Bush tries to ease doubts over Iraq

US President George Bush is using the first anniversary of Iraq’s sovereignty to try to ease Americans’ doubts about the mission and outline a winning strategy for a violent conflict that has cost the lives of more than 1,740 US troops and has no end in sight.

In a prime-time address from Fort Bragg, North Carolina, home of the Army’s elite 82nd Airborne Division, Bush was to argue that there was no need to change course in Iraq despite the upsetting images produced by daily insurgent attacks.

His assessment comes on the heels of a recent poll that showed public doubts about the war reaching a high point – with more than half saying invading Iraq was a mistake.

Although attacks frequently take the lives of American troops, Bush has said they will not leave until Iraqi security forces are trained and equipped to keep the peace.

He has refused to give a timetable for troop withdrawal, even though some Democrats and a few Republicans in Congress are supporting a resolution that calls for Bush to start bringing them home by October 1 next year.

“The key to success in Iraq is for the Iraqis to be able and capable of defending their democracy against terrorists,” Bush said, then turned to what has been the signature achievement of the conflict that began in Baghdad more than two years ago. “Parallel with the security track is a political track.

"Obviously, the political track has made progress this year when eight million people went to the polls and voted.”

The administration appears to be shifting its strategy subtly, focusing more on political solutions to the insurgency.

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has confirmed talks have taken place with some insurgent leaders, and the US commander of the multinational coalition in Iraq has said the conflict will ultimately be resolved in a political process.

Tapping into American emotions over terrorists attacks in the US, White House press secretary Scott McClellan said Bush would talk about insurgents killing innocent people and how stopping the violence “will be a major blow to the ambitions of the terrorists”.

“This is a time of testing,” McClellan said. “It is a critical moment in Iraq. The terrorists are seeking to shake our will and weaken our resolve. They know that they cannot win unless we abandon the mission before it is complete.”

Bush also scheduled time to meet with families of soldiers who have died, as he usually does when he visits military bases. Outside the base, opponents of the war planned protests.

“There’s a groundswell against this war,” said Bill Dobbs, spokesman for United For Peace and Justice, an anti-war coalition of more than 1,300 local and national groups. “You can see it in Congress. You can see it in newspaper editorials.”

Bush’s speech is part of a new public-relations campaign from the White House to try to calm anxieties about the war. It comes after several conflicting or perplexing messages about the nature and duration of the conflict.

Vice President Dick Cheney made headlines last month with his assertion the insurgency in Iraq was “in its last throes”. He was later contradicted by the top US commander in the Middle East, General John Abizaid, and by Rumsfeld, who said the insurgency could drag on for years.

Rumsfeld also told an interviewer this month that Iraq was “statistically” no safer today than it was before the ousting of Saddam Hussein, although he maintained progress was being made.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told a conference on Iraq’s reconstruction last week that defeating terrorism in Iraq would “be a death knell for terrorism as we know it”.