Bush charts new Iraq strategy

Washington: President George W. Bush said yesterday that a bipartisan panel's call for a major course change in Iraq was an important document, but just one of several reports he will consider as he charts a new strategy.

Standing alongside chief Iraq war ally Tony Blair of Britain, the president acknowledged: "It's bad in Iraq." The two leaders met a day after a report by the Iraq Study Group said their war policies had failed and the US should involve Syria and Iran in crisis talks.

"If people come to the table to discuss Iraq, they need to come understanding their responsibilities to not fund terrorists, to help this young democracy survive, to help with the econ-omics of the country," Bush said of Iran and Syria's alleged involvement in Iraq's troubles.

He also asserted that success in Iraq depends on victory over extremists across the "broader Middle East".

Blair will be heading to the Middle East soon in a mission to talk to the Israelis and the Palestinians in a renewed attempt to solve the Arab-Israeli conflict. The report said that Bush had to launch a new Mideast peace effort to give the United States renewed credibility in the region.

Asked when he would start to carry out recommendations for a change, Bush noted that other studies were still under way by the Pentagon, the State Department and the White House National Security Council. He said he would make major decisions "after I get the reports".

Syria welcomed the report yesterday, praising its emphasis on the need to settle the Arab-Israeli conflict, but Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he disagreed with the report's suggestion to reopen long-dormant talks with Syria.