WASHINGTON, Jan 26 (AFP) - President George W. Bush predicted Wednesday that weekend elections in Iraq would be a "grand moment" in the country's history despite a deadly campaign of violence by insurgents eager to derail the vote.
Speaking at the first press conference of his second four-year term, Bush said US-led forces in Iraq "will complete the mission as quickly as possible" but would not say when the roughly 150,000 US soldiers would start going home.
He predicted progress in 2005 towards building effective Iraqi security forces -- which he has made a prerequisite for US withdrawal -- but left unsaid when that goal would be reached.
"In terms of troop levels, obviously we're going to have to the troop levels necessary to complete the mission. And that mission is to enable Iraq to defend herself from terrorists, homegrown, or terrorists that come in from outside."
Bush acknowledged that those extremists had sown deadly chaos that left many Iraqis "feeling intimidated" ahead of the election, but predicted that a majority wanted to take part in the political contest.
"Millions of Iraqi voters will show their bravery, their love of country and their desire to live in freedom," the president said, adding: "I anticipate a grand moment in Iraqi history."
But he declined to set ambitious turnout expectations, saying: "The fact that they're voting in itself is successful."
He also expressed sorrow after a US helicopter crashed, reportedly killing some 30 US soldiers in what would be the biggest single loss of American life in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion, but said he did not yet know the cause.
Bush also seemed to water down the heady rhetoric of last week's inaugural address, in which he promised that spreading democracy and "ending tyranny in our world" would be the primary goal of his second-term foreign policy.
Asked whether he would put that principle ahead of more pragmatic concerns when it came to relations with world powers Russia, China, or staunch US ally Jordan, Bush said he would balance spreading freedom with "practical" matters.
"I don't think foreign policy is an either/or proposition. I think it is possible, when you're a nation like the United States to be able to achieve both objectives, one objective the practical objective of dealing, for example, as you mentioned, with North Korea," he said.
Bush said he had pushed China on issues like religious freedom and would "constantly remind" Beijing in the future to improve its human rights record, and that he would take a similar line with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
"I will remind him that if he intends to continue to look West, we in the West believe in Western values," said the US president, who cautioned Americans looking for progress that "there won't be instant democracy."
Asked about the case of a Jordanian union leader, Ali Hattar, who according to his lawyer was arrested last month and faces prison time after giving an anti-US lecture, Bush pleaded ignorance of the case and indicated he was satisfied with the pace of reform in Jordan.
"I urge my friend, His Majesty, to make sure that democracy continues to advance in Jordan," he said. "I appreciate His Majesty's understanding of the need for democracy to advance in the greater Middle East."
Bush touched on a host of other issues in the wide-ranging press conference, though he declined to provide details on his stated domestic policy goals of overhauling the US tax code and partially privatizing the Social Security pension program.
But he urged the Senate to confirm his nominees to Cabinet posts, including Attorney General nominee Al Gonzales and Secretary of State designate Condoleezza Rice.
Rice, Bush's national security adviser since he took office in January 2001, "is an honorable, fine public servant who needs to be confirmed. She will be a great secretary of state," the president said.

01/26/2005 17:10 GMT - AFP