Accusing Saddam Hussein's regime of committing scores of atrocities against the Iraqi people and prisoners of war, US President George W Bush said this evening that those responsible will be "hunted relentlessly and judged severely."
Speaking to war veterans in the East Room of the White House, the president said US-led forces were closing in on Baghdad, loosening Saddam's grip on power with every advance.
"The regime that once terrorised all of Iraq now controls a small portion of that country," he said.
Mr Bush accused Saddam's forces of murdering Iraqis who refuse to fight coalition forces, brutalizing and executing prisoners of war and opening fire under the flag of surrender.
"Against this enemy, we will accept no outcome except complete victory," he said.
The president and his surrogates are intensifying their criticism of Saddam's regime as they seek to rally public opinion behind a war that some now say may last longer than expected.
"Every Iraqi atrocity has confirmed the justice and urgency of our cause," he said.
Bush spoke shortly before he was to depart for Camp David, where he will conduct a video conference with his war council Saturday.