America may penalise Iraq if it fails to stop the violence

By Oliver Poole,Iraq Correspondent and Damien McElroy in Washington
The Telegraph
Oct. 24, 2006

President George W Bush met his top generals to discuss the deteriorating situation in Iraq as it was reported that America is considering punishing Baghdad if it fails to meet deadlines to stop the violence.

The new policy would mark a dramatic shift from the previous position that progress could only be determined by the "situation on the ground".

Instead benchmarks would be set covering progress in the Iraqi military, police and economy that if missed would result in the imposition of "penalties" by Washington.

These would include "changes in military strategy", which could mean troop cuts or redeployment within Iraq, or the removal of ministers deemed incompetent or corrupt.

The revelation comes after Mr Bush indicated on Saturday that the US, which suffered one of its deadliest months in Iraq since the invasion in March 2003, intended to change its tactics.

"Our goal in Iraq is clear and unchanging: our goal is victory," he said in his weekly radio address. "What is changing are the tactics we use to achieve that goal."

Mr Bush, whose policy on Iraq has appeared to unravel amid growing violence just weeks before mid-term elections, insisted that his administration had no intention of withdrawing from the country but admitted that it was "constantly adjusting" tactics.

"There is one thing we will not do - we will not pull our troops off the battlefield before the mission is complete," he said.

Late on Saturday, Mr Bush held talks with Gen John Abizaid, the top commander in the Middle East; Gen George Casey, the US commander in Iraq; Dick Cheney, the vice-president; Donald Rumsfeld, the defence secretary,; Stephen Hadley, the national security adviser; his deputy, Jack Crouch; and the US ambassador to Iraq, Zalmay Khalilzad.

Nicole Guillemard, a White House spokesman, said the top-level meeting, with Casey and Khalilzad participating via video link from Baghdad, was part of ongoing talks on Iraq policy.

The violence continued yesterday with insurgent gunmen killing 13 police recruits near the town of Baquba and two American soldiers reported dead. More than 80 US troops have been killed this month.

Today the worsening security situation will be raised at a meeting at No 10 between Tony Blair and Barham Saleh, Iraq's deputy prime minister.

Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, tried to calm security fears by saying Britain was "quite far down the road" to transferring control of southern Iraq to local authorities.

But Sir Jeremy Greenstock, the Prime Minister's former envoy to Iraq, described the position there as a "mess" and urged ministers to face up to the failure of policy.

In an interview on Sky News, he warned of violence "for many years to come" in the country.

Indicating that America and Britain might now have to deal with Iran and Syria, he cast doubt on the ability of the Iraqi forces to replace coalition troops. "They are not going to take over the rest of the country without several parts of Iraq being full of violence," he said, although he insisted that US and British forces were still doing more good than harm in Iraq.

As for the recent operation by Iraqi forces to dampen violence in Al Amara, he hinted that that had only been possible because of the presence nearby of British troops.