US press review: 'Victory' in Iraq

The president's action-style appearance won much coverage

US press opinion was split down the middle in its judgement of US President George W Bush's speech on the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, in which he declared victory in Iraq.

The setting of the visit is the topic of much wry commentary from some newspapers, with the New York Times noting the similarity between Mr Bush's literally flying visit to a scenario from a 1980s action film.

"The scene will undoubtedly make for a potent campaign commercial next year," the paper observes.

It is also quick to add a double-edged compliment, saying that despite the efficiency of the military campaign questions remained about the Bush administration's ability to see the task of rebuilding Iraq through - noting criticism of its neglect of Afghanistan.

"The question was never whether American troops would succeed... The question was, and still is, whether the administration has the patience to rebuild Iraq and set it on a course toward stable, enlightened governance," it says.

'Top gun swagger'

The West Coast's Los Angeles Times also comments on the film-like setting, referring to the president's appearance.

"As he exchanged salutes with the sailors, his ejection harness, hugging him tightly between the legs, gave him the bow-legged swagger of a top gun," it remarks.

The paper points out the emphasis of Mr Bush as leader of the world's biggest military superpower, observing that the address was "designed to celebrate - and take some credit for - the one claim on which there can be no doubt: the military triumph of the troops".

But it also remarks on the stressing in the US president's speech of Iraq's hotly disputed links to terror organisations such as al-Qaeda.

It observes that previous speeches in which he had linked the two led to sharp increases in popular belief of such links.

No 'sweeping claim'

More conservative newspapers point to the strategic timing of the address, arguing that the US president was aiming both to signal to the US that it had been successful in its campaign without upsetting international opinion with a gung-ho declaration.

"Bush sought to give the nation a closure to the fighting while avoiding a sweeping claim of overall victory," says the San Diego Union Tribune

The tabloid New York Post is more blunt, stating that here was a president not to be messed with, and wondering whether Syria, Iran and North Korea had noticed.

"George W Bush means what he says," the paper notes.

"Does anybody doubt that anymore?"