By TERENCE HUNT
The Associated Press
Wednesday, October 25, 2006; 10:44 AM

WASHINGTON -- With American casualties in Iraq at their highest levels in a year, President Bush said Wednesday the "events of the past month have been a serious concern to me."

At the same time, he said, "it remains critical that the United States defeats the enemy" in a long and brutal war.

"Our security at home depends on assuring that Iraq is an ally in the war on terror," Bush said in the opening moments of a White House news conference less than two weeks before midterm elections.