US will be fighting terrorists for years to come - Bush

US President George Bush warned today that the foiled plot in Britain to blow up jetliners over the Atlantic means the United States will be fighting terrorists for years to come.

“America is safer than it has been, yet it is not yet safe,” Mr Bush told reporters at the National Counterterrorism Centre in McLean, Virginia, just outside Washington.

He thanked the people who are involved in counterterrorism, and credited their help in last week’s arrests of more than two dozen people in England and Pakistan in what officials say was a plot to blow up as many as 10 passenger planes between Britain and the United States.

He said their work takes “an incredible amount of time, energy and effort.”

Mr Bush said the airliner plot was indicative of the challenges that America faces from terrorists now and for years to come.

“I will assure the American people that we are doing everything in our power to protect you,” Mr Bush said.

At the centre where employees watched large screen monitors and surveyed electronic maps of various parts of the world, Mr Bush attended a National Security Council and Homeland Security Council briefing and a meeting with the counterterrorism team.

America’s safety looms large as an issue in the mid-term elections less than three months before the November 7 contest. Both Republicans and Democrats are manoeuvring for the political advantage in an election where control of Congress is at stake.

On his handling of foreign policy and terrorism, Mr Bush was at 40% approval in an early August AP-Ipsos poll. That is near his all-time low of 39% on those issues in AP-Ipsos polling.

There have been mixed signals since the terror plot was foiled on whether his approval is rising in these areas. In some polls, there have been some signs of improvement, while other polls show no change.