Bush Hears New Perspectives On Iraq

President Bush met Monday with a bipartisan group seeking consensus on a new approach for the war in Iraq amid widespread agreement that the administration's current efforts have not worked well enough or fast enough.

"I'm not going to prejudge," Mr. Bush said of the report.

Mr. Bush said the goal in Iraq still is "a government that can sustain and defend itself" and said "the best military options depend on conditions on the ground."

"I'm not sure what the report is going to say. I look forward to seeing it," Mr. Bush told reporters in the Oval Office at the conclusion of a separate meeting he had with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

But two ideas under consideration by the commission illustrate the challenges of reaching consensus on a way forward, CBS News chief White House correspondent Jim Axelrod reports. One is a phased withdrawal of troops. The other is engaging Syria and Iran more directly in bringing peace to Iraq. Former Secretary of State James A. Baker himself has raised that idea.

Earlier, White House press secretary Tony Snow described the meeting as a conversation in which both sides shared views. "This is not a deposition," Snow said. Further, he said there was not a presentation of alternatives but rather an assessment of the situation on the ground now.

The president talked in the Oval Office with members of the Iraq Study Group, headed by Baker and former Democratic congressman Lee Hamilton. The group is to release its findings before the end of the year.

The study group was spending the day at the White House speaking with members of Mr. Bush's national security team, including Vice President Dick Cheney, National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte, CIA Director Michael Hayden, U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalizad and Gen. George Casey, the top U.S. commander in Iraq.

Cheney, Hadley and chief of staff John Bolten took part in the meeting with Mr. Bush.

While Mr. Bush appears ready to change his tone on the Iraq war and listen to new ideas, there are two big hurdles facing the group regarding any kind of compromise: reaching a consensus and getting the president to accept what they come up with, reports CBS senior White House correspondent Bill Plante.

The Democrat in line to become chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee offered a grim assessment Monday on the situation in Iraq, accusing the administration of ignoring the reality that "we're getting deeper and deeper into a hole — that we should stop digging and that we should look for alternatives in order to promote the chances of success in Iraq."

Sen. Carl Levin of Michigan said the study group's report "is going to have an impact on whatever action might be possible in this Congress and in the next Congress," when Democrats take control. Levin said earlier that U.S. troops should begin coming home in phases within four to six months, a loose timetable that other Democratic leaders have not endorsed.

Even before it is finished, the study group's report is seen by many as having huge stakes. It could give the Democratic and Republican parties a chance at consensus — or at least a tenable framework for agreement — after an election that gave Democrats congressional control and reshaped Mr. Bush's final two years in office.

"For the President to incorporate the ideas of the Iraq Study Group, including the not-yet-formal proposal to engage Iran and Syria, there will have to be some serious backpedaling," said CBS News foreign affairs analyst Pamela Falk from the U.N., "particularly since the Administration's position on the Security Council sanctions negotiations continues to be to further isolate Iran."

Meanwhile, Gen. John Abizaid, head of the U.S. Central Command, met Monday with the Iraqi prime minister to "reaffirm President Bush's commitment" to success in Iraq, the government said.

Also, British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in a speech on Monday that the West should press neighboring Iran to help stem bloodshed in Iraq and build stability across the Middle East. His office says he also wants to encourage dialogue with Syria.

Nouri al-Maliki and Abizaid, who commands all U.S. forces in the Middle East, discussed "the effect neighboring countries are having on the security situation in Iraq," the government statement said in a clear reference to Iran and Syria.

But when Mr. Bush addressed the issue of Iran on Monday, after a meeting with Israel's prime minister, he spoke only of its nuclear program, and only about further isolation, Axelrod reports.

"I think it's very important for the world to unite with one common voice to say to the Iranians that, if you choose to continue forward, you'll be isolated," Mr. Bush said.

The study group met not only with Mr. Bush, but also with Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley. Talks were set separately with Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, National Intelligence Director John Negroponte and CIA Director Michael Hayden.

Blair plans to speak to the commission via video link on Tuesday.

Baker has indicated the recommendations will fall somewhere between the troop withdrawal strategy that Republicans like to say Democrats favor and the "stay the course" policy until recently used by Mr. Bush and widely ridiculed by Democrats.

On Sunday, Mr. Bush's advisers adopted a new tone, days after a dissatisfied public handed the White House a divided government.

"Full speed ahead" in Iraq, as Cheney put it in the final days of the campaign, was replaced by repeated calls for a "fresh perspective" and an acknowledgment that "nobody can be happy" with the situation in Iraq.

"The president obviously wants to take a whole fresh look at what we're doing in Iraq. Nobody's happy with what our situation in Iraq is now," said Josh Bolten, Mr. Bush's chief of staff, on CBS' Face The Nation Sunday.

Democrats, meanwhile, showed they were not all in accord on how to proceed in Iraq. Although party leaders back a multifaceted approach to stabilizing the country, lawmakers have not unified on when to bring troops home without risking more chaos in Iraq.

"We have to tell Iraqis that the open-ended commitment is over," Levin said Sunday.

Yet the Senate's top Democrat, Harry Reid of Nevada, did not seem to go as far. He said he thought the withdrawal of U.S. troops should began within a few months, but when asked if he would insist on a specific date, he said, "Absolutely not."

The administration will not support a timetable for drawing down troops, Bolten said.