Bush convenes war cabinet for post-Zarqawi session

CAMP DAVID, Md., June 12 (Reuters) President George W Bush held a war council today hoping to build momentum after Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's death, but the big question overhanging the talks was when US troops would leave Iraq.

Bush, who wants his national security team to focus on Iraq away from their daily distractions, began two days of high-level consultations at Camp David to reassess strategy on the increasingly unpopular war that has dragged down his approval ratings in a congressional election year.

Surrounded by top advisers, he may also have to contend with fallout from the suicides of three Arabs held at the US military prison at Guantanamo. Their deaths on Saturday triggered new international calls to close the detention camp.

The administration is eager to capitalize on the killing of Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq and mastermind of some of the bloodiest bombings since a 2003 US-led invasion, as well as the long-awaited creation of an Iraqi unity government.

Signaling its determination to regroup, the al Qaeda faction on Monday named Zarqawi's successor as Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, who is little known in the West.

In a videoconference tomorrow, Bush and his chief aides, including Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, are expected to press Iraqi leaders not to squander the chance to assert their authority and win the confidence of Iraqis.

''There's a window here in which it's important for them to show success,'' White House counselor Dan Bartlett said.

TEMPERED EXPECTATIONS Although Bush has tempered expectations that the meeting will yield a decision on troop reductions, no one is ruling out the possibility that future troop levels will be discussed, even as insurgent attacks persist in Iraq.

Gen George Casey, the top US commander in Iraq, predicted yesterday that American forces would scale back gradually in coming months if the new government holds together and the Iraqi army makes progress. He and other senior officers will join the Camp David conference by video link today.

Despite pressure from Democrats for a plan to bring troops home soon, Bush has offered no timetable for a withdrawal of the 131,000 US soldiers in Iraq. He insists US forces cannot leave until the Iraqis can secure their own country.

Military commanders had hoped to reduce the US presence to 100,000 troops by the end of the year, but an unrelenting insurgency and sectarian violence have cast doubt on that.

Zarqawi's killing in a US air strike on Wednesday was a desperately needed military success for Bush, who has seen public disenchantment with the war increase as American casualties now topping 2,400 have mounted.

But he has warned that the death of one enemy will not end the war. Al Qaeda in Iraq on Sunday vowed to carry out attacks to ''shake the enemy and rob them of sleep.'' Today, a roadside bomb targeting a bus taking workers to Iraq's industry ministry killed six people. US-led forces in Iraq killed seven militants in a raid near where Zarqawi was killed, the US military said. Two children were also killed at the scene, including a 6-month-old boy, it said.

REUTERS SY ND2142