U.S. reviews Baghdad strategy as troop deaths mount

[Menydh]

U.S. reviews Baghdad strategy as. troop deaths mount

Reuters
October 19, 2006

The U.S. military said on Thursday it was reviewing strategy in Baghdad where U.S. reinforcements have failed to halt spiraling violence, and expressed grave concern about mounting troop deaths.

The battle for control of Baghdad, which U.S. officials say will decide Iraq's future, and a spate of attacks across Iraq on Thursday that killed at least 38 people piled pressure on President Bush before November mid-term elections.

Bush, whose Republicans are battling to retain control of the U.S. Congress, said he saw a possible parallel in the rise in violence in Iraq and the 1968 communist Tet offensive that triggered a drop in support among Americans for the Vietnam war.

Asked in an ABC interview whether he agreed the violence in Iraq was the "jihadist equivalent of the Tet offensive", Bush said: "(It) could be right. There's certainly a stepped up level of violence and we're heading into an election."

Bush said al Qaeda was very active in Iraq and that it was trying to foment sectarian violence as well as kill U.S. troops.

"They believe that if they can create enough chaos, the American people will grow sick and tired of the Iraqi effort and will cause government to withdraw," he said.

Later at a Republican fund-raising event, Bush said: "There is one thing we will not do. We will not pull out our troops from Iraq before the terrorists are defeated."

A spokesman said the top U.S. commander in Iraq, General George Casey, had ordered the review of strategy in Baghdad, widely seen as crucial to bringing enough stability to Iraq to allow U.S. troops to eventually leave the country.


[source]

[Menydh]

Bush said al Qaeda was very active in Iraq

The idiot American he is. The fact is that with Sadam laicist regime there was no al Qaeda nor any other Islamists who would dare to say a word.