President Gives Both Reassurance, Warnings on Iraq

"I ask all of you listening to carefully consider the stakes of this war -- to realize how far we have come in this difficult, noble and necessary cause," he said.

He also said his visits to wounded soldiers and the families of the fallen soldiers have driven home the ramifications of going to war. "I know that some of my decisions have led to terrible loss," he said. "And not one of those decisions has been taken lightly."

Bush's acknowledgment of the difficulties in Iraq won praise from some Democrats, who still called on him to lay down a more concrete plan for withdrawing troops from the conflict. "The president has reached out and spoken more directly than ever before about how we went to war and why it is important to achieve victory, a goal we all share," said Minority Leader Harry M. Reid (Nev.). "While I appreciate the president's increased candor, too much of the substance remains the same and the American people have still not heard what benchmarks we must meet along the way to know that progress is being made and that our brave troops can begin to come home."

Sen. John W. Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, praised Bush's speech as a resolute call to victory and also as "a high-water mark in his acknowledgment that mistakes have been made and that he has to accept his share of the blame."

Although Bush said that "our forces in Iraq are on the road to victory," others are not so optimistic. Even before the president's speech, Democrats assailed his handling of Iraq and warned that the country could plunge into civil war if Bush does not force a reconciliation among its main factions.

"We've got to tell them they need to come together politically or we'll have to reconsider our presence in Iraq," Sen. Carl M. Levin (Mich.), ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, said on NBC's "Meet the Press."

"You got to bring in the international community and the regional powers to put pressure on the Sunni parties to compromise," agreed Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr. (D-Del.), who spoke on CBS's "Face the Nation" after returning from a trip to Iraq last week. "If that doesn't happen, all the king's horses and all the king's men, six months from now, are not going to hold this country together."

Republican Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) agreed that challenges lie ahead, but he also praised Bush for being more open with the American people. "Errors have been made," he said on ABC's "This Week." "I think his speeches -- the last four speeches that he has given -- were really good, very appropriate, laid out exactly the situation, certainly as I see it, admission of error, but certainly hope for the future of this process succeeding."

Republicans believe that by focusing on Iraq, Bush has reduced the political damage and has reshaped the debate. A new Associated Press-Ipsos poll found that 57 percent of Americans think U.S. forces should remain in Iraq until the country is stabilized, compared with 36 percent who support an immediate withdrawal. Still, more Americans consider the invasion a mistake than those who believe it was the right decision.

Bush's approval ratings, meanwhile, which reached new lows in recent weeks amid renewed questions about the run-up to the war, are showing signs of rebounding.

The prime-time speech has become a favorite vehicle for the Bush White House to make its case to the American people. Presidents have typically reserved such speeches for times of war or urgent crisis, but Bush has used the format in the past year to promote his Social Security plan, to introduce a Supreme Court nominee and to promise to rebuild the Gulf Coast after Hurricane Katrina. He also has used it to urge the nation to stay the course in Iraq.

During his speech, Bush acknowledged that the war has been thornier than the administration projected. "The work has been especially difficult in Iraq -- more difficult than we expected," Bush said. "Reconstruction efforts and the training of Iraqi security forces started more slowly than we hoped. We continue to see violence and suffering."

Despite the problems, Cheney, speaking in an interview scheduled to air tonight on ABC's "Nightline," refused to back off of his assertion made before the war that the United States would be greeted as liberators by the Iraqi people.

"I don't think I got it wrong," Cheney said. " I think the vast majority of the Iraqi people are grateful for what the United States did. I think they believe overwhelmingly that they're better off today than they were when Saddam Hussein ruled."