George W Bush, a president baptised in a terrorist firestorm in New York whose eight years in office have been defined by wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, gave a final, reflective news conference yesterday in which he rejected criticisms that he had damaged the moral standing of the United States in the world.

Eight days before he hands power to President Elect Barack Obama, Mr Bush defended his decisions on the Iraq war, which has claimed the lives of 4000 US soldiers and seen thousands of Iraqis killed since the toppling of Saddam Hussein in 2003.

In front of the White House press corps, which has followed his every step in his two terms in office, he expressed some regrets and disappointments, mostly with the tone of politics in Washington during his administration.

The 43rd president said "not finding weapons of mass destruction was a significant disappointment," and he admitted he had miscalculated when he made a victory speech in front of a "Mission Accomplished" banner five years ago.

"Clearly putting Mission Accomplished' on an aircraft carrier was a mistake," he told the news conference. He went on to send an additional 30,000 American troops to Iraq in 2007 in a surge operation to knock down violence levels in the country.

"The question is, in the long run, will this democracy survive, and that's going to be a question for future presidents," he said.

Bush listed the handling of prisoners in Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison among the failures of his second term. Pictures emerged showing US soldiers abusing detainees in prison, an event that served to deepen Muslim animosity over the US invasion of Iraq.

Mr Bush took pains to wish Barack Obama, who will become the 44th president on 20th January, every success and congratulated the country for electing its first black president. "I consider myself fortunate to have a front-row seat on what is going to be a historic moment for the nation. President Obama's election does speak volumes about how far this country has come in terms of racial relations," he said.

He played down the image of the presidency being the loneliest job in the world, saying that Mr Obama's family were only a 45-second commute away from his work. But he warned: "There'll be a moment when the responsibility of the president lands squarely on his shoulders."

He also said he hoped the tone in Washington improves during the Obama administration, declaring "the rhetoric got out of control" during his presidency. "I hope that if people disagree with President Obama, they treat him with respect," Mr Bush said.

In a wide-ranging farewell to the media, whom he thanked even if he didn't like what they wrote, he also defended the government's handling of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina and took a final swipe at terrorist and state enemies. North Korea and Iraq still had to be contained, he said, and an attack on the US homeland would be the most urgent threat Obama and all future presidents would face.

Mr Bush defended Israel's actions in Gaza while calling for both the Jewish state and Hamas to work towards a sustainable cease-fire.

He also defended the administration's efforts to broker peace between the Israelis and Palestinians, declaring that he thought there would be a peace built on a two-state solution. "I think we have advanced the process," the president said.

Asked about his legacy as he leaves what may be one of the most controversial periods in US history, Bush compared his presidency to that of Abraham Lincoln, who led the country through its Civil War.

He said: "I never spent that much time worrying about the loud voices (of critics). I of course heard them but they did not affect my policies."

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