Washington ? A top congressional Democratic supporter of U.S. action in Iraq said Thursday that President Bush should make a nationally televised speech and “level with the American people” about the long road ahead there.

Faced with declining public support, Bush needs to tell Americans “it’s going to take a lot more time : at least through the end of 2006,” and explain what still has to be done there, Sen. Joe Biden said after returning from his fifth visit to Iraq.

The Delaware senator, senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, said he gave his suggestion Tuesday to Stephen Hadley, Bush’s national security adviser, after finding “a total disconnect” between the situation in Iraq and optimistic statements by Bush and his top aides.

The senator cited recent polls showing a decline in support for the U.S. effort in Iraq, and added, “The American people are pretty tough, but they’ve got to have something out there to make it look like there’s a shot if they continue to make this investment with their kids and their dollars. And there is a shot.”

Biden urged Bush to ask NATO to provide troops to seal the border between Syria and Iraq, noting an increase in the number of “jihadists” from other Arab countries, especially Saudi Arabia and Syria, coming into Iraq to join the insurgency.