Bush administration rules out any drastic shift in Iraq policy
Washington, Oct 24 (UNI) The White House has ruled out any drastic shift in the United States policy in Iraq which has become a key issue in the November 7 mid-term elections, raising the spectre of President Bush's Republican Party losing its decade-old control of Congress.
White House spokesman Tony Snow told newspersons yesterday that no dramatic announcement was imminent, though there could be constant adjustments in the policy to reflect changing realities on the ground.
US public support for the war in Iraq has dropped to just 20 percent compared with 45 percent in June, according to a Wall Street Journal/NBC News Poll of 1,006 registered voters.
Under public pressure, even Republican lawmakers have begun to plead for a change in the Iraq policy, adding to the pressure on the Bush Administration for a policy review.
Snow said President Bush has given up his ''stay the course'' slogan for Iraq.
''He (President Bush) has stopped using it. It allowed critics to say, well, here's an administration that's just embarked upon a policy and not looking at what the situation is, when, in fact, it's just the opposite,'' Snow said.
He said senior Iraqi, US and coalition officials in Baghdad, after a long discussion, had drawn up a list of benchmarks to achieve specific security, economic and political goals.
He also denied the administration was issuing any ultimatum and contradicted a New York Times' Sunday story which said the US was drafting a set of specific timetables for Iraq and their non-implementation would incur penalties.
''That part of the report goes too far. The United States is not in the business of issuing ultimatums,'' Snow said.
When asked whether the US was satisfied with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's handling of the militia groups and his government's efforts to bring down the level of violence, he said the situation was difficult but the White House was satisfied that Iraqi leaders were taking the matter seriously.
Meanwhile CNN reported that US military's death toll for October have reached 87 -- the highest this year with weekend violence across Iraq killing a total of 12 US soldiers and Marines.
Democratic Senator Joseph Biden, who is likely to take over the chairmanship of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in case of his party's victory, told newspersons yesterday that there might be hints of change from the White House, but nothing would happen if the Republicans retained control on the Congress.
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