of the president of the Iraqi Governing Council, Izzadine Saleem, and the beheading of US civilian Nicholas Berg. But said: “No power of the enemy will stop Iraq’s progress.”

He said coalition forces and Iraqis have the same enemies – terrorists, illegal militia and loyalists of former President Saddam Hussein.

“Working as allies, we will defend Iraq and defeat these enemies,” he told the audience in an address broadcast on prime-time US television.