President Bush got an update on fierce fighting in Iraq yesterday and consulted British Prime Minister Tony Blair as US forces battled Sunni guerrillas and a Shia uprising.
White House officials said Bush got an update on the fighting in a video conference call with top advisers who make up the National Security Council in the morning.
No details were immediately available, but the briefing had been expected to include the US civilian leader in Iraq, Paul Bremer, and Gen John Abizaid, chief of US-led military coalition forces there.
In Washington, a sharp Democratic critic, US Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia, said Bush should not add troops to Iraq, as some politicians are recommending, but rather develop an exit strategy.
"Surely I am not the only one who hears echoes of Vietnam in this development.
"Surely, the administration recognises that increasing the US troop presence in Iraq will only suck us deeper into the maelstrom of violence that has become the hallmark of that unfortunate country," he said in remarks prepared for a Senate floor speech.