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Top Bush Administration Officials Meet to Discuss Situation in Iraq
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http://enews.voanews.com/t?r=279&c=662306&l=1009&ctl=147F4BF:A6F02AD83191E160313D191F528AABA69574F7DCC14957C0 Meeting comes
after US military official said two-month-old operation to secure
Baghdad not going well





President BushPresident Bush is reviewing the situation in Iraq with
civilian and military leaders at the White House Saturday.

The president, Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense
Donald Rumsfeld are having a videoconference with top military
commanders in the Middle East and Iraq.

Their meeting comes days after a U.S. military official in Iraq said
the two-month-old operation to secure Baghdad is not going well.  He
called the spike in American casualties this month "disheartening."

Mr. Bush is under pressure from members of his own Republican Party,
as well as Democrats, to revise his strategy for Iraq.  In a letter to
the president Friday, Democratic leaders said the steadily mounting
sectarian violence, growing insurgency and escalating American
casualty figures are unacceptable and unsustainable.

The White House meeting follows several polls that indicate the war in
Iraq has become one of the main issues facing voters in next month's
congressional elections.  The surveys show a majority of Americans
think Democrats would do a better job on Iraq and the war on terror.


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