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By TERENCE HUNT
AP White House Correspondent
WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush said Tuesday there will be "more tough fighting ahead" in Iraq, but denied claims that the nation is in the grips of a civil war three years after the U.S.-led invasion.
Acknowledging the public's growing unease with the war in Iraq -- and election-year skittishness among fellow Republicans -- the president nonetheless vowed to keep U.S. soliders in the fight.
"If I didn't believe we could suceeed, I wouldn't be there. I wouldn't put those kids there," Bush declared.
He also stood by embattled Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld.
"I don't believe he should resign. He's done a fine job. Every war plan looks good on paper until you meet the enemy," he said.
In his second-full blown news conference of the year, Bush confronted his political problems by addressing them directly.
"Nobody likes war. It creates a sense of uncertainty in the country," he said. "War creates trauma."
The public's support for the war and the president himself has declined dramatically in recent months, jeopardizing his second-term agenda. "I'd say I'm spending that capital on the war," Bush said when asked about the political capital he carried out of the 2004 re-electon campaign.
When asked about his failed Social Security plan, Bush simply said: "I didn't get done." But he defiantly defended his warrantless eavesdropping program, and baited Democrats who suggest that he broke the law.
Calling a censure resolution "needless partisanship," Bush challenged Democrats to go into the November midterm elections in oppostion to eavesdropping on suspected terrorists. "They ought to stand up and say, `The tools we're using to protect the American peopel should not be used,"' Bush said.
The news conference marked a new push by Bush to confront doubts about his strategy in Iraq. A day earlier, he acknowledged to a sometimes skeptical audience that there was dwindling support for his Iraq policy and that he understood why people were disheartened.
"The terrorists haven't given up. They're tough-minded. They like to kill," he said Tuesday. "There will be more tough fighting ahead."
The president said he did not agree with former interim Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi, who told the British Broadcasting Corporation Sunday, "If this is not civil war, then God knows what civil war is."
Bush said others inside and outside Iraq think the nation has stopped short of civil war. "There are other voices coming out of Iraq, by the way, other than Mr. Allawi, who I know by the way -- like. A good fellow."
"We all recogized that there is violence, that there is sectarian violance. But the way I look at the situation is the Iraqis looked and decided not to go into civil war."
Nearly four out of five Americans, including 70 percent of Republicans, believe civil war will break out in Iraq, according to a recent AP-Ipsos poll.
Bush said he's confident of victory in Iraq. "I'm optimistic we'll suceed. If not, I'd pull our troops out," he said.
Bush said he agreed to U.S. talks with Iran to underscore his point that Tehran's attempts to spread sectarian violence or provide support to Iraqi insurgents was unacceptable to the United States.
His opening remarks were designed to steel Americans for more fighting in Iraq and put an optimistic spin on the state of the U.S. economy.
"Productivity is strong. Inflation is contained. Household net worth is at an all-time high," Bush said, crediting his administration's policies.
On Iraq, Bush bristled at a suggested that he wanted to wage war against that country since early in his presidency.
"I didn't want war. To assume I wanted war is just flat wrong ... with all due respect," he told a reporter. "No president wants war." To those who say otherwise, "it's simply not true," Bush said.
More than 2,300 Americans have died in three years of war in Iraq. Polls show the public's support of the war and Bush himself have dramatically declined in recent months.
Bush acknowleded that Republicans are worried about their political standing in November. "There's a certain unease as you head into an election year," he said.
Asked about former supporters who now oppose him and the war, Bush said he's trying to win them over by "talking realistically to people" about the war and its importance to the nation.
"I can understand how Americans are worried about whether or not we can win," Bush said, adding that most Americans want victory "but they're concerned about whether or not we can win."
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
