SALT LAKE CITY - President Bush said Thursday the war against Islamic militants was like last century's fight against Nazis and communists and that a U.S. withdrawal from Iraq would lead to its conquest by America's worst enemies.

US President George W. Bush speaks to the 88th annual American Legion National Convention in Salt Lake City, Utah. Bush predicted an apocalyptic future if the United States hastily quits Iraq, and warned Iran would pay a price for not freezing sensitive nuclear work.[AFP]

"The security of the civilized world depends on victory in the war on terror, and that depends on victory in Iraq," Bush said in a speech to rally support for his unpopular war strategy two months before congressional elections. The Democrats responded by accusing Bush of pursuing failed policies that have weakened the war on terrorism.

Nearly 4,000 anti-war protesters demonstrated downtown Wednesday. But there were no organized protests Thursday as Bush spoke before a friendly American Legion convention in one of the nation's most conservative states. It was the first in a series of Iraq speeches by Bush at a time when just 33 percent of Americans approve of his handling of the war, according to an AP-Ipsos poll.

"Some politicians look at our efforts in Iraq and see a diversion from the war on terror," Bush said. "That would come as news to Osama bin Laden, who proclaimed that the 'third world war is raging' in Iraq."

With national security a cornerstone of his campaign strategy, Bush will mark the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks by visiting all three sites where terrorists crashed hijacked planes, in Washington, Pennsylvania and New York.

Bush noted that many people are frustrated with the unrelenting violence in Iraq and that some are calling for a timetable for withdrawal.

"Many of these folks are sincere and they're patriotic, but they could be - they could not be more wrong," Bush said.

Some Republicans, like Rep. Christopher Shays of Connecticut, have joined with Democrats in seeking a withdrawal timetable.

"If America were to pull out before Iraq can defend itself, the consequences would be absolutely predictable and absolutely disastrous," Bush said. "We would be handing Iraq over to our worst enemies."

Bush said Saddam sympathizers, armed groups backed by Iran and al-Qaida terrorists from across the world would use Iraq as a base of operation.

"They would have a new sanctuary to recruit and train terrorists at the heart of the Middle East, with huge oil riches to fund their ambitions," the president said. "And we know exactly where those ambitions lead. If we give up the fight in the streets of Baghdad, we will face the terrorists in the streets of our own cities."

Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid dismissed the president's remarks, the third set of such addresses within a year.

"No matter how many speeches the president gives, the truth is that his failed policies have taken the country in a dangerous direction," Reid said. "The American people know that five years after September 11th, we are not as safe as we should and could be. Iraq is in crisis, our military is stretched thin, and terrorist groups and extremist regimes have been strengthened and emboldened across the Middle East and the world. It is time for a new direction."

Bush's series of speeches are to continue Tuesday, with remarks in Washington before the Military Officers Association of America and members of the diplomatic corps. It is to continue through Sept. 19, when the president is scheduled to address the U.N. General Assembly in New York.

The president said rising insurgency in Afghanistan would ultimately fail. He said international peacekeepers sent in to quell the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah would succeed in stopping the militant Islamic group from "acting as a state within a state."

He disputed claims that Iraq had descended into civil war, saying U.S. diplomats and military officials in Iraq say only a small fraction of Iraqis are engaged in sectarian violence.

And Bush accused Syria of sponsoring terrorism and said Iran was interfering in Iraq and pursuing nuclear weapons. The president spoke on the deadline the U.N. Security Council set for Iran to stop enriching uranium, which can be used in civilian nuclear reactions or at greater purity in an atomic warhead.

"There must be consequences for Iran's defiance and we must not let Iran develop a nuclear weapon," Bush said.

He said America's enemies include radical Sunnis who pledge allegiance to al-Qaida and militant Shiias who join groups like Hezbollah and take guidance from state sponsors like Syria and Iran. Yet, despite their differences, Bush said, they all subscribe to the same ideology that free societies are a threat to their "twisted view of Islam."

"The war we fight today is more than a military conflict," the president said. "It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st century. On one side are those who believe in the values of freedom and moderation ... and on the other side are those driven by the values of tyranny and extremism," the president said.

"As veterans, you have seen this kind of enemy before," he said. "They're successors to Fascists, to Nazis, to communists, and other totalitarians of the 20th century. And history shows what the outcome will be: This war will be difficult; this war will be long; and this war will end in the defeat of the terrorists and totalitarians, and a victory for the cause of freedom and liberty."