White House says resolve 'unshakable' in Iraq after 12 deaths

4.00pm

CRAWFORD, Texas - The White House has declared that US resolve in Iraq was "unshakable" after as many as 12 US soldiers were killed in one of the worst days of US casualties since the Iraq war began a year ago.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said President George W Bush had received a conference call update on the fierce fighting in Iraq from Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Gen Richard Myers -- chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff -- national security adviser Condoleezza Rice and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card.

"Our resolve is firm, our resolve is unshakable and we will prevail. The president was told that our troops and coalition forces are performing well," McClellan told reporters.

As many as 12 US Marines were killed in a Sunni Muslim hotbed of support for Saddam Hussein. Dozens of Iraqis attacked the Marines' position near the governor's palace in the city of Ramadi, 110km west of Baghdad in an area US forces call the Sunni Triangle.

"The president mourns the loss of each of our fallen," McClellan sad. "Our troops are making the world safer and making America more secure and we are forever grateful for those who are serving and sacrificing in the name of freedom."

The attack came as the Bush administration struggles to work out a plan for a transitional Iraq government that would take power from the US-led coalition by a June 30 deadline that some in Washington believe may be too optimistic.

"We will pass sovereignty on June 30," Bush said at a campaign-style event in El Dorado, Arkansas, earlier in the day. "We will stay the course in Iraq. We're not going to be intimidated by thugs or assassins. We're not going to cut and run from the people who long from freedom."

The rising casualty toll came as public support for Bush's handling of the situation in Iraq appeared to be eroding.

A poll from the Pew Research Centre on Monday showed 40 per cent of those surveyed approved of the way Bush was handling the Iraq situation, while only 32 per cent thought the president had a clear plan on Iraq.

Bush got the news from Ramadi as he was spending a week at his Crawford, Texas, ranch to celebrate the Easter holiday.

McClellan said Bush would hear more about the fighting in a videoconference with the National Security Council on Wednesday morning. The briefing would include the US leader in Iraq, Paul Bremer, and Gen John Abizaid, chief of US-led military forces in Iraq.

McClellan would not say if Bush would discuss whether more US troops are needed in Iraq, which some members of Congress say is necessary. He said Bush wants the military to have what it needs in Iraq but that any decision about more troops is best left to the commanders in the field.

Bush will also speak by phone on Wednesday with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, one of his strongest supporters in Iraq. Blair, under fire at home for his stance on Iraq, is due in Washington April 16 to meet Bush.

- REUTERS

Herald Feature: Iraq