Bush plans 'major speech' on Iraq, terrorism

Watch President Bush's speech on U.S. efforts against terrorism, Thursday at 10 a.m. ET

President Bush will deliver a "major speech" speech Thursday on the progress of the war in Iraq and the broader conflict against terrorism, the White House said Wednesday.

Bush will deliver his remarks at 10:10 a.m. at a National Endowment for Democracy event in Washington.

Bush met with top military advisers Wednesday at the White House, telling reporters afterward that U.S. and Iraqi troops are on the offensive against insurgents who want to disrupt Iraq's October 15 vote on a new constitution.

He said about 3,000 Iraqi troops had done "a fine job" in recent combat alongside American units in western Iraq.

"Over 30 percent of the Iraqi troops are in the lead on these offensive operations. We've got troops embedded with them, and that's an important part of the training mission," he said.

White House press secretary Scott McClellan characterized Bush's planned remarks Thursday morning as a "major speech" that will address the connection between Iraq and the broader war against the al Qaeda terrorist network "in greater detail than he has before."

"He will talk about how [al Qaeda] is a group of people that have a very clear strategy for driving us out of the Middle East, for creating a safe haven in the Middle East -- a safe haven from which they can plan and plot attacks on the rest of the civilized world and a safe haven from which they can seek to overthrow moderate governments in the Middle East," McClellan said.

McClellan said the address "is not a speech on Iraq," but Bush "will talk about Iraq in the context of the broader war on terrorism."