President George W. Bush, while hailing Sunday's vote for a national assembly as a "resounding success" and a "great and historical achievement," made it clear Iraq had a long and bloody road ahead of it.

"Terrorists and insurgents will continue to wage their war against democracy, and we will support the Iraqi people in their fight against them," Bush said in brief remarks at the White House.

US officials refuse to give a timetable for the withdrawal of their 150,000 troops, with Bush insisting they will stay until Iraq can defend itself against what he calls homegrown or foreign terrorists.

But the administration acknowledges that efforts to train up Iraqi security forces to take on the insurgents have been slow and plagued by problems of leadership, desertion and equipment.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said again Sunday some 120,000 Iraqis had been trained, including 50,000 police. But critics such as Democratic Senator Joseph Biden say the overall number is more like 14,000, only a third of them battle-ready.

Democratic Senator John Kerry, who lost the November presidential election to Bush, said the administration had to take urgent action to convince Washington's European and Arab allies to help out with training.

"I will say unequivocally today that what the administration does in these next few days will decide the outcome of Iraq," he told NBC television Sunday. "And this is -- not maybe -- this is the last chance for the president to get it right."

But the question remained of how much active support Washington would be able to drum up from countries such as France and Germany that bitterly opposed the March 2003 invasion.

Training for the Iraqis was likely to be on the agenda when Rice travels to Europe later this week on a fence-mending tour ahead of Bush's trip later in February.