Bush says weighing temporary increase of U.S. troops in Iraq

The United States will not be "run out" of the Middle East by the Iraq crisis, President George W. Bush said on Wednesday, and said he was weighing a short-term increase in U.S. troops in Iraq to help quell the sectarian violence raging in Baghdad.

"I haven't made up my mind yet about more troops (for Iraq)," Bush told an end-of-the-year news conference. "We're looking at all options, and one of those options of course is increasing more troops, but in order to do so there must be a specific mission that can be accomplished with more troops."

Bush is expected to announce a new Iraq strategy in January, after elections last month in which his Republican party lost control of the U.S. Congress largely because of public discontent over the almost four-year-long war.

Bush also said Wednesday that if Syria is seriously interested in being party to talks on resolving the Iraq crisis, it must "take positive steps that promote peace, not instability."

Supporters of sending more troops to Iraq said the Pentagon's own bleak assessment this week of a 22 percent rise in violence over the past three months meant that a short-term influx of U.S. forces was needed.

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

General John Abizaid, the U.S. military commander of forces in the Middle East who announced on Wednesday he is retiring early next year, said last month that "troop levels need to stay where they are," rejecting calls for increases or withdrawals.

Bush, who acknowledged in a Washington Post interview published on Wednesday that the United States was not winning in Iraq, predicted eventual victory and said the United States would not abandon Iraq nor would it be intimidated into leaving the region.

"They can't run us out of the Middle East," Bush said. "They can't intimidate America."

The president said he was "inclined to believe" that there needed to be a permanent boost in the overall U.S. military because of the what he saw as a "long struggle against radicals and extremists."

"It's going to take a while for the ideology of liberty to triumph over the ideology of hate," he said. "We're in the beginning stages of an ideological struggle that's going to last a while."

There are about 507,000 active duty U.S. Army soldiers and 180,000 Marines. Every additional 10,000 U.S. troops would cost about $1.2 billion a year in salaries and training, not including equipment, said Paul Boyce, a U.S. Army spokesman.

U.S. Senators John Kerry and Christopher Dodd met with Syrian President Bashar Assad on Wednesday to discuss how Damascus could help bring about stability and security to war-ravaged Iraq.

Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, has sharply criticized President George W. Bush's rejection of recommendations that Washington engage Syria and its ally Iran on calming Iraq, saying that the United States must deal with its enemies in the region if it wants to bring progress.

U.S. Senators Kerry and Dodd hold talks with Assad on Iraq The White House has accused Kerry, Dodd and other senators who have met with Assad of sending mixed signals and has insisted that the U.S. will not make concessions to Damascus to win its help in Iraq.

Kerry and Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, declined to speak to reporters after their talks with Assad and a separate meeting with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem.

The U.S. Embassy in Damascus said the meeting with Assad, which lasted two and a half hours, covered "a full-range of topics relating to U.S.-Syrian relations and regional issues."

The two U.S. lawmakers later went on a sightseeing tour in the Old Damascus Town in central Damascus.

They arrived in Damascus Tuesday as part of a Middle East tour to probe Syria's readiness to help bring about stability and security to neighboring Iraq.

Kerry, who ran against Bush in 2004 elections, arrived here after visits to Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Lebanon. Dodd, a Connecticut senator who is considering a run for U.S. president in 2008, also was in Iraq - his third trip there since the war began.

Their visit came a few days after a similar one by Senator Bill Nelson, who also met with Assad.

The diplomatic push from Congress comes on the heels of a recommendation by a bipartisan panel that the U.S. engage Iran and Syria on the war in Iraq. Bush has expressed reluctance to seek help from Damascus on Iraq until the Syrians curb their support to radical Palestinian groups and to the Lebanese Hezbollah and reduce their influence in Lebanon.

Syria has influence with Iraqi Sunnis, and some leaders of the Sunni-led insurgency are believed to be living there. Kerry has criticized the Bush administration for refusing to engage with Syria and Iran, as was recommended by the bipartisan Iraq Study Group.

Syrian-U.S. relations have been strained for several years. Washington accuses Syria of aiding terrorism because of its support for radical Palestinian groups based in Damascus and the Hezbollah party. It also accuses Syria of aiding the Iraqi insurgency by allowing militants to cross into Iraq.

Syria denies promoting the insurgency, saying it cannot have absolute control over its long and porous desert border with Iraq. It regards the radical Palestinian groups as legitimate opponents of Israeli occupation.

The United States withdrew its ambassador to Damascus last year after the February 2005 assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which many Lebanese blamed on Syria. Damascus denies any role in the killing.

	U.S. Senator John Kerry walking in a Damascus market on Wednesday. (Reuters)