Bush, Iraqi leader to increase forces in Baghdad

WASHINGTON - President Bush said Tuesday a new plan to increase U.S. and Iraqi forces in the besieged capital of Baghdad will help quell rising violence that is threatening Iraq’s transformation to a self-sustaining democracy.

A senior Pentagon official told NBC News that tens of thousands of U.S. and Iraqi military and security forces will be sent into Baghdad to attempt to stem the recent rise in sectarian killings.

The official said the number would be in the "low thousands" and that Iraqis would make up the bulk of the forces being redeployed from other parts of Iraq into Baghdad.

Military officials tell NBC News that at least four companies, about 400 U.S. Army military police, will be sent into Baghdad to embed with Iraqi security forces.

The official stressed that the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, has made no final decision on the ultimate number of additional U.S. and Iraqi forces to be redeployed, and that number would be "conditional" depending entirely on the changing threat on the ground in Baghdad.

Bush implicitly addressed the issue at the White House.  “Obviously the violence in Baghdad is still terrible, and therefore there needs to be more troops,” he said in a White House news conference with visiting Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.

Al-Maliki, on his first trip to the United States since becoming prime minister two months ago, said he and Bush agreed that training and better arming Iraqi forces as quickly as possible, particularly in the capital city, was central to efforts to stabilize the country.

“And, God willing, there will be no civil war in Iraq,” al-Maliki said, speaking through a translator.

Open disagreements
The two leaders disagreed openly on how to end hostilities between the Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon and Israel, with al-Maliki, a Shiite Muslim leader, reiterating his support for an immediate cease-fire and Bush sticking by the administration opposition to one.

A group of House Democrats called on GOP leaders to cancel al-Maliki’s address to Congress on Thursday. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., said he doubted he would attend and that there were a “large number of people (in Congress) who were uncomfortable” with al-Maliki’s condemnation of Israel’s attacks in Lebanon and apparent support for Hezbollah

Bush said that al-Maliki had asked for more military equipment from the United States and had recommended increasing U.S. and Iraqi forces patrolling Baghdad neighborhoods. “And we’re going to do that,” Bush said.

‘Conditions change’
The president said U.S. forces would be moved in from other parts of Iraq. He did not say how many, but Pentagon officials have suggested several thousands troops would be moved to Baghdad, including some now based in Kuwait.

There are roughly 127,000 U.S. troops in Iraq. The administration is under increasing pressure from Democrats and some Republicans to bring a substantial number home by the end of this year.

Asked if the tense situation in Baghdad would alter the equation for an eventual withdrawal of U.S. forces, Bush said troop level decisions will still be based on recommendations from military commanders in the field.

“Conditions change inside a country,” Bush said. “Will we be able to deal with the circumstances on the ground? And the answer is, yes, we will.”

The president and the prime minister met privately before the news conference to discuss strategy, then continued talks over lunch with a larger group that included Cabinet members and aides.

At the East Room news conference, Bush said al-Maliki was very clear in stating that “he does not want American troops to leave his country until his government can protect the Iraqi people. And I assured him that America will not abandon the Iraqi people.”

It was not clear how many U.S. troops will be in Baghdad as a result of the new plan. About two weeks ago, Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld said that the number of Iraqi and U.S. troops in Baghdad had recently grown from 40,000 to 55,000.

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