Violence adds to urgency in Iraq

WASHINGTON (AP) President Bush on Saturday braced Americans for more bloodshed in Iraq but said recent civil strife has motivated warring political factions to move quickly to set up a representative government.

"Our ambassador to Iraq, Zal Khalilzad, reports that the violence has created a new sense of urgency among these leaders to form a national unity government as quickly as possible," Bush said in his weekly radio address.

"I urge them to continue their work to put aside their differences, to reach out across political, religious and sectarian lines, and to form a government that can confront the terrorist threat and earn the trust and confidence of all Iraqis."

Bush's broadcast came in advance of a speech he plans to deliver in Cleveland on Monday, the second in a series of talks marking Sunday's three-year anniversary of the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. In the speech, Bush will discuss how the United States is working with various sectors of Iraqi society to defeat terrorists, restore calm and help rebuild homes and communities.

The president said victory in Iraq will come when terrorists and loyalists of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein no longer threaten Iraq's democracy, when Iraqi security forces can ensure safety for citizens and terrorists can't call Iraq home.

"More fighting and sacrifice will be required to achieve this victory," he told listeners.

Democrats are calling on Bush to provide more leadership to unify fighting political sectors in Iraq and prevent the nation from spiraling into civil strife. The Feb. 22 bombing of a Shiite mosque and subsequent violence led to the deaths of hundreds of people and pushed the country to the brink of civil war between rival Muslim sects.

According to the latest AP-Ipsos poll, more than threefourths of Americans, 77 percent, say they think a civil war is likely in Iraq. Seventy percent of Republicans and 90 percent of Democrats felt that way. People are evenly split on whether they think a stable, democratic government will be formed in Iraq, according to the poll taken in early March.

Bush has said that as Iraqi security forces step up, U.S. troops will be able to stand down. But critics of the administration's handling of the war say that the Iraqis must be told that the American military will not be in Iraq forever, and they must realize that the eventual pullout will be on U.S., not Iraqi, terms.

Bush's speeches - a total of three this month and possibly more in April - would be similar in tone to a series of talks he made in December to help turn public opinion on the war in his favor. In those talks, he combined steely resolve with frank acknowledgments that mistakes have led to changes in U.S. strategy.

The president said that, in Ohio on Monday, he would provide concrete examples of how U.S. strategy in Iraq is succeeding.

"In recent weeks, Americans have seen horrific images from Iraq: the bombing of a great house of worship in Samarra, sectarian reprisals between Sunnis and Shias, and car bombings and kidnappings," Bush said.

"Amid continued reports about the tense situation in parts of that country, it may seem difficult at times to understand how we can say that progress is being made," he said. "But the reaction to the recent violence by Iraq's leaders is a clear sign of Iraq's commitment to democracy."