CRAWFORD, Texas – U.S. President George W. Bush's national security adviser on Monday preached patience with the war in Iraq and with the bloodied Middle East peace process to an increasingly worried U.S. public.

"We must remain patient. When Americans begin a noble cause, we finish it. We are 117 days from the end of major combat operations in Iraq. That is not very long," Condoleezza Rice said in a speech in San Antonio, Texas.

Speaking to the 104th national convention of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, she said recent violence between Israelis and Palestinians would not douse Bush's ardent support for the two-state solution he has outlined.

"President Bush remains committed to the course he laid out," said Rice, referring to the so-called "roadmap" to peace, which calls for the creation by 2005 of a Palestinian state living at peace with Israel, AFP reported. "It is the only course that will bring a durable peace and lasting security."

Rice blamed "those who would use terror to destroy the hopes for peace" for the latest anti-Israeli attacks and promised that "the terrorists will not succeed" in their efforts to sabotage the ailing peace process. "Terrorist networks must be dismantled," she said, reprising the message Washington has had for the Palestinians over the past week. At the same time, she said, "Israel has to fulfill its responsibilities to help that peaceful state emerge."

Rice also defended the US-led invasion of Iraq and the ouster of Saddam Hussein as an "essential" battle in the war on terrorism Bush declared after the September 11, 2001 attacks. "His regime posed a threat to the security of the United States and the world," she said. "This was a regime that pursued, had used, and possessed weapons of mass destruction."

Although the Bush administration cited Baghdad's alleged ties to al-Qaeda and possession of banned unconventional weapons to justify the war, US forces in Iraq have yet to find conclusive evidence of either claim.

And with near-daily fatal attacks on US soldiers and an open-ended mission in Iraq, recent US public opinion polls have found rising worry about the deployment, which has also eroded Bush's job approval ratings. Top Bush aides have blamed hit-and-run strikes on US troops, sabotage against water and oil installations and the devastating bombing of UN headquarters in Baghdad on Saddam loyalists and "foreign terrorists."

"The terrorists know that a free Iraq can change the face of the Middle East. That is why they, together with the remnants of the old regime, are fighting as if this is a life and death struggle," said Rice.

"It is, and the terrorists will lose," she said.

Her remarks set the stage for a speech Bush was to give on Tuesday in St. Louis, Missouri, to urge Americans to "be patient and persevere," according to a senior administration official, who requested anonymity. "We are at an important moment overall in the war on terrorism," said the official. "It's important that we be patient and persevere in how we confront these threats." White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said Bush would emphasize that "the best way to win the war on terrorism is to be on offense."

"We have to confront the terrorists, whether it be in Baghdad, Afghanistan, or in Gaza, so that we don't fight that war at home," she added.