President George W. Bush tried to boost flagging support for the Iraq war on Wednesday by releasing details of alleged efforts by Osama bin Laden to plan attacks against the US from Iraq.

In a speech to the US Coast Guard Academy, Mr Bush outlined previously classified intelligence asserting that Mr bin Laden tasked Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the former head of al-Qaeda in Iraq, in 2005 with creating a terrorist cell in Iraq that would focus on plots to attack the US.