Washington: US President George W. Bush urged Americans to remain committed to succeed in Iraq, saying if the US left Iraq we will be handing Iraq over to an enemy that would do us harm.

Bush spoke to reporters Wednesday at the Pentagon after meeting with high-level military officials to assess the situation in Iraq and design a fresh approach to halt the increasing violence in Iraq. Bush again rejected suggestions he begin withdrawing US troops.

"As we learned on September the 11th, the enemy has got the capacity to strike us. And there's no doubt in my mind a failure in Iraq would make it more likely the enemy would strike us," Bush said.

Bush has been reviewing his strategy since his Republican Party was defeated in Nov 7 congressional elections. His review has been paralleled by a bipartisan report co-led by former secretary of state James Baker III offering recommendations to rescue the effort. Among the ideas it suggests to begin troop withdrawals in early 2008 if the security environment improves.

Public support for the war in Iraq and Bush's policies there have dropped off dramatically in the last year and have more recently worsened. A Washington Post-ABC News poll published Wednesday showed that 70 percent of Americans disapprove of Bush's handling of Iraq while 52 percent said the United States was losing in the conflict. Only 34 percent believed the US effort was winning.

Bush has held a series of meetings this week, beginning Monday at the State Department and then later with outside experts. He met with Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi and had a telephone conference with US commanders in Iraq on Tuesday.