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Bush: We stand with Iraq

BY CRAIG GORDON | Newsday Washington Bureau

June 13, 2006

THURMONT, Md. - Convening his war council here yesterday, President George W. Bush avoided pledging any new financial aid to Iraq but instead urged Iraq's neighbors to share the burden and Iraqis to tap into their oil wealth.

"The message to the Iraqi government is that we stand with you," Bush said at Camp David, pledging to stay in Iraq until the fractured nation could "govern itself, sustain itself and defend itself."

Bush sidestepped a question about whether last week's killing of terror chief Abu Musab al-Zarqawi would hasten the departure of 132,000 U.S. troops - a question aides insisted wasn't even formally debated here.

But with the cost of war rising - in dollars, blood and political standing for the embattled president - Bush used yesterday's rare Cabinet-level session at the presidential retreat to declare it's time for the Iraqis themselves to step up.

Bush will have an opportunity to make that pitch directly today when Iraq's new prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, joins the meeting by a videoconference from Iraq.

Bush yesterday urged the fledgling Iraqi government to find ways to increase Iraq's oil production, still lagging at pre-war levels, and divide up the revenue "in a fair way" for projects to benefit the nation.

"My own view is that the government ought to use the oil as a way to unite the country, ... so the people have faith in central government," Bush said.

But divvying up Iraqi oil wealth among its three prominent ethnic factions has been one of the most divisive questions facing the Iraqi government. Yet it is just the kind of project - with national reach and visible results - that Bush aides believe the new Iraqi government could use to win favor and show it's in charge.

Before the war, the Bush administration insisted that Iraqi oil revenue would pay for reconstruction and faced criticism from anti-war activists of a "war for oil." After the oil revenue failed to materialize, Bush, a former Texas oilman himself, rarely mentioned Iraqi oil.

Bush also called on foreign governments to make good on $13 billion in pledges of reconstruction aid - critically needed now because an $18.4 billion U.S. aid package is almost exhausted, despite falling far short of its goals.

Also, many of Iraq's neighbors are Sunni-led governments, reluctant to give assistance to its mainly Shia leaders.

And in an unusual move, Bush met with four experts on military strategy critical of his administration's handling of the war - one last year called it "incompetent" - though all supported the initial invasion. Faced by recent criticism that he was too insular in his decision-making, Bush has recently been reaching outside his inner circle for advice, though he hasn't significantly changed his war strategy.

Bush and his national security team also discussed security in Basra and Baghdad, where al-Maliki is pledging to unveil a new security plan shortly to bring the capital under control. During the weekend, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, would not rule out sending additional U.S. forces to stabilize Baghdad, much as he did recently in the insurgent heartland of Ramadi.