LOS ANGELES, June 29 (Xinhuanet) -- US President George W. Bush's latest address to call Americans to stand firm in Iraq drew the smallest US TV audience of his tenure, according to a study released in New York on Wednesday.

    Nielsen Media Research, a media tracking company headquartered in New York, US, said that an estimated 23 million television viewers tuned in to Bush's half hour speech on the Iraq war on Tuesday night.

    That combined on the four main US broadcast networks and three leading cable news channels networks that carried the speech, the New York based media tracking company added.

    In his speech made in Washington, US, Bush rejected a calling for setting a timetable for withdrawal of US troops from Iraq.

    In a news release issued from its headquarters in New York Wednesday, the company said the number was 8.6 million viewers below Bush's previous low as president, his August 9, 2001, speechon stem cell research, which was carried on six networks.

    By comparison, his May 1, 2003 speech from the deck of an aircraft carrier declaring an end to major combat operations in Iraq averaged 48.4 million viewers.

    Bush garnered the biggest US TV audience of his presidency -- 82 million viewers on nine networks -- when he addressed a joint session of the US Congress nine days after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism attacks on America. Enditem