WASHINGTON -- After the London bombings, the White House has embarked on a new effort to link the war in Iraq with the war on terrorism, beginning with a speech by President Bush yesterday saying it is vital to fight terrorists in Iraq and Afghanistan and "across the world, so we do not have to face them here at home."

Back in the United States from Scotland after the Group of Eight summit -- where the Africa aid and global warming initiatives were eclipsed by the terrorist attacks in London -- Bush is trying to raise his job approval rating, which is hovering near 45 percent. He hopes to convince more Americans that the war in Iraq is part of a "comprehensive strategy" to defeat terrorism.

Polls show that more than half of Americans approve of the job Bush is doing to fight terrorism, yet only 40 percent approve of his conduct of the Iraq war or believe that it is helping to win the war on terror, as he asserts. "By helping the Iraqis build a free nation that is an ally in the war on terror, we are advancing the cause of freedom and the cause of peace," the president said yesterday.

Bush's speech at the FBI Training Academy in Quantico, Va., his first since the London bombing, was billed as a progress report for the war on terror. He sought to convey that Americans are safer than before Sept. 11, 2001, because of his administration's efforts.

But the president provided no new specifics. He noted that there is a new Department of Homeland Security, that U.S. personnel are now stationed at foreign ports, that domestic airport and seaport security is improved, that there are more efforts to protect U.S. borders and better visa screening for those coming into the United States, that $14 billion has been spent to train and equip local emergency personnel and that bridges, tunnels, nuclear power plants and water treatment facilities are better-protected.

But his emphasis was that the war in Iraq is a key prong of a three-part strategy against terrorism, with the other two being protecting the homeland and improving intelligence to find out terror plots before they are hatched.

He contended that the strategy has worked to thwart "a number of grave threats" and attacks against the United States. He said the FBI had helped to "break up terrorist cells and financing networks" in California, Oregon, Illinois, North Carolina, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Florida and other states. The FBI has been reluctant to discuss such cases on grounds that it would afford terrorists a clearer idea of how the FBI is learning about their plans.

Bush received loud, sustained applause when he said: "There will be tough fighting ahead. There will be difficult moments along the path to victory. The terrorists know they can't defeat us on the battlefield. The only way the terrorists can win is if we lose our nerve. This isn't going to happen on my watch."

Bush told the trainees, first-responders and veteran agents gathered to hear him: "You're fighting the terrorists who wish to harm us. You're breaking up their cells. You're disrupting their financing. You're stopping them before they can strike our country and kill our citizens. Your work is difficult. It is dangerous. I want you to know how much your country appreciates you, and so do I."

He said the terrorists "continue to kill in Bali, in Casablanca, Riyadh, Jakarta, Istanbul, Madrid and elsewhere. These kind of people who blow up subways and buses are not people you can negotiate with or reason with or appease. In the face of such adversaries, there is only one course of action: We will continue to take the fight to the enemy, and we will fight until this enemy is defeated."

Because the "enemy is constantly studying our defenses and adapting its own tactics," Bush said, intelligence must be improved, and the Patriot Act, which authorizes more intrusive surveillance of Americans, must be extended past the end of the year. "The terrorist threats against us will not expire at the end of this year, and neither should the protections of the Patriot Act," he said.

The United States and its allies have damaged the al-Qaida network around the world, Bush said. He noted that the "mastermind" of the Sept. 11 attacks on New York City and the Pentagon, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, had been captured, but the president made no mention of al-Qaida terror network leader Osama bin Laden, who is still at large.

Bush drew laughter when he made a point of walking over to shake the hand of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales. Camera shutters clattered because Gonzales is thought to be on Bush's "short list" of potential nominees to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor. "One way to get in the paper," Bush joked, "is to stand next to Gonzales."