Tony Blair on Iraq: 'We Need to Act Urgently'

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7, 2006 — -- President Bush said today the United States needs a "new approach" in Iraq and raised the prospect of regional talks that would include Iran and Syria, adhering to two key recommendations of the Iraq Study Group's report.

"I believe we need a new approach," said Bush, with visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair at his side. However, Bush added, "Congress isn't going to accept every recommendation in the report, and neither will the administration."

Later in the day, Prime Minister Blair told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos in an exclusive interview that the need to succeed in Iraq is urgent.

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"I think to be absolutely blunt about this," said Blair, "we have to make sure this works and I don't think, at the moment, this is a kind of hypothesizing if it doesn't work." Referring to the Iraq study group, he added, "It's got to be made to work, because the consequence, as they said, is strategic failure."

Asked how long the coalition has, he added, "We are in a situation where we need to act urgently, in my view."

President Bush, speaking a day after the bipartisan group recommended a series of changes in U.S. policy in Iraq, endorsed the need for change. But he also diminished the report's significance by noting that the Pentagon, State Department and National Security Council were all preparing similar reports, though only the Iraq Study Group's report is bipartisan.

Bush made no major new policy announcements, but he appeared to move closer to the report's recommendations and to Blair's. Blair has long supported talking to rival nations in the region to stabilize Iraq and tying the Iraq conflict to the broader rift between Israelis and Palestinians.

The Iraq Study Group's 142-page report declared U.S. policy in Iraq as "grave and deteriorating." The panel, led by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Democratic Congressman Lee Hamilton, recommended increasing efforts at diplomacy, training of Iraqi troops and drawing down as many American combat troops as possible in early 2008.