Bush ''accepts'' responsibility for mistakes made in Iraq

Washington, Jan 11 (UNI) United States President George W Bush has ''accepted responsibility for the mistakes made in Iraq'' and announced a plan to send more than 20,000 American troops to quell the sectarian violence there, in what he called a change in strategy.

In a broadcast to the nation last night, the President said the situation in Iraq was unacceptable to the American people and unacceptable to him. He said US troops in Iraq had fought bravely and done everything they had been asked to do and ''where mistakes have been made, the responsibility rests with me".

He said the vast majority of the troops would be deployed in and around Baghdad, where 80 per cent of Iraq's violence occurred. The additional troops would help clear and secure neighborhoods and to help them protect Iraqi civilians.

''The earlier efforts to secure Baghdad failed because there were not enough Iraqi and American troops to secure neighbourhoods that had been cleared of insurgents,'' said Mr Bush, whose move to induct more troops in Iraq has been opposed by the Democrats, who now control the Congress.

Delivering the Democrats' official response from the Senate Gallery, immediately after President Bush's address, Sen Dick Durbin said, ''Escalation of this war is not the change the American people called for in the last election, in which the President's Republican Party lost majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate.

''Instead of a new direction, the President's plan moves the American commitment in Iraq in the wrong direction,'' he added.

The Democratic Party spokesman said the President ordered deployment of more troops in Iraq, ignoring the strong advice of most of his top generals.

He quoted General John Abizaid, until recently, the commanding general in Iraq and Afghanistan as having said, ''more American forces prevent the Iraqis from doing more, from taking more responsibility for their own future.'' Talking about his plan, Mr Bush said, Iraqi soldiers would take the lead in the new fighting, and American troops would be there to advise and support the Iraqi forces, with the additional US troops embedded in Iraqi units.

''Only the Iraqi people can end the sectarian violence and the Iraqi government has an aggressive plan to do so,'' he added.

Mr Bush said he had made clear to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and other Iraqi leaders that ''America's commitment is not open-ended. If the Iraqi government does not follow its promises, it will lose the support of the American people -- and it will lose the support of the Iraqi people. Now is the time to act.'' The Iraqi government plans to take responsibility for security in all of Iraq's provinces by November, he added.

The President explained that his revised strategy involved more than military measures. The United States would provide more than one billion dollars for three programs to create jobs and help reconstruction in neighborhoods secured by Iraqi and US forces.

He said he and his advisors reviewed the situation, consulted with lawmakers, allies and experts and considered the recommendations of the bi-partisan Iraq Study Group.

'' Everyone agreed there is no magic formula for success in Iraq,'' he added.

Mr Bush, however, said, failure in Iraq would allow radical Islamic extremists to grow in strength and embolden Iran in its pursuit of nuclear weapons.

On fight against the al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Republican leader said US forces would continue to pursue them and foreign fighters.

UNI