NEWPORT — With his Iraq war policies under sharp criticism from the American public and Congress, President Bush yesterday renewed his stout defense of U.S. strategy, telling military leaders that progress is being made in Iraq and asking the public to be patient while U.S. troops complete the surge that began in January.

Air Force One taxies on the runway at the Air National Guard Base at Quonset Point yesterday as President Bush departs for Maine after a brief stop in Rhode Island.

The Providence Journal / Bill Murphy

Before a friendly Naval War College audience of Republican partisans and military leaders from the United States and its world allies, Mr. Bush said progress is being made in stabilizing Iraq, combating sectarian violence and promoting democracy in a country shadowed by the tortured legacy of Saddam Hussein’s dictatorship.

“The fight has been tough. It’s a tough fight and it is going to remain difficult,” said Mr. Bush. “Our success must not be measured by the enemy’s ability to get a car bombing into the evening news. No matter how good the security, terrorists will always be able to explode a bomb on a crowded street.”

There was nothing in the speech for critics seeking a change in Mr. Bush’s Iraq agenda.

Mr. Bush also pointed to Israel, the strongest U.S. ally in the Middle East, as a model for a successful democracy.

“In places like Israel, terrorists have taken innocent human life for years in similar attacks,” said Mr. Bush. “The difference is that Israel is a functioning democracy that is not prevented from carrying out its responsibilities. And that’s a good indicator of success that we’re looking for in Iraq; the rise of a government that can protect its people, deliver basic services for all its citizens and function as a democracy even amid violence.”

Even Republican members of Congress are growing restive with Mr. Bush’s policies. Just this week, Sen. Richard Lugar, an Indiana Republican and ranking GOP member of the Foreign Relations Committee, and Ohio Republican Sen. George Voinovich criticized Mr. Bush’s military thrust in Iraq, with both men saying there has not been sufficient progress.

The number of U.S. personnel killed in action last month reached 126, the highest single-month total since November 2004, meaning 3,571 American troops have died in Iraq since the beginning of the war in 2003.

Yesterday, the president was undaunted.

“If we withdraw before Iraq can defend itself, we would yield the future of Iraq to terrorists like al-Qaida and we would give a green light to extremists all throughout a troubled region,” said Mr. Bush.

There was little new in Mr. Bush’s speech to about 500 at the war college, which is celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Naval Command College, an arm of the college which trains promising foreign military officers in national security, military strategy and military history issues. The officers — most from U.S. allies — are chosen by their home governments, and spend time traveling in the United States and learning American political culture.

The overarching theme of the president’s speech was a stentorian call to stay the course in Iraq and linking Iraq to international terrorism and the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. The surge of 21,000 troops that began in January is beginning to show results, Mr. Bush argued, and any attempt to abandon Iraq now would embroil the Middle East in unrelenting sectarian and terrorist violence.

Mr. Bush was focused and animated throughout his speech and during a question-and-answer session after, during which he fielded seven questions — most of them friendly.

“He becomes very passionate when he talks about Iraq and you can see how more comfortable he is about talking about it in the context of the global war on terrorism,” said Marc Genest, a political science professor at the war college. “I think the president’s idealism has not faded at all, even in the face of an approval rating that’s plummeting in the last several months. This is a man who is holding true to his convictions and it demonstrates that he’s going to stick with this policy until it’s given an opportunity to work.”

Mr. Bush was introduced by Governor Carcieri, the only Republican in state or federal elected office in Democratic-leaning Rhode Island. Carcieri flew with Mr. Bush in the president’s helicopter from the Quonset State Airport to Newport.

Asked about his helicopter ride, Carcieri said it “was quite a moving thing. I really admire him, I respect him.”

Mr. Bush was greeted by about 200 anti-war protesters who chanted, “Drop Bush, not bombs,” and held signs demanding the president’s impeachment.

There were no arrests; the logistics of the president’s visit — Mr. Bush’s first to Rhode Island since his 2000 election — were carried out flawlessly. After his speech, Mr. Bush spent private time with families of soldiers killed in Iraq.

The speech was also evidence of the remarkable transformation in Mr. Bush’s foreign policy thinking since his 2000 presidential campaign. When he ran against Democrat Al Gore, Mr. Bush argued against the use of the U.S. military for nation-building excursions in foreign countries.

“I worry about isolationism in America. I worry about the struggle — which is going to take a while — will cause us to lose our confidence in our ability to help others realize the blessings of liberty,” said Mr. Bush. “I believe in the universality of freedom. It is a principle by which I have made decisions. I believe, I personally believe there is an Almighty, and I believe a gift of the Almighty to each man, woman and child on the face of the earth is freedom.”

The president now unabashedly embraces the language and policies of Woodrow Wilson, the World War I Democratic president who famously said he wanted to make the “world safe for democracy.”

Mr. Bush’s speech was interrupted several times for standing ovations. The response of J. William Middendorf, of Little Compton, was typical of the reception Mr. Bush received.

“He gave a fine progress report showing a real hands-on knowledge about what’s going on in Iraq,” said Middendorf, who served as secretary of the Navy after the Vietnam War. “I think he was more focused today on military matters than I’ve seen him in some time.”

Reviews from foreign military leaders were also laudatory. “He has been a very good friend of Colombia, and we think he is a very good friend of all the Latin American countries,” said Adm. Alvaro Campos, a Colombian naval officer who graduated from the Naval Command College in 1979.

The president asserted that sectarian murders in Iraq, after increasing in May, have settled down from January levels. Car bombings are also down, the president said.

Mr. Bush cited “astonishing signs of normalcy” — including the development of soccer leagues, neighborhood crime watches and thriving markets.

Give the surge a chance, Mr. Bush pleaded.

“It’s a well-conceived plan by smart military people,” said Mr. Bush. “And we owe them the time and we owe them the support they need to succeed.”

smackay@projo.com