Senior Aide: Surge troops only to support Iraqi forces

President Bush will announce tonight that the additional American troops he plans to sent to Baghdad will act only in support of Iraqi forces, and that they are being sent only because the Iraqi government has promised a “fundamental” change in policy, a top White House official said this morning.

Dan Bartlett, the White House counselor, said that as a “precondition” for the increase in American forces, the government of Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki has agreed to assign more Iraqi troops to the capital and to remove restrictions on their operations that had protected Shiite militias tied to his political allies.

“President Bush would not commit one additional troop to Baghdad if it weren’t based upon a new strategy,” Mr. Bartlett said on Fox News this morning.

Mr. Bartlett, appearing on several television news programs, said that Mr. Bush will acknowledge in his speech to the nation tonight that the current approach to stemming Iraq’s spiraling violence has not worked.

Read the rest at the NY Times

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