Related: US military deaths in Iraq reaches 2,000

    WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- US President George W. Bush on Friday touted progress in the global war on terrorism he launched after the September 11, 2001 attacks, and said that the United States will win the war on terrorism.

    "We will never back down, we will never give in and we will never accept anything less than complete victory," Bush told a rally in Norfolk, near the home of the Naval Station Norfolk, the world's largest naval station.

    Bush warned that "the terrorists regard Iraq as the central front in their war against humanity. And we must recognize Iraq as the central front in our war against terror."

    "This enemy considers every retreat of the civilized world as an invitation to greater violence. In Iraq, there is no peace without victory -- and so we will keep our nerve and win that victory," said Bush.

    He assailed Syria and Iran as terrorism patrons and sought to bolster waning support for the war in Iraq.

    "State sponsors like Syria and Iran have a long history of collaboration with terrorists -- and they deserve no patience from the victims of terror," Bush said.

    "In the last year, America and our partners in the Proliferation Security Initiative have stopped more than a dozen shipments of suspected weapons technology -- including equipment for Iran's ballistic missile program," Bush said.

    Bush made the remarks just days after the US death toll in Iraq surpassed 2,000. Enditem