Bush set to outline fresh strategy for Iraq

By Mike McCarthy Jan 8, 2007, 10:41 GMT

Washington - US President George W Bush has promised to unveil his revised strategy for Iraq this week, possibly ordering more troops to the embattled country after announcing Friday that he will change US military leadership in the conflict.

Bush's new approach is intended to bolster sagging public support for a war that has claimed more than 3,000 American lives, to accomplish the mission in Iraq and, eventually, to allow a withdrawal of the US military.

Bush has not publicly discussed what options he has considered during a review of his strategy, which began after the opposition Democrats defeated his centre-right Republican Party in November 7 congressional elections - in large part because of rising domestic frustration with the war.

There are indications that the announcement could come as early as Wednesday.

'I will want to make sure that the mission is clear and specific and can be accomplished,' Bush said Thursday.

Among the options Bush is reportedly considering is a temporary, so-called surge in the US military force of 140,000 soldiers - with an addition of up to 40,000 troops. For months, Bush has insisted that there were sufficient ground forces in Iraq, based on the advice of top military officers.

The newly empowered Democrats in Congress have been pushing Bush to begin withdrawing American forces, and the Democratic leadership sent a letter to Bush strongly opposing any decision to increase the force. Some Republicans senators have also grown more vocal in criticizing Bush's policies.

Bush met Friday at the White House with Republican and Democratic senators, one day after the centre-left Democrats assumed control of Congress.

Barack Obama, a Democratic senator weighing a run for the presidency in 2008, said that Republicans also had reservations about a troop increase.

'Both Republican and Democratic senators expressed grave concern about the situation in Iraq,' Obama said. He said that Bush gave no indication whether he had decided to deploy more troops.

In the letter, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate majority leader Harry Reid said that Bush's policy in Iraq has been a failure, and that adding more forces will allow the Iraqi government to further avoid taking responsibility for the security of the country.

'Surging forces is a strategy that you have already tried, and that has already failed,' the letter said.

'Like many current and former military leaders, we believe that trying again would be a serious mistake. Adding more combat troops will only endanger more Americans and stretch our military to the breaking point for no strategic gain.'

Bush's challenges in Iraq include defeating the long-running insurgency and ending sectarian violence, which erupted last year and has brought the country to the brink of civil war. Experts have said that Bush must find a way to convince Syria and Iran to stop supporting the violence and play a constructive role in Iraq.

There have been lingering concerns within the Bush administration that Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki is incapable of taking the necessary political and military steps to stabilize the country, including disarming Shiite Muslim militias responsible for reprisals against Sunnis. Political parties linked to those militias are essential to al-Maliki's governing coalition.

'You also have to find ways, after you deal with the violence itself, of putting together the ability for Iraqis to gather around a unified government,' White House spokesman Tony Snow said Friday.

Bush spoke with al-Maliki for nearly two hours during a video conference call on Thursday and said later that he was confident that al-Maliki was committed to stabilizing Iraq.

Bush announced Friday that General George Casey, current head of multinational forces in Iraq, will be replaced by Lieutenant General David Petraeus. General John Abizaid, chief of the US Central Command (CentCom) overseeing US military operations in the Middle East, will be replaced by Admiral William Fallon, who has been in charge of the US Pacific Command.

Snow said that because many of the officers were slated to leave their posts in the near future, Bush wanted to move quickly to ensure that a fresh command structure was already in place when he announces his new strategy this week.

'It makes sense to go ahead and make sure that you're going to have your command team that is going to be in place, as you're working on this new way forward and enacting it,' Snow said, adding that the decision was not based on the generals' performance.

Abizaid, speaks fluent Arabic and is from a Lebanese-American family, had brought high hopes for improved US military comprehension of the Middle East, when he took over CentCom in July 2003, three months after the successful US ouster of the Iraqi dictatorship. But Abizaid's knowledge of the region seemed to make little difference in halting Iraq's slide into chaos, and he is now due to retire from the Army.

Bush named Casey to become the Army's chief of staff, the top position in the service. Petraeus has been regarded as a successful ground commander in Iraq and has been praised for taking on the difficult task of training Iraq's security forces.