May 26 (Bloomberg) -- President George W. Bush, in a Memorial Day weekend radio address, said the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are aimed at promoting in those countries the freedom people enjoy in the U.S.

``Our troops are helping them build democracies that respect the rights of their people, uphold the rule of law and fight extremists alongside America in the war on terror,'' Bush said.

As the U.S. began a three-day holiday weekend, Bush yesterday paid his seventh visit to wounded troops at National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, outside Washington.

Congress this week approved almost $100 billion for U.S. military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through Sept. 30. The package, stripped of a troop-withdrawal timeline Democrats sought and Bush opposed, handed the president a victory in the continuing debate over war policy.

The U.S. celebrates Memorial Day on May 28, a national holiday commemorating war dead. This will be the sixth straight Memorial Day with the nation at war.

Since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, 3,433 U.S. personnel have died and more than 25,500 have been wounded, Pentagon figures show. In Afghanistan, 387 U.S. troops have been killed and 1,250 wounded since October 2001, when the U.S. opened the war on terrorism.

After the hospital visit, the president left for Camp David for the weekend. He'll return to the White House tomorrow. On May 28, he lays a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns and makes a speech at Arlington National Cemetery.

To contact the reporter on this story: Holly Rosenkrantz in Washington at hrosenkrantz@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: May 26, 2007 10:06 EDT