US hints it might talk to Iran, Syria

By Tony Czuczka Nov 13, 2006, 2:21 GMT

Washington - The United States may consider direct talks with Iran and Syria to help quell violence in Iraq, a top aide to President George W Bush hinted Sunday in the latest sign of a shifting US approach to the war.

'Nothing is off the table. All of the options will be considered,' White House chief of staff Josh Bolten told the Cable News Network (CNN) when asked whether Bush was open to convening regional powers including Iran and Syria.

Washington has frequently accused Iran and Syria of fomenting trouble in neighbouring Iraq. But US media speculated that a panel that is drafting ideas for a disengagement from Iraq will recommend talks with the two US foes, which wield major influence in Iraq.

Bush faces growing pressure to change course on Iraq after after his Republican Party lost control of both houses of the US Congress in November 7 elections. The vote was largely seen as a referendum on the war in Iraq.

He was due to meet Monday with members of the Iraq Study Group, a panel co-chaired by former US secretary of state James Baker. Its report is expected in December, and Bolten said the administration will 'see what their recommendations are and go from there.'

Meanwhile, US national security agencies are reviewing strategy in Iraq, Bolten said.

Few expect a quick withdrawal of US troops, but Bush on Saturday called Robert Gates, the former CIA director he named to replace Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, an 'agent of change.' US military leaders are also examining strategies.

In Iraq, three bombings in Baghdad left at least 38 people dead and 71 wounded Sunday, most of them after a suicide bomber struck a police recruiting office.

Speculation is surging in Washington that the bipartisan Baker panel, launched by Congress in March, will offer both Bush and the newly empowered Democrats a way out of the impasse in Iraq. Its report is expected in December, and British Prime Minister Tony Blair was due to address the panel Tuesday by video link.

Bush has insisted since the election that he will accept nothing less than 'victory,' though he has scaled back his lofty rhetoric of democracy for the Middle East to creating an Iraq that can 'sustain, govern and defend itself,' and does not harbour terrorists.

'Iraq is the central front in this war on terror. I look forward to listening to ideas from the new leaders of Congress on the best way to support our troops on the front lines - and win the war on terror,' Bush said in his nationally broadcast Saturday radio message.

Meanwhile, Blair and Australian Prime Minister John Howard - two key US military allies in Iraq - agreed in a phone call that they remain committed and would not set a date for withdrawing troops, Howard said.

'You can't put a date on it, but it will go on for a long time,' he said Saturday in Canberra.

In the US, many Democrats campaigned on a platform calling for a timetable to extricate troops from Iraq, which Bush has refused to set. US presidents hold constitutional authority to set foreign and military policy, so the Democrats are looking to harness widespread Republican discontent with Bush's war policy to pressure the administration.

But leading Democrats disagree among themselves about the tough choices required.

Senator Carl Levin, in line to head the upper chamber's Armed Services Committee when the newly elected Congress convenes in January, called Sunday for 'a phased redeployment of forces from Iraq in four to six months.'

Former presidential candidate Howard Dean, who heads the Democrats' national party organization, argued against 'an arbitrary deadline' but insisted 'this cannot be left to the next president.'

'I think that we need to tell the Iraqi people that we're leaving, because I think, frankly, they are playing political games over there to see who can get into power on the backs of our troops,' Dean said on Fox News television.