United States Vice President Dick Cheney says America is safer and the world is more secure because of the anti-terrorism policies of the Bush administration.
His speech to a largely Republican audience in New Orleans came as the former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein appeared in court for the first time.
Mr Cheney offered an optimistic assessment of the changes in Iraq and continued to insist that Saddam supported global terrorism.
"After decades of rule by a brutal dictator, Iraq has been returned to its rightful owners and Iraq now joins Afghanistan as a nation transformed from a state sponsor of terror to an ally in the war on terror," he said.
