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WASHINGTON - President George W. Bush will delay announcing a new strategy for Iraq until the New Year, aides said today amid new polls showing Americans are more pessimistic about the war and want a change.
A senior White House official said after Bush held talks with US military commanders that the president was "more likely now" to announce his new policy early in 2007.
Aides previously said Bush hoped to announce a new strategy next week, before the Christmas holiday.
"The point here was not to meet a deadline but to get the job done right and there's still work to be done," the official said on condition of anonymity.
Bush is facing conflicting advice on how to shift course. The bipartisan Iraq Study Group report last week recommended pulling out most US combat troops by early 2008 with a rapid increase in training of Iraqi forces.
But US Sen. John McCain, an Arizona Republican, has called for a short-term increase in US troops, and other military experts who met with Bush on Monday disagreed with the Iraq Study Group's position on withdrawing troops.
The senior White House official said putting off the announcement was not a sign of indecision.
"This is not a sign of trouble. This is a sign of determination on the part of the president," the official said.
Bush presided over a secure videoconference on Tuesday with his US military commanders in Baghdad, Gens. John Abizaid and George Casey, and his national security team at the White House, including Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his replacement, Robert Gates, who will be sworn in next week.
A new defence secretary who will have to manage the new policy was also a factor in giving more time to reviewing the options, the official said. Gates was expected to visit the region, including Iraq, early on.
Later, Bush planned to meet Iraq's vice president, Tareq al-Hashemi, a Sunni, as he tries to bolster support for the struggling government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
Three new public opinion polls offered Bush a sobering picture of American doubts about his policy.
A CBS News poll found Americans have never been as pessimistic about the war, with more than 60 per cent saying it was a mistake.
More than half of the respondents, or 55 per cent, in a USA TODAY/Gallup poll said they want most US troops withdrawn within a year, but only 18 per cent believe that will happen.
An ABC News poll found seven in 10 Americans disapproved of Bush's handling of Iraq and 61 per cent said the war there was not worth fighting.
"He's well aware that there is dissatisfaction. He will be the first to admit that he is not satisfied either," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino.
Bush has held a series of meetings this week on Iraq policy after giving a largely cool reception to the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group.
In the USA Today/Gallup survey, three out of four of those polled said they supported the three major recommendations made by the panel: direct talks with Iran and Syria, withdrawing most US combat troops by March 2008, and a new push aimed at resolving the Israel-Palestinian conflict.
- REUTERS
