The war has killed more than 4,000 US and allied soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians. -- PHOTO: AFP

US President George W. 'Bush speaks of victory but I say he has only achieved one thing for this country, destruction,' said Abu Fares al-Daraji, in his tobacco shop on the once-bustling Saadun Street of downtown Baghdad.

For Mr Daraji and many of his compatriots, sectarian bloodletting in Iraq has overshadowed the elimination of Saddam's iron-fist regime.

And many feel that Washington alone reaped benefits from the war.

'The United States achieved victory for itself by strengthening its control of the region, particularly that Iraq is a strategic country to contain the Iranian threat,' said Mr Daraji.

'They only secured their own interests, not those of the Iraqi people,' he said.

'The Americans are an extension of Saddam. Decision-making is in their hands and the (Iraqi) government has no sovereignty whatsover. There is no victory. The Americans brought our way things we never knew like terrorism and the killings we see on the streets,' Mr Daraji added.

On the eve of the war's anniversary, President Bush defended his decision to invade Iraq in a speech at the Pentagon, vowing no retreat and pledging that victory will prevail.

'Five years into this battle, there's an understandable debate over whether the war was worth fighting, whether the fight is worth winning, and whether we can win it. The answers are clear to me,' he said.

'Removing Saddam Hussein from power was the right decision,' the US president said.

'The men and women who crossed into Iraq five years ago removed a tyrant, liberated a country, and rescued millions from unspeakable horrors.' Saddam was executed in December 2006 after a trial founding him guilty of crimes against humanity.

The war has killed more than 4,000 US and allied soldiers and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians - between 104,000 and 223,000 died between March 2003 and June 2006 alone, according to the World Health Organisation.

The International Committee of the Red Cross, in its latest report, said the plight of millions of Iraqis who still have little or no access to clean water, sanitation or health care was the 'most critical in the world'.

President Bush acknowledged the war has 'come at a high cost in lives and treasure' but he stressed: 'The battle in Iraq will end in victory.' Editor-in-chief Tareq al-Maamuri of Al-Bilad Al-Yawm independent newspaper had a different reading of the word 'victory' used by President Bush.

'Victory is understood by the number of goals that the United States had set out for itself at the onset of the war and how many of those it has achieved,' said Mr Maamuri.

He welcomed the US-led invasion's elimination of Saddam but noted that Washington was unable to prove claims that the former dictator had weapons of mass destruction or ties to Muslim terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda.

Mr Maamuri lamented that the war failed to spread the US goal of democracy in Iraq.

'In theory they achieved democracy through elections, a new constitution and a free press. But in reality, democracy was not achieved because the country remains weak and unable to achieve security or to provide the people with the adequate climate in which democracy can thrive,' he said.

The Iraqi people 'still face an uphill battle which they must win,' Mr Maamuri said.

'They must rid the country of militias and set up a strong military force loyal to the nation, not to any given party, as well as fight corruption in order to pave the way for a true nation,' he said.

'Little of this has been achieved so far and it is too soon to say that the Iraqi people came out victorious because they still have to overcome administrative corruption which finances terrorism,' he added.

Baghdad schoolteacher Nisreen Mohammad said the invasion brought to Iraq 'complications which we could have lived without.' The war rid Iraq of Saddam but 'US troops have failed to revive the economy and President Bush does not seem to comprehend the breadth of this problem,' she said. -- AFP