Bush on Iraq plan ''I believe it will work''

WASHINGTON, Jan 19 (Reuters) US President George W Bush has insisted his reworked Iraq strategy can succeed as he worked on a State of the Union speech expected to include a new defence of his much-criticised policy.

''I believe it will work,'' Bush told Belo television, a US group of local stations.

Bush delivers his annual address next Tuesday before a joint session of the US Congress - now controlled by Democrats - and he is working through early drafts of his speech.

It comes as Democrats and many of Bush's own Republicans are preparing a protest vote against his plans for sending 21,500 extra US troops to Iraq.

While acknowledging that ''there's skepticism here,'' Bush showed no signs of backing down from his new strategy despite congressional concerns that he would be injecting more troops into what they called sectarian civil war.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said Bush would use part of his prime-time televised speech to talk about the war on terrorism, which the administration says includes Iraq.

Asked if the president needed to make a stronger case for his Iraq policy in the speech, Snow said, ''We've noted all along that the speech is not a one-time-only engagement with the American public. It's worth talking about.'' Bush will also try to raise the profile of his domestic agenda.

This includes changing immigration laws, improving health care and education and reducing America's dependence on foreign oil.

He is widely expected to announce ways to expand the production and use of alternative fuels.

''Energy and environmental policy are linked up,'' Snow said, pointing out that Bush has advocated ending a US reliance on foreign oil and looking for alternative sources of energy that do not contribute to greenhouse gases or global warming.

Bush opposes mandatory limits on greenhouse-gas emissions, saying they would hurt the US economy, and prefers voluntary ways of reducing them.

''Carrots tend to work better than sticks,'' Snow said.

Snow said Bush's objective is to ''balance the needs of security and at the same time also the environment and you can expect him to make that linkage in the speech.'' REUTERS PKS BST0445