Bush asserts 'steady progess' after Mosul raid

WASHINGTON -- A day after American forces killed Saddam Hussein's sons and heirs, President Bush asserted Wednesday that the United States was making "steady progress" in pacifying postwar Iraq and said the sacrifices of U.S. troops were not in vain.

"Saddam Hussein's sons were responsible for torture, maiming and murder of countless Iraqis," Bush said during remarks in the White House Rose Garden. "Now, more than ever, all Iraqis can know that the former regime is gone and will not be coming back."

The comments were the president's first on the operation that killed Odai and Qusai Hussein, and his first progress report on the war since the beginning of the month. In the past three weeks, daily bombing and sniper attacks on U.S. forces have sapped morale among the troops and support from the public.

"We know that our coalition forces are serving under difficult circumstances," stressed Bush, who was flanked by Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld; Air Force Gen. Richard B. Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; and L. Paul Bremer III, the top U.S. civilian administrator in Iraq.

"The families of our servicemen and women can take comfort in knowing that their sons and daughters and moms and dads are serving a cause that is noble and just and vital to the security of the United States."

There was a bright note for the administration on Wednesday, when U.S. forces captured another senior official from the deposed regime, Barzan Abd al-Ghafur Salayman Majid Al-Tikriti. Ranked No. 11 on the Pentagon's most-wanted list, he had commanded the Special Republican Guard.

Otherwise, the news out of Iraq continued much as it had in recent weeks: Two U.S. soldiers were killed and eight were wounded, along with a civilian contractor, in a pair of ambushes on Wednesday -- one near the northern city of Mosul, where the Hussein brothers met their end, and the second in Ramadi, 60 miles west of the capital, Baghdad.

And another audiotape purporting to be the voice of Saddam Hussein was aired by Dubai-based Al Arabiya television. The voice on the tape, allegedly recorded by Saddam two days before his sons' deaths, insisted that the "battle is not over yet."

"We tell our armed forces and our people that if America has achieved military superiority, it will not achieve supremacy in the battle of wills against the Iraqi people," the voice on the tape said.

The White House has been looking for an opportunity to try to shake off questions about the rationale for war and the halting start of reconstruction efforts. The deaths of Odai and Qusai Hussein have provided just such an opening in what had been weeks of bleak news.

"In the 83 days since I announced the end of major combat operations in Iraq, we have made progress, steady progress in restoring hope in a nation beaten down by decades of tyranny," Bush declared in his Rose Garden remarks.

At the Pentagon, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul D. Wolfowitz echoed the same theme, saying that the killings helped "enormously" to "remove the blanket of fear that still covers" the Iraqi people.

Wolfowitz acknowledged that "the level of suspicion and paranoia (among Iraqis) is incredible." But he said his recent visit to Iraq, along with Tuesday's successful raid, persuaded him that "the progress that our troops are making is helping to lessen the grip of fear."

But in a luncheon speech to the National Press Club, Bremer sounded a more cautious note, warning that the deaths of Saddam's sons -- and even the possible death of Saddam himself -- "will not end attacks on our soldiers."

"I don't think it's useful to hold out any hope that we can wave a magic wand over the field and suddenly do away with all our enemies," Bremer said.

The Bush administration, and in particular the Pentagon, have been criticized as having failed to plan adequately for the disorder and ruin that followed the war.

Bremer, who has been in Washington since the weekend to consult with the administration and Congress, used his speech to outline what Bush described as a "comprehensive plan" with "ambitious timetables and clear benchmarks" for the rebuilding effort.

In the next 60 days, Bremer said, he plans to:

Restore a measure of security to Iraq, in part by recruiting a battalion of soldiers for a new Iraqi army; organize eight battalions of a new police force called the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps; re-establish the border guard; and resume trials in Iraq's Central Criminal Court.

Restore electricity and health care services to prewar levels, rehabilitate 1,000 schools and provide them with "de-Baathified" textbooks, and help more Iraq banks to reopen.

Work with the interim Governing Council, named earlier this month, to call a constitutional congress so that Iraqis can draw up a new constitution and hold national elections sometime next year.

Introduce a new currency on Oct. 15, exchanging bills that are a decade old and are, in some cases, of questionable value.

Bremer said the challenge the United States and its allies face in Iraq is of historic proportions -- more acute than the transition after the collapse of the Soviet Union, more complex than the rebuilding of Germany after the defeat of Hitler.

To that end, the president, while insisting that the United States already enjoys significant international support, made a direct appeal from the Rose Garden to countries around the world, asking them to contribute "militarily and financially" to the rebuilding effort.

Bremer predicted a $4-billion deficit next year for the rebuilding effort.

"Iraq's near-term needs will require considerable assistance from the United States, its coalition partners and the international community," Bremer said.

Times staff writer Esther Schrader contributed to this report.