WASHINGTON, Dec. 17 (Xinhua) -- U.S. President George W. Bush, who is leaving the White House on Jan. 20, said on Wednesday that the war on terror will continue long beyond his presidency.

    Speaking to military officers at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Bush said that "the struggle against terror will be a generational conflict."

    Bush hailed successes in the campaign against terrorism since his administration launched the war on terror following the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States.

    Justifying the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan and Iraq, Bush said, "Around the world, we're driving the terrorists from their safe havens. We are choking off their financing. We are severely disrupting their operations."

    "Together with our allies, we've killed or captured hundreds of Al-Qaeda leaders and operatives, including the architect of the Sept. 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed."

    Bush has long and strongly been defending his anti-terrorism policy. "Within weeks of Sept. 11 (of 2001), our armed forces began taking the fight to the terrorists around the world," the soon-to-be former U.S. president said last week when he visited the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.