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Posted: 12:34 PM- Flanked by sepia-toned photographs of dirty-faced World War II soldiers, Gen. Dwight Eisenhower and U.S. Navy jets dropping bombs in the Pacific, President Bush tried today to connect his nation's current pursuit of terrorists to noble past struggles.

With a cheering crowd of veterans at the American Legion national convention in Salt Lake City as backdrop, the president kicked off a series of speeches about the "global war on terror" that will culminate with an address at the United Nations later this month.

"As veterans you have seen this kind of enemy before," he said.

"They are successors to fascists, to Nazis, to communists and other totalitarians of the 20th Century." He shuffled together examples of historic World War II battles and terrorist attacks , equating, for instance, street fights in Baghdad to the D-Day invasion on Omaha and the battle of Guadalcanal.

"The war we fight today is more than a military conflict. It is the decisive ideological struggle of the 21st Century," he said.

"This war will be difficult; this war will be long; and this war will end in the defeat of the terrorists and totalitarians and a victory for the cause of freedom and liberty."

"The security of the civilized world depends on victory in the war on terror," he said. "And that depends on victory in Iraq. So the United States of America will not leave until victory is achieved."

But stepping back from the harsh rhetoric of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who spoke on Tuesday at the same venue, the president struck a more conciliatory tone when speaking of those who believe the U.S. should withdraw from Iraq.

"Many of these folks are sincere and they are patriotic," he said. "But they cannot be more wrong."

He urged Americans to be patient. Evoking a divine role in democracy, Bush said the cause is a holy one.

"Freedom is always worth the sacrifice. Victory still depends on the courage and the patience and the resolve of the American people," he said.

Leaving Iraq, he said, would mean handing that war-torn country "over to our worst enemies." Bush also took aim at Iran, noting today's deadline for that country to respond to a U.N. resolution calling for cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency. He also blamed Iran for inciting and financing violence across the Middle East, including in Iraq, Lebanon and Israel.

But Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid, in a statement issued after the Bush speech, said "extremist regimes," such as Iran, have been "strengthened and emboldened across the Middle East and the world" due to Bush administration failures.

"The American people know that five years after Sept. 11 we are not as safe as we could and should be," Reid said. "Iraq is in crisis. Our military is stretched thin."

Following his American Legion speech, Bush visited a fundraiser for Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch, where he repeated many of the same anti-terror themes.

At 12:06 p.m., Air Force One was wheels up for its return flight to Washington, D.C.

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