'War on terror' advancing but not yet won: Bush

The "war on terror" is advancing but not yet won, US President George W. Bush said Saturday. "The war on terror continues, and we are making solid progress, but we must not become complacent," Bush warned in his weekly radio address.
"We will continue to pursue terrorists abroad. We will continue to support democratic change throughout the world, including in Afghanistan, Iraq and the broader Middle East. And we will do whatever it takes to support our men and women in uniform and give them the tools they need to prevail. "Our strategy is clear: We will fight the terrorists abroad so we do not have to face them here at home. While some difficult days still lie ahead, these recent victories are making America safer and the world more secure," Bush maintained.
"Terrorists know that there is no room for them as freedom takes root in the broader Middle East, so they are fighting to stop its progress," he said. "But in recent weeks, we have dealt them a series of devastating blows.
"In Afghanistan, we have brought to justice dozens of terrorists and insurgents. In Pakistan, one of Osama bin Laden's senior terrorist leaders, a man named Al-Libbi, was brought to justice. In Iraq, we captured two deputies of the terrorist (Abu Musab al-Zarqawi), and our forces have killed or captured hundreds of terrorists and insurgents near the Syrian border," Bush said.
Bush hails Afghan ties
US President George W. Bush on Saturday emphasised close ties with Afghanistan two days before he was to meet with an angry President Hamid Karzai, who has demanded control of US military operations in Afghanistan after a report of prisoner abuse.
Karzai, a staunch US ally who will visit Bush at the White House on Monday, said he was shocked by a US Army report described in The New York Times on Friday.
The report detailed abuse in 2002 at the Bagram detention center in Afghanistan, including the deaths of two inmates.
"It has shocked me thoroughly and we condemn it," Karzai said. "We want the US government to take very, very strong action, to take away people like that."
Bush did not mention the abuse report in his weekly radio address, which focused on Afghanistan and cited a "rebirth of freedom" there since the ousting of its Taleban rulers.