Washington: The top allied leaders of the war in Iraq, President Bush and British Prime Minster Tony Blair, held White House talks on Thursday and later Bush told reporters that "an Iraq that can govern itself is a noble goal."
During opening statements, Bush again blamed continued violence in Iraq on a struggle between extremists and moderates, a day after a bipartisan report said Bush's war policies could lead to chaos in the nation and "time is running out."
Bush said a key part of the report was "how do we empower Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to do the hard work necessary to achieve the objective."
"We'll support the democratic government of al-Maliki as he makes difficult decisions," Bush said.
Blair said, "the question is how do we find the right way forward."
"It will require everybody to face up to their responsibility including the Iraqi government," Blair said, and other nations in the region.
A key suggestion of the report included proposed outreach efforts to Iraq's neighbors, including Iran and Syria.
Bush said the Iraq report "talked about the regional – the countries in the region and the responsibilities of the region to help this Iraqi government. And the idea of having an international group is an interesting idea."
Before the news conference, Bush and Blair held their talks in the Oval Office after an unscheduled breakfast.
Blair and Bush led the push to invade Iraq in 2003, which eventually toppled the regime of Saddam Hussein and opened the door to free elections. Widespread sectarian violence that followed has claimed thousands of lives and nearly 3,000 U.S. military personnel have died in the war.
New way forward
On Wednesday night, White House spokesman Tony Snow told CNN's Larry King Live that Bush would need to compare the newly released Iraq Study Group report with pending studies by the Joint Chiefs of Staff and National Security Council before any policy changes are announced.
"We're hoping to have all that pulled together so that maybe by the end of the year, the president can announce a new way forward," Snow told King.
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In presenting the group's report Wednesday, co-chairman James Baker said that because "events in Iraq could overtake what we recommend," members of the group "believe that decisions should be made by our national leaders with some urgency."
Calling the situation "grave and deteriorating," the report urges that military brigades be pulled back by early 2008 and the US troops evolve into a support role for the Iraqi Army.
Eleven US troops have died in Iraq during the past 24 hours, according to the Pentagon, bringing the total US military personnel killed in the war to 2,920 – 30 in the month of December.
The report also calls for a "renewed and sustained commitment by the United States to a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace."
"The US cannot achieve its goals in the Middle East unless it deals directly with the Arab-Israeli conflict and regional instability," the report says.
On Thursday, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert balked at the link drawn between the Israel-Palestinian conflict and the war in Iraq.
"The attempt to create linkage between the Iraqi issue and the Mideast issue we have a different view," Olmert said.
A day after the report recommended launching a "New Diplomatic Offensive to deal with the problems of Iraq and of the region" by December 31, Iraq announced two regional conferences to address the nation's violence and instability.
Within the next four months, a a conference on security and other issues will be held in Baghdad, Iraq's Interior Ministry said. Countries in the region and the Arab League and the United Nations will participate.
Iraqi officials will also meet with representatives of Iran, Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Turkey early next year.
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