US President George W. Bush, standing alongside chief Iraq War ally Tony Blair of Britain, asserted yesterday that success in Iraq depends on victory over extremists across the "broader Middle East."

"It's a tough time and its a difficult moment for America and Great Britain and the task before us is daunting," Bush said a day after a bipartisan commission said his war policies have failed and called for a change in strategy.

The British prime minister, who has stood shoulder to shoulder with Bush since the March 2003 invasion of Iraq, said he welcomed the conclusions of the Iraq Study Group despite its criticism of past policies.

It "offers a strong way forward," Blair said. "I think it is important now we concentrate on the elements that are necessary to make sure that we succeed because the consequences of failure are severe."

Bush appeared to endorse the panel's conclusion that any resolution of the Iraq conflict is tied to reducing tensions between Israel and the Palestinians and across the broader Middle East a position Blair has long held.

But in Tel Aviv, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he disagreed with the advisory group's linkage. He told a news conference that conditions were not ripe to reopen long-dormant talks with Syria.

"This is probably the only bipartisan report he (President Bush) is going to get and it's extremely important that we approach this issue in a bipartisan way," former Secretary of State James A. Baker III said yesterday.

11 US soldiers killed in one day

US forces in Iraq suffered one of their worst days on Wednesday, with 11 soldiers reported killed as a high-level panel in Washington said training of Iraqi forces should speed up so that US troops can withdraw.

Confirming the 11 deaths, US military spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Christopher Garver said yesterday five soldiers had been killed in a single roadside bomb blast in Kirkuk province. Details of the other six deaths were not immediately available.

The deaths, an unusually high daily toll, brought to 30 the number of US soldiers killed since the start of the month and underlined the human cost of the US deployment in Iraq, where rampant violence kills scores of Iraqis every day.

The Sunni insurgency against the US forces continues unabated. Some 2,920 US soldiers have been killed since the US-led invasion in 2003. October was the deadliest month for US troops in nearly two years, when 106 service members died.

New defence secretary confirmed

The US Senate on Wednesday overwhelmingly confirmed Robert Gates as the next defence secretary, replacing Donald Rumsfeld, an architect of the increasingly unpopular Iraq War.

The Senate voted 95-2 to approve President George W. Bush's nominee only 24 hours after Gates won the unanimous endorsement of the Armed Services Committee and just as a long-awaited bipartisan report arrived, urging more diplomacy and fewer US troops in Iraq.

Senators from both parties praised the ex-CIA chief's candour; Gates had told them bluntly the United States was not winning the war in Iraq.

Gates says Iraq will be his first priority in his new post; he plans to travel to Baghdad soon, where he intends to talk to US commanders.

Source: China Daily