Spokesman Ari Fleischer said that the US leader watched early efforts by a crowd of Iraqis to topple the monument by wrapping a heavy rope around its neck and taking a sledgehammer to crack the marble on the base.

But when US Marines joined forces with the excited crowd to drag the statue from its pedestal, where only its boots remained, Bush was meeting with Slovak President Rudolf Schuster.

After that exchange, Bush glimpsed television images of the results, and observed: "They got it down."

"He continued to watch with interest for a few moments. His reaction was ... This remains a time of the utmost caution, and the power of freedom," Fleischer said in a written statement.

SPACE.WIRE