Baton Rouge, La. ? President Bush will outline a “clear strategy” for Iraq in a major speech Monday night, White House aides said Friday, even as top U.S. generals warned Congress that Bush’s plan to transfer power to Iraqis by June 30 is likely to spawn more violence.

Bush’s speech at 7 p.m. CDT Monday at the U.S. Army War College in Carlisle, Pa., is designed to reassure Americans about the war and the handoff of partial sovereignty to Iraqis on June 30. Bad news from Iraq has helped drive Bush’s popularity and job-approval ratings to their lowest points in his presidency and threatens his bid for re-election.

But Friday, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Richard Myers, told the House Armed Services Committee that, far from calming the violence in Iraq, the June 30 turnover is likely to usher in a period of more turmoil, comments echoed by Army chief of staff Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker.

“The threat will continue to intensify after June 30,” Myers said. “There will be those, including (Abu Musab al) Zarqawi and the foreign fighters, who will try very hard to keep us from having any political progress in Iraq. There is reason for great hope, but the situation is not without its challenges, both military and political.”

The ranking Democrat on the Armed Services Committee, Rep. Ike Skelton of Missouri, asked Myers, “Are we on the brink of failure?”

“I don’t think so,” Myers said. “It is going to be tough. But I think we are on the brink of success.”

Bush spoke briefly about Iraq during a commencement speech Friday at Louisiana State University.

“We have an historic opportunity, the establishment of a peaceful and democratic Iraq at the heart of the Middle East, which will remove a danger, strike a blow against terrorism and make America and the world more secure,” the president said. “We will complete the mission for which so many have sacrificed.”

White House spokesman Trent Duffy said Bush would speak in far greater detail Monday night about the handoff of power to a yet-to-be-identified Iraqi government, and also about infrastructure, security and humanitarian issues in Iraq, as well as international and diplomatic efforts to improve the situation.

At the House Armed Services hearing, Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Calif., asked Myers if the American forces in Iraq “could get out safely if we were told we had to leave?”

“We have the authority under United Nations resolutions to stay in Iraq,” Myers said. “We are not going to be asked to leave.”