"In the Battle of Iraq, the United States and our allies have prevailed," Bush said.

From the deck of this nuclear-powered aircraft carrier steaming home from the Gulf, Bush touted Saddam Hussein's ouster as "a crucial advance" towards stamping out extremist violence.

Bush's address, the first by a sitting US president aboard a steaming carrier, stopped short of declaring victory or formally announcing an end to the campaign he heralded in an Oval Office speech six weeks and a day earlier.

Bush acknowledged however that several key war aims have yet to be achieved, including ferreting out the banned chemical and biological weapons he made central to his case for launching a pre-emptive war; setting Iraq on course for democracy; and rebuilding the bloodied nation's battered infrastructure.

"We have difficult work to do in Iraq," Bush said, adding: "The transition from dictatorship to democracy will take time, but it is worth every effort. Our coalition will stay until our work is done."

SPACE.WIRE