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Bush signals new course in Iraq as Democrats urge withdrawal
President George W. BushBy Philippe Rater
AFP
WASHINGTON
Petroleumworld.com 13 10 06
President George W. Bush geared up Sunday to seek a new course in Iraq, which may include cooperation with Syria and Iran, as leading US lawmakers called for a withdrawal of US troops to begin within four to six months.
Bush is to meet Monday with a bipartisan panel of Washington heavy-hitters named by Congress to make recommendations about US policy in Iraq.
White House spokesman Tony Snow said, however, the Iraq Study Group is not due
to present the president with its final report this week.
"That is yet to come, on a schedule to be determined by the study group itself," he added.
The British newspaper The Observer reported Sunday that Prime Minister Tony Blair told Bush in a long telephone call about the need to involve Iraq's neighbors Syria and Iran in efforts to stabilize the country which is gripped by spiralling sectarian violence.
On Saturday, Bush signalled that he was open to a new path in the violence-racked country, praising his choice for defense secretary as "an agent of change."
In his weekly radio address, Bush reaffirmed his determination to fight terrorism and said that Iraq remained "the central front in this war on terror."
But he made it clear, less than a week after the stunning Democratic victory in Tuesday's congressional elections, that he was open to ideas presented by
Democrats as well the Iraq Study Group.
On Sunday, Democratic lawmakers said they hoped to begin a phased withdrawl of US troops within four to six months as Washington pressures Iraqis to reach a political solution to the violence there.
US Senator Carl Levin, presumed to become the chairman of the Senate Armed Forces Committee in January, said that Americans supported the short time frame for withdrawal.
"The people spoke dramatically, overwhelmingly, resoundingly to change the course in Iraq," Levin told ABC news, saying that the US military commitment there is "not open-ended."
"As a matter of fact, we need to begin a phased redeployment of forces from Iraq in four to six months," Levin said.
Senator Joe Biden, set to return to his role as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said the United States should call on the Iraqi government to resolve sectarian divisions through political compromise.
He said lawmakers would "put pressure on the Iraqis to insist upon a means to distribute the oil equitably, make sure there's some form of federalism and deal with the militias and call for an international conference."
Asked if he would include Iran and Syria in pursuit of international support for a peaceful Iraq, Biden said, "in my case, yes," adding Turkey as well.
Levin and Biden were expected to take leadership roles in the Senate in January after Democrats took control of the US Senate in last week's legislative elections that were widely considered a referendum condemning Bush's policy in Iraq.
The Iraq Study Group is headed by Republican former secretary of state James Baker and Democratic former congressman Lee Hamilton and includes former US Supreme Court justice Sandra Day O'Connor and Robert Gates, the former CIA chief nominated to replace Donald Rumsfeld as secretary of defense.
AFP 12 1742 GMT 11 06
Copyright© 2006 AFP. All Rights Reserved.
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