WASHINGTON -- President Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney yesterday launched a joint effort to defend the progress of the war in Iraq and the war on terrorism as well as the need for domestic spying, with the president promising that 2006 will be a turning point in Iraq.

Mr. Bush went to the Pentagon for a briefing with top military advisers and then said that if Iraqi leaders continue to make progress in forming a government, he will discuss with them the withdrawal of more American troops. He gave no specifics, but Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld has suggested upcoming reductions in Iraq of about 30,000 troops. There are now about 160,000 U.S. military personnel there.

"In Iraq, 2005 was a year of progress toward meeting our goal of victory," Mr. Bush said after the Pentagon meeting. "If you really think about it, it was three important elections that took place in an atmosphere that some predicted wouldn't yield democracy. We had the January elections, we had the constitutional elections, we had the [parliamentary] elections last December, when nearly 11 million people defied the terrorists to vote."

He called December voter turnout of 70 percent a "good sign."

He also praised the U.S. command's generals. "They are smart, they are capable, they are visionary and they're working hard," he said. This year, "the mission is to continue to hand over more and more territory and more and more responsibility to Iraqi forces."

The president said "only a handful of Iraqi army and police battalions" were combat-ready a year ago, but now, he said, "there are more than 125 Iraqi combat battalions fighting the enemy, and 50 of those are in the lead."

Notwithstanding the election participation, he said, that didn't mean that followers of deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein or of the al-Qaida in Iraq terror chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would surrender.

"There'll still be violence," Mr. Bush said, "and there'll still be some who believe that they can affect the political outcome of Iraq through violent means. ... We're going to stay on the offense against these -- 'we' being coalition forces as well as the Iraqi forces."

The president also praised allied progress against insurgents in Afghanistan and said he expected in 2006 to draw more international support for the global war on terrorism and to enlist other nations' forces to replace some of the U.S. contingent now in Afghanistan.

Mr. Cheney spoke at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington, as a continuation of the administration's pre-holiday effort to counter sinking public support for the war in Iraq while the death toll rises.

Reiterating a point he has made several times, the vice president said tools such as listening to suspected terrorists' phone calls and curbing some civil liberties were necessary in the war on terror. He said the nation faces a unique threat, so unusual allowances must be made.

"We have faced and are facing today enemies who hate us, who hate our country and who hate the liberties for which we stand," Mr. Cheney said. "They dwell on the shadows, wear no uniform and have no regard for the laws of warfare and feel unconstrained by any standard of morality.

"We've never had a fight like this. And those of us in positions of responsibility have a duty to wage a broad-scale effort for the sake of the nation's freedom and our security. That effort includes the home front, with a great deal of urgent and difficult work needed to persevere," he said.

Democrats said the administration rhetoric was not helping the climate on Capitol Hill, particularly over resolving a stalemate over extending the Patriot Act, which expires Feb. 3. The administration wants the law extended permanently, but Democrats and some moderate Republicans want it modified to protect more civil liberties.

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada, yesterday wrote in a letter to the president, "Rather than relying upon staged events and partisan denunciations of those who are seeking to improve the act, it would be helpful if you would instruct your staff to work with us."

The administration also released a document defending Mr. Bush's authorization of domestic spying on suspected terrorists as a constitutional use of his presidential authority.

"Critics have stepped up their attacks on the president for authorizing the National Security Agency to listen to international communications of known al-Qaida members or affiliated terrorists during a time of war," White House press secretary Scott McClellan noted. "The American people expect their leaders to stay a step ahead of the enemy, and the National Security Agency authorization is a critical tool in the war on terror that saves lives and protects civil liberties at the same time."