Bush weighing infusion of US troops to Iraq

WASHINGTON, Dec 20 (Reuters) US President George W Bush is weighing a short-term US troop increase in Iraq, the White House said, as Bush reportedly acknowledged for the first time that America is not winning the war.

In a Washington Post interview, Bush said the United States is not winning in Iraq and that he plans to expand the US military to deal with the long-term fight against terrorism.

''We're not winning, we're not losing,'' Bush told the Post yesterday, adopting the formula used by new Defence Secretary Robert Gates.

Bush, who declared days before the November elections that the United States was winning in Iraq, is expected to announce a new Iraq strategy in January.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said a temporary infusion of forces in Iraq -- an idea the high-powered Iraq Study Group considered acceptable -- was ''something that's being explored'' as Bush considers options on Iraq.

Snow disputed another Washington Post report that White House officials were at odds with the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff who oppose an increase in troop levels.

''I think people are trying to create a fight between the president and the Joint Chiefs where one does not exist,'' Snow said.

The Post, which also reported Bush as saying he was considering a short-term troop increase, said White House officials were aggressively promoting a ''surge'' of 15,000 to 30,000 troops over the unanimous disagreement of the leaders of the different US military branches.

Bush has not made a decision on his new strategy and has asked military commanders to consider a range of options, Snow said. ''So the idea that there is a decision and a squabble would be wrong.'' Bush told the Post that he wanted to expand the US military as part of the broader struggle against Islamic extremists rather than for Iraq specifically.

''I'm inclined to believe that we do need to increase our troops -- the Army, the Marines,'' Bush said in an interview posted on the newspaper's Web site. He gave no estimates on how many more troops might be added.

''I talked about this to (Defence) Secretary (Robert) Gates and he is going to ... come back with a recommendation to me about how to proceed forward on this idea,'' Bush said.

The Bush administration has generally been cool to recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, including opening a dialogue with Iran and Syria.

Bush delayed unveiling a new strategy on Iraq until early next year, partly because he wanted to give Gates, who was sworn into office this week, a chance to visit the country and have input into the review.

He has been under increasing pressure to change course in Iraq, where sectarian violence shows no sign of abating. Democrats took control of Congress from Bush's Republican Party in November elections largely by calling for a new direction in the war.

Incoming House Armed Services Committee Chairman Ike Skelton, a Missouri Democrat, was skeptical about a surge in troops.

''I don't think it will change a thing,'' he said. ''It could actually exacerbate the situation even further. And I'm very concerned about additional burden on the Army and Marine Corps.'' The Iraq Study Group said it could ''support a short-term redeployment or surge of American combat forces to stabilize Baghdad, or to speed the training and equipping mission, if the US commander in Iraq determines that such steps would be effective.'' But the report rejected ''a substantial increase'' in troops of 100,000 to 200,000 and also an immediate withdrawal.

Supporters of sending more troops to Iraq said the Pentagon's own bleak assessment on Monday of a 22 per cent rise in violence over the past three months meant that a short-term influx of US. forces was needed.

But critics say the rising violence showed instead that US efforts to secure Baghdad were not working.

REUTERS PB PM1238