"There is no question the regime has lost control, and that represents a great turning point for the people of Iraq, as the regime is gone," spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters.

But Bush's joy at toppling Saddam is muted, "because we still have American troops in harm's way," battling die-hard regime loyalists, and therefore "there may be more wounded, there may be more dead," he added.

The US leader was to serve a tour of duty as "consoler-in-chief," going bed to bed at two area military hospitals to meet with some 75 soldiers wounded in the war he launched 24 days ago, and watching two of them become US citizens.

"The president views this as a very important part of his job as commander-in-chief, as president and as somebody who cares deeply about the men and women who have been injured to protect our freedoms," said Fleischer.

"It helps bring comfort to the families, and it does honor to those servicemen and women who have been injured. And that's why the president goes. He goes out of a straightforward act of compassion.

Two Marines, one of them a master gunnery sergeant with shrapnel wounds to his right side and head, will take the oath of citizenship in front of Bush and First Lady Laura Bush, said Fleischer.

Legal permanent residents of the United States can serve in the US military.

Bush was not going to meet with Jessica Lynch, the 19-year-old US prisoner of war whose dramatic rescue earlier this month captivated Americans, because she has not yet been transferred from Germany to the Walter Reed Army Medical Center, officials said.

Bush, who has met with injured veterans of the campaign to topple the Taliban in Afghanistan, tries to cheer the soldiers he sent into harm's way as well as any family members present, said a top White House aide.

"He doesn't look forward to these visits, in one way, because it's difficult, but he knows how necessary it is," said the official, who requested anonymity. The official added that Bush "really tries to be the consoler-in-chief."

After the Afghan offensive, the US leader sought to lift the spirits of some US Special Forces who lost their legs by telling them the inspirational story of a man he knew when he was governor of Texas.

The man, "a real competitive guy," had lost a leg but promised Bush, an avid runner, that he would beat the then-governor in a footrace. He got a prosthesis, "became an unbelievable runner" and frequently jogged with Bush.

Bush "recognizes, lying in bed when this just happened to them, their vision of their future is grim, so he gives them a message of hope and inspiration with a personal story, saying, 'You're going to be running one day, I promise,'" said the anonymous official.

"He views this as a vital part of his job," said the aide. "For him, it's a real human reminder of why it is so important that every option for peace be exhausted first, which is what he tried to do here."

Still, when he sees the young men and women hurt after he sent them to war, "he takes that hard," said the official.

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