Bush to set out 'strategy for Iraq victory'

President George Bush will today set out a defence of his embattled war policy, after he stressed that a US military pullout from Iraq would be a terrible mistake.

The administration is under pressure to convince increasingly sceptical Americans that the president’s strategy for Iraq is headed in the right direction nearly three years after the US-led invasion.

The president is to give a speech on the subject today at the Naval Academy, and the White House is to release a 35-page document titled Our National Strategy for Victory in Iraq.

The document is a public version of a classified strategy of military, political and economic efforts that are being implemented by General George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq, and Zalmay Khalizad, the US ambassador to Iraq.

The document defines the enemy in Iraq and discusses experiences and lessons learned during the conflict, a senior White House official said.

In his remarks, Mr Bush will talk about setbacks experienced in the training of Iraqi security forces and improvements that have been made, as well as areas now being controlled by Iraqis, the official said.

The official said Bush would not talk about troop withdrawals.

The unrelenting violence that continues to claim American lives has contributed to a drop in Bush’s popularity, to its lowest level yet, and to growing US doubts about the war. It also has led to a debate in Congress about when the 160,000 US troops there should begin to go home.

Bush, speaking to reporters yesterday, rejected any immediate withdrawal in unusually personal terms.

“I want to defeat the terrorists. And I want our troops to come home,” the president said. “But I don’t want them to come home without having achieved victory.”

His speech today at Annapolis, Maryland, will focus on progress in the efforts to train an Iraqi security force and allow the gradual exit of US military forces.

Later speeches over the next two weeks are to emphasise the strides being made in establishing a stable, democratic government and creating a viable economy.