Bush, ensconced in the Camp David presidential retreat in Maryland, basked in a new boost in public support for the war, after US tank squadrons raided the Iraqi capital in what one commander called "a poke in the eye" for Saddam Hussein's regime.

"Village by village, city by city, liberation is coming," the president said in his weekly radio address.

"The people of Iraq have my pledge: Our fighting forces will press on until their oppressors are gone and their whole country is free," Bush said.

"As the vise tightens on the Iraqi regime, some of our enemies have chosen to fill their final days with acts of cowardice and murder," he said in the address recorded on Friday.

Iraqi forces are using women and children as human shields, hiding in civilian neighborhoods and executing prisoners of war, said Bush, who was joined at Camp David, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) from Washington, by his national security adviser, Condoleezza Rice.

"With each new village they liberate, our forces are learning more about the atrocities of that regime, and the deep fear the dictator has instilled in the Iraqi people," he said.

By contrast, "American forces and our allies are treating innocent civilians with kindness and showing proper respect to the soldiers who surrender," Bush said.

"The citizens of Iraq are coming to know what kind of people we have sent to liberate them.

"We are bringing aid to the long-suffering people of Iraq, and we are bringing something more: We are bringing hope."

Dozens of US tanks trundled into Baghdad, in what some commanders styled as a show of force designed to dent the aura of invincibility Saddam Hussein cultivated for his fortress capital.

But AFP reporters in Baghdad said they saw no US forces in the city. A correspondent at the airport which is reportedly under US control saw about 30 returning tanks, several with battle damage.

Bush, meanwhile, started the task of patching up US relations with Russia, badly strained in the tense diplomatic brinksmanship which preceded the war.

He spoke to President Vladimir Putin, and both leaders emphasized "the importance of pursuing intensive political dialogue between the two countries, despite the known differences between their positions in order to search for solutions in the interests of the international community," the Kremlin said in a statement.

A week after many columnists were picking holes in Bush's war strategy, many papers looked to the future and the rebuilding of Iraq.

The New York Times warned against complacency: "The situation is extremely fragile," it said in an editorial.

The Boston Globe cautioned that the war would erode what little popular support the United States has internationally if Iraqi civilians suffered unduly.

Bush was also preparing Saturday for an important summit in Belfast, Northern Ireland on Monday and Tuesday with his top ally, British Prime Minister Tony Blair.

SPACE.WIRE