WASHINGTON, Oct 4: Dismissing his low ratings in opinion polls as “a good way to fill (news) space,” US President George W. Bush vowed on Tuesday to stay in Iraq for as long as it takes to win the war.

“We’re not leaving Iraq. We will succeed in Iraq,” Mr Bush told a news conference – his first since May – at the White House Rose Garden.

The news conference followed a series of new opinion poll surveys showing that Mr Bush’s approval ratings remain low amid public doubts over the war in Iraq, the government’s response to hurricane Katrina and rising oil prices. Most surveys put his job approval rating between 38 and 40 per cent, the lowest ever.

His popularity faces another test with the nomination of Harriet Miers to the US Supreme Court, which has annoyed many among his conservative supporters who accuse him of cronyism.

He said he will not allow terrorists to find safe haven in a country like Afghanistan because he knew they will use it to carry out more terrorist attacks against innocent people.

Defending his strategies in Iraq, Mr Bush said: “We will succeed in Iraq and lay the foundation for peace for generations to come.”