The US President Mr George W Bush vowed today to crush militants behind this week's wave of deadly attacks in Baghdad and Kerbala, and signaled a major push against chief suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.
Mr Bush offered his first personal response to Tuesday's bomb attacks on Shi'ite worshipers, saying, "Laura and I and the American people were filled with grief and anger."
In citing progress toward handing sovereignty back to Iraqis on June 30th, Mr Bush made no mention of the postponement of Friday's signing of an interim Iraqi constitution.
"We will defeat the terrorists who seek to plunge Iraq into chaos and violence, and we will stand with the people of Iraq for as long as necessary to build a stable, peaceful and successful democracy," Mr Bush said in his weekly radio address from his Crawford, Texas, ranch.
Democratic presidential candidate Mr John Kerry said in response that Bush had misplaced priorities in Iraq, spending billions of dollars on contracts to Halliburton but not providing troops enough body armor and other protective gear.
To ease the strain on the Reserves from deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mr Kerry said active-duty forces should temporarily be expanded by 40,000 troops.