IRAQ: Thousands of Iraq war supporters and protesters staged competing rallies near President Bush's Texas ranch on Saturday, as he warned Americans to brace for more sacrifice in Iraq.
With almost 1,900 US troops killed in the Iraq war, Mr Bush's rating has plummeted to new lows. He is under increasing pressure from critics to finish training a new Iraqi security force and bring the soldiers home.
But in his weekly radio address, Mr Bush acknowledged there was more work ahead for American soldiers in Iraq.
"Our efforts in Iraq and the broader Middle East will require more time, more sacrifice and continued resolve," said Mr Bush, who has spent most of August on vacation at his 1,600-acre ranch.
Cindy Sheehan - whose son Casey was killed in Iraq last year and who has camped outside Mr Bush's ranch seeking a second meeting with him to press for the withdrawal of troops - said her efforts would ultimately lead to the end of the war in Iraq.
"I know that the Camp Casey movement is going to end the war in Iraq," she said after folk singer Joan Baez led supporters in singing Amazing Grace. Rally organisers estimated the crowd at 2,000.
"How many more are you willing to sacrifice before you say enough is enough? How many more are we willing to sacrifice for lies and deception and bullcrap?" Ms Sheehan asked, followed by chants of "Not one more!" She plans to join a three-week bus tour next week to press her message home.
President Bush has said withdrawing the troops now would embolden insurgents in Iraq who have sought to derail the drafting of a constitution with attacks on US and Iraqi security forces.
"As Iraqis stand up, Americans will stand down," Mr Bush said. "And when Iraqi forces can defend their freedom by taking more and more of the fight to the enemy, our troops will come home with the honour they have earned."
Police made a handful of arrests, including three people for disorderly conduct at the spot where Ms Sheehan began her vigil along Prairie Chapel Road, which leads to Mr Bush's ranch.
Across town in Crawford, other parents of soldiers who are serving or have died in Iraq countered Ms Sheehan with their own raucous rally that started with a prayer. Organiser Howard Kaloogian accused Ms Sheehan of "giving hope and encouragement to our enemies". The crowd chanted "Cindy, Go Home!" and compared her to Jane Fonda, whose visit to a North Vietnamese gun site in 1972 earned her the nickname "Hanoi Jane". In one heated moment, members of the pro-Bush crowd turned on what they mistakenly thought were a group of anti-war protesters. A police officer rushed the group to safety.
In protest against Ms Sheehan, the parents of several soldiers killed in Iraq had their sons' names and photographs removed from a symbolic gravesite set up by anti-war activists. "We in no shape or form want his name associated with what's going on here. It's a dishonour to him," John Wroblewski (53) said of his son, who died in Iraq last year.
Mr Bush called a key Shia leader this week to press for a deal to finish Iraq's constitution, a goal seen as a step toward allowing US soldiers withdraw.
"What is important is that Iraqis are now addressing these issues through debate and discussion - not at the barrel of a gun," Mr Bush said.
The latest Gallup poll showed that just two in five Americans approved of the job the president was doing, while 56 per cent disapproved.