"The best way to create growth is to let people keep more of their own money," he said after touring United Defense Industries, which designed much of the equipment used in the war on Iraq.

A Hercules tank recovery vehicle, conceived here, helped jubilant Iraqis pull down a towering statue of Saddam Hussein in downtown Baghdad in what may be the most memorable image of the conflict.

Bush sat in the gunner's seat of a fighting vehicle simulator, took aim at the image of a tank, and fired, producing a loud boom that led him to turn to watching reporters and quip: "That's not a backfire."

The US leader is keen to avoid the fate of his father George Bush, who won the 1991 Gulf War but lost his campaign for a second term as president the following year on the perception that he cared too little about the ailing economy.

The current president's overall poll numbers remain sky-high, though slightly off from a few weeks ago, and a recent survey found that only about half of Americans like the way he is handling the economy.

News Friday that the US unemployment rate rose to 6.0 percent in April as war-shaken businesses axed jobs deepened concern over the broader economic recovery and underscored the political danger for Bush.

The jobless rate, up from 5.8 percent in March, was the highest so far this year.

As he has in the past, Bush urged lawmakers to view the negative economic news as justification for passing his ambitious tax-cut plan, which has melted from 726 billion dollars over 10 years to 550 billion.

"That six percent number should say loud and clear to members of both political parties in the United States Congress, we need robust tax relief so our fellow citizens can find a job," he said.

In choosing a military backdrop for his last two speeches, Bush seemed to be heeding Republican party pollsters who have reportedly advised the White House to couch major policies in terms of "security," a key US concern since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and the subsequent war on Iraq.

That strategy also helps Bush by capitalizing on his Republican party's traditional edge over opposition Democrats on national security issues, and plays up his wartime popularity as commander-in-chief.

Bush played that role to the hilt on Thursday, declaring the war in Iraq "one victory" in the war on terrorism from the deck of the nuclear aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, as it steamed home from the Gulf.

He made a dramatic "arrested landing" on the vessel, in which his specially repainted Navy plane came to a halt by snagging a cable stretched across the ship's deck.

He then removed his flight helmet, left the aircraft dressed in a flight suit and swaggered among excited crew members dressed in a flight suit.

His speech drew raptuous applause and cheers from the carrier's assembled crew of about 5,000, eager to return after the longest carrier battle group deployment in three decades.

White House spokesman Ari Fleischer had told reporters that Bush's speech would not cause "any delay at all" to the crew's return, but in fact the Navy slowed the ship down to accommodate the president's overnight visit.

Fleischer had also said that the landing, replayed countless times on television, was required because the ship would be "hundreds of miles from shore when the president arrives on it."

It was, in reality, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) off the coast of California, according to a US official aboard the Abraham Lincoln.

"This is not about the president. This is about saying thank you to the men and women who won a war," Fleischer told reporters Friday.

SPACE.WIRE