One year after the fall of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, US President George W. Bush has to confront the fact that occupation of the war-ravaged country has been more protracted and costly than anticipated. 

In his first prime-time speech and news conference since March 6, 2003, just days before the launching of war without the United Nations' blessing to depose Saddam, Bush signaled on Tuesday that he is ready to increase US firepower in Iraq, adding he intends to usher in a new era of democracy and "finish the work of the fallen."

With popular support dropping and political attacks mounting, Bush was attempting to reassure Americans about US strategy in Iraq and convince the world that the terrible toll of rebuilding the problem-plagued Middle Eastern country is a necessary price to pay in a broader struggle against terrorism.

Nevertheless, he offered old rhetoric but few specifics on how to erase the administration's mismanagement of post-war Iraq.

Conceding a couple of "tough weeks in Iraq," Bush defended the US strategy in Iraq by rebuffing a suggestion that Iraq was turning out to be another Viet Nam -- a quagmire without ready exit.

He said a recent spike in savage violence was neither a civil war nor a popular uprising.

While pledging the troops will remain, Bush also insisted the United States would stick to a June 30 deadline for handing over political power to Iraqis.

The speech came amid an increasingly deteriorating situation for the US-led occupation, which has strayed far from the Bush administration's expectations of a quick, easy transition to Iraqi self-government.

April has been the deadliest month for the US-led coalition forces since Baghdad fell last spring.

The steady escalation of violence between the coalition forces and local militias has resulted in hundreds of casualties, most of them civilians.

According to the US military, at least 83 American personnel were killed and more than 560 wounded this month, as American troops fight on three fronts: against Sunni insurgents in Falluja, Shi'ite militiamen in the south and gunmen in Baghdad. At least 678 US troops have died since the war began in March 2003.

The bloody insurgency shows no sign of abating.

Iraq is still a battleground and the future of the war-shattered country remains uncertain.

The chaos reflects the uphill resistance that the occupation forces continue to meet a couple of months before the June 30 deadline for transfer of power to Iraqis.

The slow pace of progress and mounting costs reinforce the perception that the Bush administration is leading the United States into a new quagmire.

Even if the uprising eventually fades out, the allied forces' dwindling credibility has taken another hefty blow.

The president addressed matters of war and peace in the course of his hour at the podium, but election-year politics shadowed the proceedings.

Asked whether he believes he has acted correctly even if it costs him his job, he replied quickly, "I don't intend to lose my job. Because I'm going to tell the American people I have a plan to win the war on terror."

He said he had instructed the military to use decisive force if necessary to crush the insurgency.

There is nothing new in his plan to win the war on terror.

Ironically, instead of eradicating terrorism, he himself has branded Iraq the central front for the terrorist threat.

Approval of his handling of Iraq has declined to the mid-40 percent level, and approval for his handling of terrorism has dipped into the mid-50s. A growing number of people say the military action in Iraq has increased rather than decreased the threat of terrorism.

The speech indicated Bush's initial go-it-alone policy has become his administration's biggest vulnerability, and it is wrong to link the war on terrorism to the US strategy in Iraq.

(China Daily April 15, 2004)