Bush convenes war cabinet for post-Zarqawi session

By Tabassum Zakaria

CAMP DAVID, Maryland (Reuters) – President George W. Bush
held a war council on Monday hoping to build momentum after Abu
Musab al-Zarqawi’s death, but the big question overhanging the
talks was when U.S. troops would leave Iraq.

Bush, who wants his national security team to focus on Iraq
away from their daily distractions, began two days of
high-level consultations at Camp David to reassess strategy on
the increasingly unpopular war that has dragged down his
approval ratings in a congressional election year.

Surrounded by top advisers, he may also have to contend
with fallout from the suicides of three Arabs held at the U.S.
military prison at Guantanamo. Their deaths on Saturday
triggered new international calls to close the detention camp.

The administration is eager to capitalize on the killing of
Zarqawi, leader of al Qaeda in Iraq and mastermind of some of
the bloodiest bombings since a 2003 U.S.-led invasion, as well
as the long-awaited creation of an Iraqi unity government.

Signaling its determination to regroup, the al Qaeda
faction on Monday named Zarqawi’s successor as Abu Hamza
al-Muhajir, who is little known in the West.

In a videoconference on Tuesday, Bush and his chief aides,
including Vice President Dick Cheney, Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice and Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, are
expected to press Iraqi leaders not to squander the chance to
assert their authority and win the confidence of Iraqis.

“There’s a window here in which it’s important for them to
show success,” White House counselor Dan Bartlett said.

TEMPERED EXPECTATIONS

Although Bush has tempered expectations that the meeting
will yield a decision on troop reductions, no one is ruling out
the possibility that future troop levels will be discussed,
even as insurgent attacks persist in Iraq.

Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq,
predicted on Sunday that American forces would scale back
gradually in coming months if the new government holds together
and the Iraqi army makes progress. He and other senior officers
will join the Camp David conference by video link on Monday.

Despite pressure from Democrats for a plan to bring troops
home soon, Bush has offered no timetable for a withdrawal of
the 131,000 U.S. soldiers in Iraq. He insists U.S. forces
cannot leave until the Iraqis can secure their own country.

Military commanders had hoped to reduce the U.S. presence
to 100,000 troops by the end of the year, but an unrelenting
insurgency and sectarian violence have cast doubt on that.

Zarqawi’s killing in a U.S. air strike on Wednesday was a
desperately needed military success for Bush, who has seen
public disenchantment with the war increase as American
casualties — now topping 2,400 — have mounted.

But he has warned that the death of one enemy will not end
the war. Al Qaeda in Iraq on Sunday vowed to carry out attacks
to “shake the enemy and rob them of sleep.”

On Monday, a roadside bomb targeting a bus taking workers
to Iraq’s industry ministry killed six people. U.S.-led forces
in Iraq killed seven militants in a raid near where Zarqawi was
killed, the U.S. military said. Two children were also killed
at the scene, including a 6-month-old boy, it said.

(Additional reporting by Steve Holland)