US: The US defence secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, has warned that "moral and intellectual confusion" over the Iraq war and the broader war on terrorism could sap American willpower and divide the country, and he urged renewed resolve to confront extremists waging "a new type of fascism".
Drawing parallels to efforts by some nations to appease Hitler, Mr Rumsfeld said it would be "folly" for the US to ignore rising dangers posed by a new enemy that he called "serious, lethal and relentless".
In a pointed attack on the news media and critics of President Bush's war and national security policies, Mr Rumsfeld declared: "Any kind of moral and intellectual confusion about who and what is right or wrong can severely weaken the ability of free societies to persevere."
He was speaking on Tuesday at the American Legion's national convention in Salt Lake City as part of a co-ordinated defence of Mr Bush leading up to the fifth anniversary of September 11th. Reviving images of the president's response to the strike on the World Trade Centre in New York, Mr Rumsfeld said, "He remains the same man who stood atop the rubble of Lower Manhattan, with a bullhorn, vowing to fight back."
With polls showing that a majority of Americans believe it was a mistake for the US to invade Iraq and many Democrats calling for a deadline for withdrawing US troops, Mr Rumsfeld called the Iraq war the "epicentre" of the struggle against terrorism.
Last week, Mr Bush said that setting a timetable for troop withdrawal would embolden the enemy and cause chaos in Iraq and throughout the region.
Congressional Democrats angrily responded to Mr Rumsfeld's remarks. "There is no confusion among military experts, bipartisan members of Congress, and the overwhelming majority of the American people about the need to change course in Iraq," said Senator Edward Kennedy. "The only person confused about how to best protect this country is Don Rumsfeld, which is why he must go."
Mr Rumsfeld obliquely acknowledged mistakes and setbacks in Iraq, quoting the French statesman Georges Clemenceau in calling all wars "a series of catastrophes that results in victory". And, in a reference to recent charges of war crimes against US troops in Iraq, Mr Rumsfeld said: "In every army, there are occasionally bad actors - the ones who dominate the headlines today - who don't live up to the standards of their oath and of our country." He blamed the US media for spreading "myths and distortions . . . about our troops and about our country".