Bush and Blair Discuss New Policy for Iraq

Tony Blair and beleaguered President George Bush have had a long discussion on how to push forward 'change' in the coalition's policy in Iraq.

In Friday's phone conversation, Blair, who will give evidence to the Bush-appointed Iraq Study Group on Tuesday, insisted on the need to regionalise the peace effort and draw Iran and Syria - which have been accused of supporting insurgents - into any solution.

The Prime Minister sent his senior foreign policy adviser, Nigel Sheinwald, to Damascus last month to hold talks with President Bashar Assad of Syria. Britain has said Syria must choose between playing a constructive role in the world community or continuing to support terrorism.

Blair will address the study group - chaired by the Republican former Secretary of State, James Baker - the day after Bush does. The British moves have come as America plunges into a rapid overhaul of its strategy in Iraq, with Bush yesterday praising his new defence chief as an 'agent of change'.

The speed of the changes now occurring in American policy on Iraq has stunned many observers as Washington's political class reacts to last week's victory by the Democrats. In his weekly radio address yesterday, Bush hailed his new Defence Secretary, former CIA chief Robert Gates, as an able manager who 'will provide a fresh outlook on our strategy in Iraq'.

Bush's words will be taken as the strongest hint yet that major changes in Iraq policy are likely to come sooner rather than later. Bush will speak to the group tomorrow along with Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. Blair will speak to the group using video conferencing equipment.

The group is set to report its findings by the end of the year. The panel has been reported as believing that Bush's long-standing mantra of 'staying the course' is untenable; some sort of timetabled military withdrawal, linked to political and security stability in Iraq, is now seen as more attractive. Another possible new policy is expected to be exploring co-operation with Iran and Syria.

Last week's elections showed that the US public has grown weary of the conflict. Ending the war as soon as possible has become an overriding political aim for Republicans with an eye on the White House race of 2008.

The replacement of Rumsfeld with Gates is seen as paving the way for wide-ranging change. He served on the group before being chosen to replace Donald Rumsfeld and is party to its new thinking. In previous public speeches, he has indicated he believes a strategy of phased withdrawals could see the US leave Iraq before the next presidential election.

While the group looks at new strategies, the Pentagon is also examining the situation in Iraq. A commission headed by the joint chiefs of staff chairman General Peter Pace was set up in September and may provide alternatives to the recommendations of the group, when it reports in December.

There is now little desire in any part of America's body politic for continuing to battle the insurgency in order to bring stability to the country. Republicans are aware that their recent drubbing at the polls was largely fuelled by anti-Iraq war sentiment.

In Iraq the bloodshed continued. October was one of the most lethal months of the war for US soldiers, and the casualty rate has not tailed off so far in November. Yesterday a Polish soldier and another from Slovakia were shot dead in the south of the country, and eight Iraqis died after two car bombs exploded in a Baghdad market.