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Bush upbeat on Iraq War milestone

Anti-war activists from the group Code Pink and other organizations protest outside the US Capitol on Tuesday. PHOTO: AFP

Five years after launching the US invasion of Iraq, US President George W. Bush was making some of his most expansive claims of success in the fighting there. Bush said last year's troop buildup has turned Iraq around and produced "the first large-scale Arab uprising against Osama bin Laden."

At the Pentagon, Bush was to give a speech to warn that backsliding on recent progress fueled by the increase of 30,000 troops he ordered more than a year ago cannot be allowed.

"The challenge in the period ahead is to consolidate the gains we have made and seal the extremists' defeat," he said in speech excerpts the White House released on Tuesday night.

Democrats took a different view.

"On this grim milestone, it is worth remembering how we got into this situation and thinking about how best we can get out," congressman John Dingell said. "The tasks that remain in Iraq -- to bring an end to sectarian conflict, to devise a way to share political power and to create a functioning government that is capable of providing for the needs of the Iraqi people -- are tasks that only the Iraqis can complete."

Meanwhile, demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience were planned across the country to coincide with the anniversary.

Protests were planned in Washington, where demonstrators vowed to block the entrance to the Internal Revenue Service and to disrupt the offices of lobbyists who represent military contractors and oil companies profiting from the war.

College students from New Jersey to North Dakota planned walkouts, while students at the University of Minnesota vowed to shut down military recruiting offices on campus.

"This is the first time coordinated direct actions of civil disobedience are happening," said Barbra Bearden, of the group Peace Action.
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