"The transition to self-government is a complicated process, because it takes time to build trust and hope after decades of oppression and fear," Bush said in his weekly radio address.

"Yet we are making steady progress, and we will keep our promise to fully return Iraq's government to Iraq's people as soon as possible," he said.

Bush also sought to allay concerns in the US Congress over his $87 billion spending request for Iraq.

"Our coalition is helping to train and equip Iraq's new army, so that Iraqis can take over border protection and other security duties as soon as possible," he said.

Democrats on Saturday took Bush to task for his proposals on Iraq's rebuilding, saying too many resources are being drained from domestic needs.

"In a time when money is scarce, we should demand that President Bush place the needs of our own country first on the agenda," Missouri Gov. Bob Holden said in the Democrats' weekly radio address.

"With record deficits, the worst economy in 70 years, and an administration likely to push even more tax cuts for the wealthy, this funding request raises important concerns about what we can afford to spend to rebuild Iraq," he said.

With unease about the costs growing, the administration has been negotiating with members of the United Nations Security Council in hopes of securing a resolution that will encourage contributions from abroad of troops and cash.

But debate over the transition to Iraqi sovereignty has raised serious obstacles to the effort.

The United Nations wants sovereignty handed over within months to an interim government, possibly by expanding the 25-member Iraqi Governing Council, which could then ask for political and military assistance.

The United States wants a constitution written first, possibly within six months, and then elections, while it stays firmly in control of military and civilian structures.

Annan made clear in the past week he did not want the United Nations, which lost senior staff in the Aug. 19 bombing of its Baghdad offices, to risk more lives for a marginal role in Iraq. He said he felt American plans for ending the occupation were on the wrong track.

Annan's comments have caused several Security Council members to express new reservations.

The White House has remained optimistic, however. Spokesman Scott McClellan said on Friday "there is a convergence of views emerging."

Bush was ending a tough week on Iraq, one in which the Justice Department opened an investigation into whether someone from the White House, CIA, Pentagon or State Department illegally disclosed the identity of a CIA operative whose husband challenged Bush's Iraq weapons threat claims.

In addition, a preliminary report by the top CIA weapons hunter, David Kay, found no weapons of mass destruction, which the war was fought over.

AFP adds: Egypt wants a "specific timetable" that would lead to the transfer of power in Iraq to Iraqis "as soon as possible," President Hosni Mubarak said Sunday.

"What's needed is a specific time table for the return to normalcy, to allow the Iraqi people to govern themselves as soon as possible," Mubarak said in a televised speech on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the 1973 war against Israel.