At Weekend Summit, Bush Remains Firm on Iraq

ByABC News
October 21, 2006, 2:31 PM

Oct. 21, 2006 — -- President Bush gathered top generals and advisors at the White House to review the situation in Iraq this morning, as one of the deadliest months for U.S. troops there nears an end and midterm congressional elections approach at home.

Senior administration officials told ABC News the 90-minute meeting in the Roosevelt Room is not likely to produce any major changes in the U.S. battle plan -- only minor adjustments.

Seated with Bush at a conference table were Army Gen. John Abizaid, who commands U.S. military operations in the Middle East; Marine Gen. Peter Pace, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld; National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley and David Satterfield, the No. 2 diplomat at the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.

Vice President Cheney and Army Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq, participated by videoconference.

After Bush headed for his usual Saturday morning bike ride, other participants, including Rumsfeld, Abizaid and Pace, remained for about 30 minutes. The president also met with Abizaid for a half-hour on Friday.

Administration officials portrayed the session as a routine, periodic update.

"I wouldn't read into this somehow that there is a full-scale push for a major re-evaluation," Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice told reporters as she traveled in Asia to met with regional leaders about the North Korea nuclear crisis.

"They are always looking at what course we're on," she said, "whether or not it's working, what's working and what isn't working."

The meeting came the day after a militia connected to an anti-American Shiite cleric briefly seized control of Amara, a major city in southeastern Iraq that coalition forces had turned over to the Iraqis in August.

So far this month, at least 78 American troops have died as the result of hostilities, putting October on track to be one of the deadliest months in nearly two years.