By TOM RAUM,Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – President Bush came as close as he ever has to admitting mistakes on Iraq Wednesday, acknowledging setbacks and uneven results in the training of Iraqi troops in his latest defense of the war 2½ years after he first declared victory.

And while he vowed U.S. troops would not be withdrawn to satisfy “artificial timetables set by politicians in Washington,” his Naval Academy speech in Annapolis, Md., could help set the stage for a reduction in troops next year.

That’s because Bush emphasized progress, if initially halting, in the training of Iraqi troops who will one day replace U.S. forces. Any U.S. reduction, the president said, will be driven by “the conditions on the ground in Iraq and the good judgment of our commanders.”

Democratic critics focused on the fact that Bush’s speech, and an accompanying 35-page document entitled “National Strategy for Victory in Iraq,” broke no new ground, mostly restating administration aims put forth in 2003.

Bush “once again missed an opportunity to lay out a real strategy for success in Iraq that will bring our troops safely home,” said Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

But Bush’s speech, the first of several he’s expected to make in the run-up to Dec. 15 elections to seat a permanent Iraqi government, appeared to reflect an administration repositioning to highlight exit preparations – if not exactly an exit timetable – and to more closely define the nature of the enemy.

“I think he’s sharpened his language a lot today. Obviously, things haven’t been flowing in his direction lately,” said Frederick Barton, an Iraq specialist at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Barton said that Bush’s intended audience, besides the military, the broader American public and Iraqi voters, included members of Congress who have grown increasingly skeptical of the Iraq mission – including “reluctant members of his own party” who sit on committees with jurisdiction over defense spending.

Bush’s approval rating is at the low point of his presidency, at 37 percent in a recent AP-Ipsos poll, with a majority of Americans – 53 percent – saying they believe the war was a mistake. Republicans on the ballot next year are becoming increasingly restive

Rep. John Murtha of Pennsylvania, the senior Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee and a strong supporter of the military, called late last month for the withdrawal of all 160,000 U.S. troops from Iraq over the next six months, igniting protests from the White House and Republican congressional leaders.

House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi of California, who earlier suggested Murtha spoke for himself, said Wednesday, “I believe that a majority of our caucus clearly supports Mr. Murtha.”

Also, the Senate has voted overwhelmingly to require the administration to send Congress regular reports on the war’s progress and has suggested that 2006 be made a key year of transition toward Iraqi self-protection.

Thus, the debate over troop withdrawal was very much on the agenda during Bush’s speech. The president said those advocating withdrawal now are “sincerely wrong” and would “send a signal to our enemies that if they wait long enough, America will cut and run and abandon its friends.”

At the same time, Bush declared that progress was indeed being made on training Iraqi forces to replace U.S. troops.

“The training of the Iraqi forces is an enormous task and it always hadn’t gone smoothly,” Bush conceded.

But, he said, “many of those forces have made real gains over the past year and Iraqi soldiers take pride in their progress.”

He cited statistics, saying there were “over 120 Iraqi army and police combat battalions” in the fight against insurgents, with each battalion typically consisting of 350-800 troops. Of those, about 80 battalions are fighting alongside coalition forces and “about 40 others are taking the lead in the fight,” Bush said.

Michele Flournoy, a senior Pentagon official in the Clinton administration, said there’s no question that the performance of Iraqi units has improved – but probably not to the extent that would allow a major U.S. troop withdrawal anytime soon. Still, withdrawal “is forcing its way onto the agenda,” Flournoy said.

“From the administration’s perspective, there are huge political pressures to begin some redeployment before the 2006 elections so a measure of victory can be declared,” she said.

Republican supporters of the president insisted he wasn’t about to declare victory for political expediency – and then leave.

“Democrats ignore the real progress on the ground, caught up in the headline of the moment” said Ken Mehlman, chairman of the Republican National Committee. “Our commander in chief remains committed to completing the mission in Iraq.”

One Democrat, Rep. Ken Salazar of Colorado, said that Bush’s Annapolis speech “begins to address the Senate’s call for a successful exit strategy with measurable benchmarks. I look forward to hearing more.”

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EDITOR’S NOTE – Tom Raum has covered Washington for The Associated Press since 1973, including five presidencies.

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