Washington, SEPT 1, SPA -- U.S. President George W. Bush on Thursday pledged that victory in Iraq will be a major ideological triumph in the struggle of the 21st century, as he begins a public campaign to defend his war strategy ahead of the November elections and the fifth anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks. Speaking in Utah at the American Legion s national convention, Bush acknowledged that much of the world faces instability, including sectarian violence in Iraq, conflict along the Israel-Lebanon border and apparently continuing terrorist plots. But the president argued that bloodshed and threats are part of an ideological struggle between freedom and extremism that the United States must not abandon. Those responsible for violence in Iraq and elsewhere are all pursuing the same objective: to turn back the advance of freedom and impose a dark vision of tyranny and terror around the world, he said. He described Islamic extremists as the successors to fascists, Nazis, communists and other totalitarians. Bush s speaking tour comes just ahead of Congressional elections in which the president s Republican Party could lose control of both the House of Representatives and Senate. But Bush a day earlier said his speeches are not designed to affect the elections. They re speeches about the future of this country, and they re speeches to make it clear that if we retreat before the job is done, this nation would become even more in jeopardy. These are important times, and I seriously hope people wouldn t politicize these issues that I m going to talk about, he said. Nonetheless, national security and the war in Iraq look set to remain key issues in the elections, and Bush s speeches come at a time when polls find the American public unhappy with both his performance and the invasion of Iraq. This is the third time in less than a year that Bush has made a series of speeches on Iraq and terrorism. This time he has been joined by Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.--SPA www.spa.gov.sa/386404