BBC World News:

Bush says Iraqi troops not ready
Iraq dominated the news conference at the White House
Iraqi forces are still not ready to keep order, US President George W Bush has said, warning that next month's election would not be "trouble-free".

It was unacceptable that some Iraqi government units had deserted during combat with militants, President Bush told reporters in Washington.

He said car bomb attacks were having an "effect" but he insisted that Iraq was on course for democracy.

A senior Iraqi official said Iraqi forces had made "huge progress".

Twin bombs killed more than 60 in Iraq's holiest Shia cities on Sunday.


Car bombs... are effective propaganda tools
George W Bush
The US is boosting its overall troop numbers in Iraq by 12,000, to reach 150,000 ahead of the 30 January election - more than invaded the country in March 2003.

Some units are having their tours extended to cover the expansion, amid fears that violence will increase in the weeks before the vote.

In other developments:

* A new opinion poll suggests 56% of Americans believe the cost of the Iraq conflict outweighs its benefits

* Elections experts from around the world decide to establish a mission to assess the Iraqi elections on 30 January

* An Iraqi government statement says Falluja residents who fled before November's assault on the city can start to return on Thursday, but the US military says they will have to wait at least another week.

'Paying heavily'

Giving an end-of-year news conference at the White House, Mr Bush said the planned election was "the beginning of a process".

Recruitment to the new Iraqi security forces was "strong", he said, but there needed to be a better command structure.

Bush spoke a day after devastating car bombs in Iraq

He said some Iraqi units had performed well, such as in fighting at Falluja this year. As for others: "When the heat got on, they left the battlefield."

But Mowaffak al-Rubaie, national security adviser to the interim Iraqi government, defended the Iraqi forces, saying they were "paying heavily" to secure Iraq.

He told BBC News his country had made "huge progress" in setting up army, police and security forces in only a year.

"I cannot claim that we have top-of-the-world security forces in Iraq but I think given the limited time, limited resources, they are doing fine," he said.

He said he was absolutely certain the January election would go ahead as planned, and would be a big step towards defeating the terrorists and boosting morale.

'Better life'

The president said it was important for Americans to understand that success in Iraq was in the long-term interests of the US.

He said he was confident that Iraq would emerge as a "democracy that reflects the values and traditions of its people".

He insisted life was better for Iraqis than under Saddam Hussein but accepted that car bombs grabbed people's attention.

"Car bombs that destroy young children or car bombs that indiscriminately bomb in religious sites are effective propaganda tools," he said.

Sunday's attacks on Najaf and Karbala were blamed on Sunni militants.

About 50 people have been arrested, all but one of them Iraqis. The other held a foreign Arab passport, said provincial officials.