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"This argument buys into the enemy's propaganda that the terrorists attack us because we're provoking them," he said. "Iraq is not the reason the terrorists are at war against us."
"If that ever becomes the mind set of the policymakers in Washington, it means we'll go back to the old days of waiting to be attacked and then respond," said the US president.
But Mr Bush has found himself on the defensive this week after grudgingly releasing portions of a National Intelligence Estimate, which represents the judgement of all 16 US spy agencies, found that the Iraq war helps recruit Islamist terrorists like those behind the September 11, 2001 attacks.
The NIE also warned that terrorists are being recruited more quickly than the US-led war on terrorism is thinning their ranks, and that this trend will probably continue for five years from the study's completion in April.
Veteran US journalist Bob Woodward, well known for painting vivid portraits of behind-the-scenes debates in the US government, has charged that the Bush administration is hiding the true extent of violence in Iraq.
"The truth is that the assessment by intelligence experts is that next year, 2007, is going to get worse and, in public, you have the president and you have the Pentagon (saying) 'Oh, no, things are going to get better'," he says in an interview with CBS television.
Mr Woodward says Mr Bush is certain that Iraq is on the right course and quotes the president as saying: "I will not withdraw even if Laura and Barney (Bush's dog) are the only ones supporting me."