US President George W. Bush said on Monday that the United States is more secure as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and on terrorism.

"The war on terror has brought great costs," Bush said at the Arlington National Cemetery, in the western suburb of the nation's capital, where he laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns.

"For those who have lost loved ones in Afghanistan and Iraq, today is a day of last letters and fresh tears," he said in a nine- minute address to mark the Memorial Day, which falls on May 30 and was observed to commemorate those members of the armed forces killed in war.

"Because of the sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, two terror regimes are gone forever, freedom is on the march and America is more secure," he told a crowd of thousands of people. Bush was referring to the end of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan and Saddam Hussein's rule in Iraq.

In Iraq, over 1,600 US soldiers have been killed since the American invasion in March 2003, and in military operations in Afghanistan, nearly 150 US soldiers have lost their lives.

"We must honor them by completing the mission for which they gave their lives, by defeating the terrorists," said the president, who was accompanied by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Richard Myers.

More than 225,000 US military personnel were buried at the Arlington National Cemetery, on the western bank of the Potomac River.

Source: Xinhua