WASHINGTON, March 22: President George Bush said on Saturday that the United States would not stop the war in Iraq until the Iraqi government was ousted.

“We will accept no outcome but victory,” the president said while addressing his nation on the third day of the war.

The United States, he said, would “apply decisive force” to defeat the Iraqi forces and expel “an outlaw regime that threatens the peace with weapons of mass murder.”

“The United States and our friends and allies will not live at the mercy of an outlaw regime,” he said.

“Now that conflict has come, the only way to limit its duration is to apply decisive force.”

He said the coalition waging war against President Saddam Hussein included more than 40 countries from across the globe. “Our mission is clear, to disarm Iraq of weapons of mass destruction, to end Saddam Hussein’s support for terrorism, and to free the Iraqi people,” he declared.

He said the hopes of the Iraqi people also depended on the US and allied fighting forces in the Middle East. “At every stage of this conflict the world will see both the power of our military, and the honourable and decent spirit of the men and women who serve.”

President Bush said that the allied forces would stay in Iraq for as long as it takes to “achieve a united, stable, and free Iraq,” an objective, he said, would “require our sustained commitment.”