This ought put you at ease and put things in perspective RAS..

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites), facing growing doubts at home, has asked Congress for $87 billion for the U.S. military and reconstruction in Iraq (news - web sites) and urged the United Nations (news - web sites) to set aside past differences and help out.

"This undertaking is difficult and costly, yet worthy of our country, and critical to our security," Bush said Sunday night in an 18-minute prime-time address aimed at reassuring Americans jittery about scenes of chaos and daily attacks against U.S. troops in Iraq.

As the country prepares to mark the second anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Bush asked Americans for patience and cautioned more casualties should be expected in the face of guerrillas who "want us to leave Iraq before our work is done."

"Enemies of freedom are making a desperate stand there -- and there they must be defeated. This will take time, and require sacrifice. Yet we will do what is necessary, we will spend what is necessary, to achieve this essential victory in the war on terror," he said.

The president offered no timetable on withdrawing the troops, nor did he say how close the U.S.-led occupation force might be to finding weapons of mass destruction. He said the current deployment of 130,000 U.S. troops should be sufficient.

He said he would soon submit to Congress a request for $87 billion and that it would include some assistance for Afghanistan (news - web sites).

The $87 billion includes $66 billion for the U.S. military deployment and intelligence operations, Bush said. It would push the nation's budget deficit to well above the half-trillion-dollar mark for the first time.

CONCILIATORY TONE TO U.N.

After the bitter U.N. dispute over whether to go to war in Iraq, Bush sounded a conciliatory tone as he sought to get Security Council backing for a new U.N. resolution that would establish a multinational force.

It was a shift from Bush's insistence that the United States and Britain would take the lead role in Iraq. So far antiwar powers France, Germany and Russia want more U.N. control than Bush is offering.

"I recognize that not all of our friends agreed with our decision to enforce the Security Council resolutions and remove Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) from power. Yet we cannot let past differences interfere with present duties," Bush said.

Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) said he expected up to 15,000 new foreign troops to join the occupation.

Bush's speech was the most public acknowledgment of dashed hopes for a rapid transition to a peaceful, self-governing Iraq, as forecast by such administration hawks as Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz and Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites).

The president struck a somber tone in the White House Cabinet Room, in contrast to the celebratory "Mission Accomplished" speech he gave aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1 when he declared major combat operations over in Iraq.

He is coming under criticism from Democratic candidates for president as he gears up for his re-election campaign. His poll numbers have eroded. A CNN/Time poll said his approval had dropped to 52 percent, down from the 60-70 percent range he had enjoyed in recent months.

Bush, who went to war over weapons of mass destruction that have never been found and who insisted Iraq had ties to al Qaeda that have never been substantiated, said Iraq has now become the "central front" in the war on terrorism triggered by the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The $87 billion figure was at the high end of expectations. Some members of Congress said they expected Bush to get what he asked for but wanted him to detail how long U.S. troops would remain in Iraq and outline a strategy for bringing them home.

"We must keep this commitment in Iraq. It's going to be hard. I will support him. I will support spending that money," Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware, ranking Democrat on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said on CNN.

Missouri Rep. Richard Gephardt (news, bio, voting record), a Democrat running for president, said Bush's efforts to enlist U.S. allies was long overdue.

"Now that the president has recognized that he has been going down the wrong path, this administration must begin the process of fully engaging our allies and sharing the burden of building a stable democracy in Iraq," he said.

Bush, who made no mention of the elusive Saddam or Osama bin Laden (news - web sites), said some of the attackers in Iraq are "foreign terrorists who have come to Iraq to pursue their war on America and other free nations."

"We cannot be certain to what extent these groups work together. We do know they have a common goal -- reclaiming Iraq for tyranny," he said.