ANDERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Guam, - US Vice President Dick Cheney on Thursday reiterated that the American people would not back a policy of retreat in Iraq, a day after Britain announced a large-scale troop pullout.

U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney arrives at Haneda airport in Tokyo February 20, 2007. Cheney arrived in Japan on Tuesday on a visit to reassure America's close ally that a troop build-up will help quell violence in Iraq, just weeks after Japan's defence minister said starting the war was a mistake. [Reuters]

"We are not dealing with adversaries that will surrender or someday come to their senses," he said in a hanger at Anderson Air Force Base in the US Pacific territory of Guam, where he made a brief stop en route from Japan to Australia.

"We'll be flexible, we'll do all we can to adapt to conditions on the ground, we'll make every change necessary to do the job and I want you to know that the American people do not and will not support a policy of retreat."

The vice president made similar remarks on Wednesday when he addressed troops on the USS Kitty Hawk, an aircraft carrier stationed in Japan.

Cheney said Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden "continues to predict that the people of the United States simply do not have the stomach to stay in the fight against terror".

The Iraq operation has grown increasingly unpopular in the United States, with discontent over the war helping the Democratic Party oust President George W. Bush's Republicans in November congressional elections.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair said Wednesday that British forces would be reduced by 1,600 to 5,500 in coming months, with further withdrawals likely to cut the country's presence to fewer than 5,000 troops later this year.

Cheney's week-long trip to Japan and Australia aims to reassure the close US allies about Washington's strategies in Afghanistan and Iraq and allow for talks on challenges like China's rise and North Korea's nuclear programmes.

Cheney was last in Guam as secretary of defense to Bush's father.

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