President Bush says he will seriously consider all recommendations made by the Iraq Study Group in the report it issued this week.
Mr. Bush said in his weekly radio address Saturday that he also is anticipating reports on Iraq from the State Department, the Pentagon and the National Security Council.
The White House says Mr. Bush will discuss Iraq with congressional leaders, military commanders and independent experts next week, as part of the administration's aim to present a revised plan on Iraq before the end of the year.
The incoming chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, Democratic Congressman Silvestre Reyes, said in the Democratic radio address today that the United States must change the focus of the mission in Iraq from combat to training. He said the U.S. must demand more results from the Iraqi government.
This past week, the president discussed Iraq in White House meetings with Iraqi Shi'ite leader Abdul Aziz al Hakim and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
The Washington Post reports Saturday that the Bush administration is discussing three main options to redefine the U.S. mission in Iraq.
The newspaper says one alternative calls for deploying between 15,000 and 30,000 additional U.S. troops to secure Baghdad and accelerate the training of Iraqi forces. The second option would refocus the U.S. mission away from dealing with the sectarian violence to hunting terrorists. And the third calls for increasing political support for the majority Shi'ite population and abandoning efforts to reach out to Sunni insurgents.
The Post says there is a growing consensus among administration officials to shift responsibility for Iraq's problems to the Iraqis.
