Bush revamps Iraq team before policy shift

Washington: US President George W. Bush on Friday shuffled US military commanders for Iraq ahead of a policy shift on the war but faced resistance from Democrats to a proposal to increase troops there.

Bush, under pressure from a US. Congress now under Democratic control to begin withdrawing troops, plans to unveil a new Iraq strategy as early as next Wednesday that could include a short-term increase of up to 20,000 US troops to try to bring stability to Baghdad.

The shake-up among officials in charge of the unpopular war, including the nomination of former Baghdad envoy John Negroponte to be deputy secretary of state to beef up diplomatic efforts on Iraq, comes as the US death toll and sectarian violence continue to mount.

The top two Democrats in Congress, Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid and House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, urged Bush in a letter to reject a contemplated troop increase in Iraq and begin a phased withdrawal within months.

"Adding more combat troops will only endanger more Americans and stretch our military to the breaking point for no strategic gain," they wrote.

And Illinois Democratic Sen. Barack Obama said he told the president during a White House meeting with lawmakers that a troop increase "was a bad idea."

Senators said Bush gave no indication he had definitely decided on a troop increase and the White House said he had not yet made up his mind. A troop increase was endorsed on Friday by Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman and Arizona Republican Senator John McCain.

Looking ahead to implementation of his new Iraq plan, Bush began a shuffle of the US military's war leadership in order to carry out the policy.

He nominated Admiral William Fallon to replace General John Abizaid as the head of US Central Command, in charge of US military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

He also replaced America's top commander in Iraq, General George Casey - a sceptic of troop increases - with Lt. Gen. David Petraeus.

Petraeus was a top commander of the 2003 Iraq invasion and oversaw a new US military manual on fighting insurgencies that stresses understanding politics, ethics and local culture.

Casey would become the US Army chief of staff.
"General Petraeus is a soldier of vision and determination," Bush said in a statement. "His service in Iraq has equipped him with expertise in irregular warfare and stability operations and an understanding of the enemy we face."

Bush described Fallon as one of America's foremost military strategists. "His experience and leadership will be critical to helping our country achieve victory over the radicals and extremists who threaten freedom."

White House spokesman Tony Snow rejected a contention from Reid that Bush was changing commanders because they are not telling him what he wants to hear.

"Just flat inaccurate," Snow said.

In a White House ceremony, Bush announced Negroponte's appointment and cited his experience as ambassador to Iraq. He also nominated retired Admiral Mike McConnell to replace Negroponte as director of national intelligence.

McConnell directed the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1996.

Another expected announcement is that Zalmay Khalilzad, the US ambassador to Iraq, will be nominated to be ambassador to the United Nations, US officials said.

Replacing Khalilzad in Baghdad, officials said, would be Ryan Crocker, 57, the US ambassador in Pakistan since November 2004. A fluent Arabic speaker, Crocker is one of the State Department's most experienced experts on the Middle East.

Khalilzad, an Afghan-born Sunni Muslim, has irritated some of Iraq's now-dominant Shiites in his efforts to draw Saddam's fellow Sunnis from insurgency into politics.

Bush began overhauling his Iraq team in November when Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld resigned after Bush's Republicans lost control of Congress in elections dominated by concerns over the war in Iraq.