Bush in bid to shore up support for Iraq war

US President George Bush will today embark on a round of speeches aiming to shore up fading support for the Iraq war.

He is expected to draw parallels with long conflicts such as World War II and invoke the September 11 attacks, arguing that the Iraqi insurgents share the same ideologies as the al-Qaida hijackers.

He will claim that while the conflict will be a long haul it will be worth the sacrifice.

The address, to war veterans in Salt Lake City, Utah, comes amid plummeting support for the war with latest polls showing that a growing majority believe th 2003 invasion was a mistake.

A protest launched by bereaved mother Cindy Sheehan, just a stone’s throw from his Texas ranch, has proved a public relations coup for the anti-war movement and galvanised national support.

Sheehan, whose 24-year-old Army Specialist son Casey was killed in Iraq in April 2004, has become a regular fixture on every news channel and sparked more than 1,500 peace vigils nationwide last week.

Increasing parallels are being drawn with the Vietnam war. Republican senator Chuck Hagel, told ABC News that the conflict had destabilised Iraq and that to “stay the course” was not a policy.

He said a stronger US military presence was not the solution.

“We’re past that stage now because now we are locked into a bogged-down problem not unsimilar, dissimilar to where we were in Vietnam,” he said.

“The longer we stay, the more problems we’re going to have.”

Bush’s speech to war veterans will be his first high profile attempt to boost support for the war since he addressed a military audience in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, in June.

He will also speak to a National Guard group in Nampa, Idaho, on Wednesday.

In his weekly radio address this weekend, he said that as with past conflicts, the war on terror required great sacrifice.

“If we do not confront these evil men abroad, we will have to face them one day in our own cities and streets,” he said.

“The safety and security of every American is at stake in this war.” The attempt to boost support follows the revelation that the Army is planning for the possibility of keeping more than 100,000 soldiers in Iraq for four more years.

Mr Hagel warned that the longer troops stay, the more destabilisation will occur.

“We should start figuring out how we get out of there,” he said. “But with this understanding, we cannot leave a vacuum that further destabilises the Middle East.”