Bush making new push to bolster support for Iraq

WASHINGTON, March 10 (Reuters) Amid rising sectarian violence in Iraq, President George W. Bush will make a new push to bolster support for his Iraq policy in a series of speeches that begin on Monday.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan today said the objective would be to update Americans on ''our strategy for victory in Iraq,'' to talk about progress on the ground and ''the lessons we have learned and how we are acting and adapting to fix what was not working.'' Bush has been hampered by low public approval ratings caused in part by American dissatisfaction with his handling of the Iraq war.

The speeches coincide with the approaching three-year anniversary of the US-led invasion of Iraq, a war launched originally to rid Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, which were never found.

Bush held a National Security Council meeting today on Iraq at the White House.

He will meet Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and retired US Army Gen Montgomery Meigs tomorrow, who heads a task force on ways to combat so-called improvised explosives devices, or IEDS, often planted by insurgents on roads to attack US vehicles.

Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and other administration officials will also give speeches as part of the effort.

Expanding sectarian violence in Iraq have stalled efforts to form a unity government, seen as crucial to creating the conditions necessary for a US withdrawal.

Bush will talk about the sectarian violence in his tomorrow's radio address, McClellan said.

''There are still too many reports of sectarian-like attacks,'' McClellan said. ''I think the Iraqi government understands the importance of not allowing people to really take justice into their own hands or allow armed militias to operate outside of their control.'' REUTERS KD RK2101