US: Democrats have accused President George Bush of politicising the fifth anniversary of the September 11th attacks by using a televised address on Monday to justify his policy towards Iraq.
Declaring that the US was engaged in "a struggle for civilisation", Mr Bush said the fate of Iraq was crucial to America's success in defeating terrorism. "The safety of America depends on the outcome of the battle in the streets of Baghdad," he said.
The White House told reporters before Mr Bush's address that the president would not seek to make political points and would issue no "call to action".
In fact, Mr Bush issued an unmistakable challenge to Democrats who oppose the war in Iraq and doubt its place in the struggle against terrorism.
"Winning this war will require the determined efforts of a unified country and we must put aside our differences and work together to meet the test that history has given us," he said.
Senator Edward Kennedy accused Mr Bush of using the anniversary to shore up support for an unpopular war in advance of November's mid-term elections.
"The president should be ashamed of using a national day of mourning to commandeer the airwaves to give a speech that was designed not to unite the country and commemorate the fallen, but to seek support for a war in Iraq that he has admitted had 'nothing' to do with 9/11," Senator Kennedy said.
"There will be time to debate this president's policies in Iraq. September 11th is not that time."
In his address Mr Bush said that Saddam Hussein had represented a threat to the US, despite the fact that he was not involved in the 2001 attacks and he warned that leaving Iraq now would embolden terrorists.
"Whatever mistakes have been made in Iraq, the worst mistake would be to think that if we pulled out the terrorists would leave us alone. They will not leave us alone. They will follow us . . . If we yield Iraq to men like bin Laden, our enemies will be emboldened; they will gain a new safe haven; they will use Iraq's resources to fuel their extremist movement. We will not allow this to happen. America will stay in the fight."
Mr Bush said that US soldiers in Iraq were fighting to maintain the way of life enjoyed by free nations and to spread freedom through the Middle East.
"The terrorists fear freedom as much as they do our firepower. They are thrown into panic at the sight of an old man pulling the election lever, girls enrolling in schools or families worshipping God in their own traditions. They know that given a choice, people will choose freedom over their extremist ideology."
Mr Bush's remarks came as the senior US marine intelligence officer in Iraq warned that the political and security situation in the west of the country would continue to get worse unless the region got more aid and an extra division of troops was sent to reinforce US troops there.
The Washington Post reported that Col Peter Devlin said US troop levels in Anbar province were inadequate for a successful counterinsurgency against Sunni militants.
A separate report issued this week by the US Government Accountability Office said attacks in Iraq against US-led forces and Iraqi security forces reached an "all-time high" during July."Despite coalition efforts and the efforts of the newly formed Iraqi government, insurgents continue to demonstrate the ability to recruit new fighters, supply themselves and attack coalition and Iraqi security forces," the report said.
"The deteriorating conditions threaten the progress of US and international efforts to assist Iraq in the political and economic areas."