Bush sticks to mission: U.S. victory

President Bush yesterday acknowledged that U.S. commanders are changing tactics in Iraq nearly every day but declared that the mission “is clear and unchanging.”

“Our goal,” he said, “is victory.”

The president’s remarks aired in his weekly radio address as he met to discuss the situation in Iraq with top generals and other advisers at the White House.

Later, a senior State Department official said in an interview with an Arab television network that the United States had shown “arrogance” and “stupidity” in Iraq.

Alberto Fernandez, director of public diplomacy in the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs at the State Department, told Al Jazeera that Washington was ready to talk with any group except al Qaeda in Iraq to bring about national reconciliation.

“We are open to dialogue, because we all know that, at the end of the day, the solution to the hell and the killings in Iraq is linked to an effective Iraqi national reconciliation,” Mr. Fernandez said, speaking in Arabic from Washington.

But Mr. Bush indicated little intention to make major changes, although the number of U.S. troops killed in Iraq so far this month climbed to 78 — the highest monthly tally this year — and despite reports that the White House is nearing a dramatic shift in war strategy.

“What is changing are the tactics we use to achieve that goal,” the president said in his radio address. “Our commanders on the ground are constantly adjusting their approach to stay ahead of the enemy, particularly in Baghdad.”

Mr. Bush vehemently rejected pulling U.S. troops out of Iraq.

“There is one thing we will not do: We will not pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete,” he said. “There are some in Washington who argue that retreating from Iraq would make us safer. I disagree.”

Mr. Fernandez, in the Al Jazeera interview, said there was room for criticism of the war “because, undoubtedly, there was arrogance and there was stupidity from the United States in Iraq.”

Political pressure is growing for the president to make a decisive change to his war strategy, and Democratic candidates nationwide have campaigned on a theme of change.

Democratic congressional candidate Diane Farrell, of Connecticut, yesterday said Mr. Bush should fire Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld. She said Congress should set clear benchmarks for Iraqis that, when met, would allow U.S. troops to leave the country.

“We need a new direction in Iraq,” said Mrs. Farrell, who delivered her party’s weekly radio address. “To be blunt, the president and the Republican Congress have been wrong on Iraq and wrong to keep their failed strategy.”

Meanwhile in Iraq, a dozen mortar rounds rained down yesterday on an outdoor market in Mahmoudiyah crowded with shoppers, killing at least 18.

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