CAMP SPEICHER, Iraq - Vice President Dick Cheney saluted US troops stationed near former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's hometown on Thursday and defended the Bush administration's recent decision to extend military deployments as "vital to the mission."

Vice President Dick Cheney participates in a rally with troops at Camp Speicher, Iraq, Thursday, May 10, 2007. [AP]

"The Army and the country appreciate the extra burden you carry," Cheney said.

He vowed to "stay on the offensive" despite growing public opposition in the United States to the war and efforts by the Democratic majority in Congress to restrict spending.

Cheney, who was defense secretary in the first Bush administration, spent the night on the base, about seven miles from Tikrit, Saddam's former hometown and an area populated mostly by minority-party Sunnis.

Cheney had breakfast with troops and participated in classified briefings from military commanders.

"It was a good report and I come away with even more appreciation for all you do, and greater confidence for the days ahead," Cheney said,

Between 10,000 and 12,000 troops are stationed at the base, which is located on the grounds of the former Iraqi Air Force Academy and is about 100 miles north of Baghdad, where Cheney spent Wednesday.

It was the first time Cheney spent the night in Iraq, and his whereabouts was closely guarded by the White House until Thursday's speech to the troops.

Cheney spoke to several thousand mostly Army forces in a huge tent that is scheduled to be a gymnasium. He was enthusiastically cheered and greeted when he stepped up on stage, but only politely applauded when he talked about deployment extensions.

Later, he set out for Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates on a weeklong tour of the Middle East that will also take him to Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan.

"Extremists from inside and outside the country want to stir an endless cycle of violence, and al-Qaida is operating and trying to open new fronts," Cheney said. "Some seem to have no interest in seeing the emergence of a strong, secure and democratic Iraq.

"A violent minority is trying to tear down the institutions of peaceful self-government that Iraqis are trying to build," he said.

The president recently increased military deployments from 12 months to 15 months. That meant a blanket three-month extension for nearly every one on the base, said Maj. Tage Rainsford, a public affairs officer on the base.

Said Cheney: "Many of you have had your deployments extended and that puts unexpected hardship on you and your families. I want you to know the extension is vital to the mission."

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