WASHINGTON, Jan 6: US President George W. Bush intends to send more troops to Iraq to help establish a “functioning government” that can provide basic services and security for the country, say the lawmakers who met him at the White House.
Additional 15,000 to 30,000 US troops can be sent to Baghdad to implement this plan which calls for expelling all armed groups – including those affiliated with the ruling Iraqi alliance – out of the capital city.
The United States currently has about 140,000 troops in Iraq with thousands already deployed in Baghdad.
Earlier on Saturday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said in Baghdad that Iraqi forces will lead a new effort — with US help — to wrest control of the capital’s neighbourhoods from militias and other sectarian groups.
This new, Baghdad-based model government is a far cry from President Bush’s earlier vision for a Western-style democracy in Iraq that could be emulated elsewhere in the Middle East.
Senator Mark Pryor, an Arkansas Democrat, said he heard a new definition of victory in the war in Iraq from President Bush. According to him, Mr Bush said that victory means a functioning government that can provide basic services and provide security for the country. Senator Pryor said that sounds very different from four years ago when he was talking about having a Western-style democracy in Iraq.
To discuss his new plans, President Bush invited 13 senators, both Democrats and Republicans, to the White House on Friday. Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Peter Pace and National Security Adviser Stephen J. Hadley also attended the meeting.
Mr Bush is expected to unveil his updated strategy for Iraq next week, which could entail new political, military and economic steps.
Also on Friday evening, the White House confirmed that Mr Bush is removing two senior generals opposed to an expected increase in US troops in Iraq
Admiral William J. Fallon will replace General John P. Abizaid as the top US commander for the Middle East. Army Lieutenant General David H. Petraeus will replace General George W. Casey Jr. as top American general in Iraq, the White House said. But as President Bush went about setting up a new team for implementing his plans, top House and Senate Democrats made it clear that they don’t want to send more troops.
“Surging forces is a strategy that you have already tried and that has already failed. Like many current and former military leaders, we believe that trying again would be a serious mistake," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid wrote in a letter to the White House.
The two leaders pointed that Gen Abizaid, the outgoing head of Central Command, said in a recent congressional testimony that bringing in more troops would run counter to trying to get the Iraqis to do more.
Senator John W. Warner, a Virginia Republican, who met President Bush separately, urged him to allow the lawmakers some time to consider the strategy he plans to announce next week before he starts implementing it.
Senator Barack Obama, a potential Democratic candidate for the 2008 presidential election, told reporters that at the White House meeting he also told Mr Bush not to send more troops to Iraq.
“I personally indicated that an escalation of troop levels in Iraq was a mistake and that we need a political accommodation, rather than a military approach to the sectarian violence there,” he said. “I think he recognises that the status quo is unacceptable and has to change.”
Several senators described the meeting with Mr Bush as frank but not confrontational. But even those who have supported the administration’s Iraq policy said it was time for a change of course.
“I asked the president, ‘Where would that surge come from?” said Senator Blanche Lincoln, an Arkansas Democrat. “He said that was a very good question.”
