US Democrat sees Iraq 'quagmire' absent changes

WASHINGTON, Dec 16 (Reuters) The United States risks being stuck in a ''quagmire'' in Iraq unless the Bush administration changes strategy, a Democratic member of the bipartisan Iraq Study Group said today.

Former Defense Secretary William Perry said the United States ''is being torn apart by the controversy over the American military presence in Iraq.'' ''The term 'quagmire' recalls one of the saddest periods in American history, which we do not want to relive. But I believe that is likely to happen if we 'stay the course' in Iraq,'' Perry said during the Democrats' weekly radio address.

The word 'quagmire' is often used by historians and journalists to describe US failures in the Vietnam War. ''Stay the course'' is an expression President George W. Bush has repeated to describe his Iraq policy, though the administration has since distanced itself from the phrase, insisting it is always open to adjusting tactics in Iraq.

But the Republican president is under rising pressure to undertake a broad shift in strategy in Iraq amid surging sectarian violence, rising U.S. casualties and American doubts about his handling of the Iraq conflict.

Bush is weighing options for a policy overhaul and plans to deliver a speech early next month outlining his new strategy.

In addition to advice from the Pentagon and from within his administration, he is reviewing the Dec. 6 report from the Iraq Study Group, which recommended pulling out most US combat troops by early 2008 along with a rapid increase in the training of Iraqi forces.

The report also recommended a diplomatic push in the Middle East, including direct talks with Iran and Syria -- an idea Bush has so far resisted.

The report has received a tepid embrace in Washington, even though it had been eagerly anticipated as a possible means of bridging deep divisions within the country over Iraq.

Some Democratic lawmakers would prefer to see firmer timelines for troop withdrawals, and Republicans have also given it mixed reviews.

Perry, who served as secretary of defense under former President Bill Clinton, repeated in his radio address many of the group's recommendations and said he felt the report would ''frame the debate in our country this coming year.'' ''And it will demonstrate that it is possible, even in the poisonous political climate that now exists, to address important national problems in a truly bipartisan manner,'' he said.

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