CAMP DAVID, June 12: President George W. Bush acknowledged on Monday that the resistance in Iraq remains a serious challenge despite Abu Musab al-Zarqawi’s death and insisted US troops must stay for now to help the country’s fledgling government.

“I fully recognise that’s not an end to war, on the other hand it was a major blow to Al Qaeda ... and the terrorists who are trying to spread violence and stop the emergence of a new democracy,” Mr Bush said, referring to the killing last week of the Al Qaeda leader in Iraq.

Mr Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and aides began two days of consultations at Camp David to reassess strategy for the increasingly unpopular war that has dragged down the president’s approval ratings in a congressional election year.

They spoke by videoconference with the top US commanders in Iraq, Gens. George Casey and John Abizaid, as well as the US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad.

Mr Bush asked the generals to thank U.S. forces for bringing Zarqawi ‘to justice’.

White House counsellor Dan Bartlett told reporters after an initial three-hour session that it was agreed the Iraqi resistance remained ‘a very serious and vexing challenge’.

He called the completion of Iraq’s national unity government a ‘fundamental break point’ for the Iraqi people.

—Reuters