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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: longnshort who wrote (754133)	11/11/2006 6:01:47 PM
From: pompsander	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 769670

Bush talks of change, car bombs kill 8 By Claudia Parsons 2 hours, 56 minutes ago BAGHDAD (Reuters) - President Bush said on Saturday his new defense secretary was an "agent of change" in a sign of the growing momentum for a new direction in Iraq policy after election defeat for Bush's Republicans. ADVERTISEMENT Two car bombs in a Baghdad market killed eight people and Iraqi security forces were the target of several attacks around the country as insurgents and sectarian groups kept up the pressure on the Iraqi government and its U.S. backers. Gunmen stopped three minibuses carrying Shi'ites south of Baghdad, killed nine passengers and kidnapped 13 others, police said. The attack took place in Latifiya, a town in the "Triangle of Death," so called because of the large number of attacks by Sunni insurgents against U.S. troops. The Pentagon's top general, Peter Pace, has said U.S. military leaders are preparing to recommend changes in Iraq strategy. The Iraq Study Group, led by Bush family friend and former secretary of state James Baker and former congressman Lee Hamilton, is also looking at alternative approaches. This week's surprise resignation by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld followed a crushing defeat for the Republicans in Tuesday's midterm elections. Bush chose a former CIA director and pragmatist -- Robert Gates -- who is expected to be more inclined to consensus-building than the combative Rumsfeld. "He has experience leading large and complex organizations, and he has shown that he is an agent of change," Bush said in a weekly radio address. "He will provide a fresh outlook on our strategy in Iraq, and what we need to do to prevail." Bush has acknowledged voter frustration over Iraq helped fuel wins for Democrats that swept them to power in both houses of Congress for the first time in 12 years. While indicating he wants new ideas, Bush has insisted a quick withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq is not on the table. The White House is pushing to get Gates confirmed in the final weeks of the outgoing Congress, before power switches to Democrats early next year. STOPPING SLIDE INTO CHAOS The biggest challenge for Gates will be halting a slide into chaos in Iraq, where the presence of some 150,000 U.S. troops is not stopping sectarian violence and insurgent attacks that kill hundreds of civilians every week. Last month a senior general acknowledged a major campaign to stop violence in Baghdad was not working, and said the violence was "disheartening." In Baghdad, the car bombs killed eight people and wounded at least 38 when they exploded in quick succession in central Shorja market, an Interior Ministry source said. Washington has focused on training and reinforcing Iraq's own security forces in the hope of being able to hand over responsibility for security and draw down its own troops. But Iraqi security forces are under-equipped and frequently attacked by insurgents, deterring recruitment. There were attacks on police in Kirkuk, Baquba and Baghdad on Saturday. The police are also often accused of taking sides in sectarian strife because of what Sunni Arabs say is infiltration by Shi'ite militias. The Shi'ite- and Kurdish-dominated government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has struggled to balance the demands of its various coalition members, and has yet to come through on pledges to crack down on militias linked to some of its allies. (Additional reporting by Caren Bohan in Washington, Mussab Al-Kharailla, Ahmed Rasheed and Ibon Villelabeitia in Baghdad)