Bush makes strategy for Iraq with senior aides

Washington, Dec 24 (UNI) US President George W Bush has held discussions with his top advisers on the Iraq situation to find what he calls a new way forward in the war in that country.

The meeting took place yesterday at the presidential retreat at Camp David, near here.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, new Defense Secretary Robert Gates, who returned home Friday after a three-day fact finding mission to Baghdad, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley and his deputy J D Crouch, who is coordinating the White House review of Iraq, were present in the meeting.

''It is a time of change in Washington with a new Secretary of Defense, and opposition Democrats set to take charge of Congress next month,'' the President had earlier said in his weekly radio address.

He further said, ''I want our troops to know that while the coming year will bring change, one thing will not change, and that is our mation's support for you and the vital work you do to achieve a victory in Iraq''.

Mr Bush also said accomplishing the mission means an Iraqi government that can sustain itself, defend itself, and join in the broader fight against terrorism.

However, public opinion polls at home indicate the increasing unpopularity of the war. Some 70 per cent of the voters disapprove of the way the White House has handled the conflict, according to a latest CNN survey.

In the Democratic radio address, Senator Evan Bayh spoke of the nearly 3,000 Americans, who have been killed in Iraq since the war began.

Democrats welcome the President's pledge to reach out to opposition leaders and intend to hold him to it, he said.

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