Washington: US President George W Bush seems to have conceded that war on terror is "unwinnable", but also said it would make terrorism more and more unacceptable.

When asked by NBC-TV, in a show broadcast to coincide with yesterday's (Aug 30, 2004) start of the Republican National Convention, "Can we win?" Bush replied, "I don't think you can win it. But I think you can create conditions so that those who use terror as a tool are less acceptable in parts of the world."

The Democrats immediately seized on Bush's comments to portray him as a President who did not know what he was doing when he started his "war on terror".

Bush also said in his NBC interview that retreating from the war on terror "would be a disaster for your children".

"You cannot show weakness in this world today because the enemy will exploit that weakness. It will embolden them and make the world a more dangerous place."

Senator John Edwards, the Democratic party's candidate for Vice President, said, "After months of listening to the Republicans base their campaign on their singular ability to win the war on terror, the President now says we can't win the war on terrorism. This is no time to declare defeat."

White House Spokesman Scott McClellan sought to "clarify" Bush's admission, saying that Bush was speaking about winning the war "in the conventional sense".

"I don't think you can expect that there will ever be a formal surrender or a treaty signed like we have in wars past that is what he was talking about. It requires a generational commitment to win this war on terrorism," McClellan said.