Democrats Increase Pressure on Bush for Phased Troop Withdrawal

The newly emboldened Democrats stepped up pressure on the Bush administration for a change of course in Iraq yesterday, with two leading members of the party calling for a phased withdrawal of US troops to begin in four to six months.

With the Democrats set to take control of both houses of Congress in January following last Tuesday's midterm rout of the Republicans, the search for a fresh approach to the Iraq war is rapidly gathering pace. The idea for a timetable for withdrawal was floated by leading Democrats likely to head two of the most powerful Senate committees, the armed services and foreign relations committees.

Carl Levin, the putative chairman of the armed services committee, told ABC television that the Iraqi people could not be saved from themselves. George Bush "will change course if we can put some bipartisan pressure on him".

The US presence in Iraq was not open-ended, he said. Mr Levin proposed a timetable for withdrawal coupled with an international conference on the future of the country. "We need to begin a phased redeployment of forces from Iraq in four to six months."

Joseph Biden, a likely presidential candidate in 2008, who is expected to chair the Senate committee on foreign relations, said he backed the idea.

Though Mr Bush retains control of policy over Iraq and could theoretically ignore them, he has stressed his willingness to listen to the Democrats and has spent the past five days emphasising his intention of forging a climate of bipartisanship. He has also signalled his clear intention of rethinking Iraq by replacing Donald Rumsfeld with the less hawkish Robert Gates as defence secretary.

The White House chief of staff, Joshua Bolten, told CNN that the president was prepared to make "course adjustments" and admitted bluntly that the current strategy was not working. "Nobody can be happy with the situation in Iraq right now ... It's clearly time to put fresh eyes on the problem."

However, asked later by ABC to respond to the idea of a phased redeployment, Mr Bolten replied: "I don't think we are going to be receptive to a notion that there is a fixed timetable to pull out as that could be a true disaster for the Iraqi people."

Much now hangs on the report of the Iraq Study Group, a bipartisan panel led by James Baker, who served as secretary of state under George Bush senior. The report could be presented to the White House and Congress as early as next month.

Members of the panel will meet Mr Bush today along with the vice-president, Dick Cheney, and the secretary of state, Condoleezza Rice. It has been reported that the 10-member panel is exploring the possibility of talks with both Iran and Syria, and is also attaching importance to the Middle East crisis as a running sore behind the conflict in Iraq.

Mr Bolten was asked yesterday about the option of opening discussions with Iran and Syria. He said all the Baker recommendations would be considered, but added: "Our problem with Iran and Syria has not been a lack of communication, but a cooperation problem. Iran and Syria are meddling in Iraq in a very unhelpful way."

The US military is also engaged in its own review of strategy led by the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, General Peter Pace. General John Abizaid, the head of the US military in the Middle East, has been brought on to the review and is charged with coming up with recommendations for improving strategy. In August Gen Abizaid went out on a limb when he told a Senate committee that Iraq was in danger of descending into civil war.

The Baker commission is likely to be pulled in opposite directions over the issue of troop deployments. Some analysts argue that the current US force of 145,000 needs to be reinforced in order to stabilise Baghdad before any withdrawal is contemplated; others think the numbers should be reduced as soon as possible.

Senator John McCain, a leading Republican contender for the 2008 presidential race, argues for more not fewer troops. He told NBC yesterday that reinforcements should be sent to establish safe areas. "I believe that a withdrawal, or a date for withdrawal, will lead to chaos in the region, and most military experts think the same thing. I believe that there are a lot of things that we can do to salvage this, but they all require additional troops."

The Pentagon says about 2,848 members of the US military have died since the Iraq war began in March 2003. At least 21,419 have been wounded.