US: The argument at the heart of president George Bush's televised address on Iraq was that the risk to America in a precipitous troop withdrawal was too great to even set a deadline.
The loss of life in Iraq is "worth it", he told the 750 soldiers sitting in silence in a hall at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and the millions of Americans watching on television.
Five times during the 28 minute speech Mr Bush invoked 9/11 to argue - as he did so successfully during his re-election campaign - that the US must "defeat them abroad before they attack us at home".
"The war reached our shores on September the 11th, 2001," he said.
r "After September the 11th, I made a commitment to the American people: This nation will not wait to be attacked again."
r "The only way our enemies can succeed is if we forget the lessons of September the 11th."
r "After September the 11th, 2001, I told the American people that the road ahead would be difficult."
r "They are trying to shake our will in Iraq, just as they tried to shake our will on September the 11th, 2001."
Mr Bush cited Osama bin Laden's words that the Third World war was being fought in Iraq, and stated: "Our mission in Iraq is clear. We're hunting down the terrorists." The incessant linking of 9/11 with Iraq drew criticism from critics who perceived Iraq as a war of choice.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid said the 9/11 references "only served to remind the American people that our most dangerous enemy, namely Osama bin Laden, is still on the loose" and capable of "doing this nation great harm".
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi accused Bush of demonstrating a willingness "to exploit the sacred ground of 9/11, knowing that there is no connection between 9/11 and the war in Iraq".
The New York Times said, "We had hoped he would resist the temptation to raise the bloody flag of 9/11 to justify a war in a country that had nothing whatsoever to do with the terrorist attacks".
The idea that Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein were linked is still popular in the US, though it was rejected by the bipartisan 9/11 commission report.
Republican Congressman Robin Hayes of North Carolina insisted to CNN that they were connected, saying, "There's evidence everywhere, we get access to it, others don't".
Republican Senator John McCain of Arizona supported the president's underlying argument that the US was winning by virtue of the fact that there had been no more attacks on the American mainland.
Those spreading violence in Iraq "are the same guys who would be in New York if we don't win in Iraq" he said.
Senator McCain took issue with the president, however, on troop levels.
"One of the very big mistakes early on was that he didn't have enough troops on the ground, particularly after the initial victory, and that's still the case," he said.
In his address, Mr Bush said: "If our commanders on the ground say we need more troops, I will send them. But our commanders tell me they have the number of troops they need to do their job.
"Sending more Americans would undermine our strategy of encouraging Iraqis to take the lead in this fight [ and] would suggest that we intend to stay forever, when we are, in fact, working for the day when Iraq can defend itself and we can leave."
Democratic Senator Joseph Biden asked: "Who's talking to the president? I'm going to send him the phone numbers of the very generals and flag officers that I met on Memorial Day when I was in Iraq, all of whom said there were not enough troops on the ground."
Some senior Democrats nevertheless gave credit to the president for outlining his arguments for continued sacrifice, including Senator Biden who said, "I think he told the American people why it's important." Senator Chris Dodd said: "This is a beginning. The president needs to do more of what he did last evening."
A snap CNN poll showed that the public response to the prime-time address was favourable, with 46 per cent registering a "very positive" reaction and 28 per cent "somewhat positive".
However, this compared with a 67 per cent "very positive" reaction to the last address Mr Bush made about the war, in May 2004 at the US Army War College in Pennsylvania, when he also told Americans that Iraq was the central front in the fight against terrorism and that while progress was being made, there was much work to do.
Mr Bush did not repeat the recent assertion of vice-president Dick Cheney that the insurgency was in its "last throes", which brought ridicule on the White House.