Bush On Iraq: 'We'll Remain Tough'
President Bush on Sunday braced Americans for the possibility of more casualties in Iraq after at least 62 U.S. soldiers were killed across Iraq since April 4, including three Marines killed Sunday.
"It was a tough week last week and my prayers and thoughts are with those who pay the ultimate price for our security," Mr. Bush said.
"I just know this, that we're plenty tough and we'll remain tough," he said.
In the south, the military suggested it is open to a negotiated solution in its showdown with a radical Shiite cleric.
Gunfire was largely silenced Monday in the second day of a truce in Fallujah, where doctors said 600 Iraqis, including many civilians, were killed in the past week's Marine siege of Sunni insurgents.
But additional U.S. forces have been maneuvering into place, and the military has warned it will launch an all-out assault on Fallujah if talks there between pro-U.S. Iraqi politicians and city officials — which were continuing Monday — fall through.
Mr. Bush held out hope for the Fallujah talks, saying the United States was "open to suggestions" on reducing the violence.
In other developments:
In Fallujah, hardly a shot was heard Monday morning, more than 36 hours after insurgents in the city said they were calling a cease-fire. The Marines have halted offensive operations since Friday.
Despite the truce, guerrillas overnight made sporadic attacks, said Marines killed two insurgents setting up a machine gun near a patrol and others were fired on by gunmen hiding in a school, he said. During the day Saturday, troops and a Cobra helicopter firing rockets responded to Iraqi fire, killing "a significant number" of fighters, as spokesman said.
Byrne said U.S. Marines would not withdraw from their positions in Fallujah. "Diplomacy is just talk unless you have a credible force to balk it up," he said. "People will bend to our will if they are afraid of us."
Most of the Iraqis killed in Fallujah in fighting that started last Monday were women, children and elderly, the director of the city hospital, Rafie al-Issawi, told The Associated Press.
Al-Issawi said the number of Iraqi dead in the city was likely higher than the 600 recorded at the hospital and four main clinics in the city.
Byrne cast doubt on the numbers and said he was confident troops in his 1st Battalion, 5th Regiment had not killed any civilians. "Just because (the Iraqis) say it's so, doesn't meant its so," he said.
Over a third of the city's 200,000 residents fled the city during the lull, Marines said.
Fallujah residents took advantage of the lull in fighting to bury their dead in two soccer fields. One of the fields had rows of freshly dug graves. A gravedigger at the site said more than 300 people were buried there.
U.S.-allied Iraqi leaders have increasingly expressed anger at the bloodshed in Iraq over the past week, saying the military has used excessive force.
Iraqi Governing Council members are seeking a way to extend the truce and resolve the violence.
In the south, members of the Council have reportedly held talks with followers of radical Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who raised a bloody revolt last week and still control three holy cities, Karbala, Kufa and Najaf.
U.S. troops retook the city of Kut from al-Sadr followers in the past three days, in the first major foray in months by the American military into southern Iraq. But military action to retake the other cities could require fighting near some of Shiite Islam's holiest shrines, raising the possibility of enflaming Shiite anger at the U.S.-led occupation.
One factor that has held off U.S. action to uproot al-Sadr's al-Mahdi Army militia was the presence of up to 1.5 million Shiite pilgrims in Karbala, for Sunday's al-Arbaeen ceremonies, one of the holiest days of Shiism's religious calendar. Most pilgrims had left the city by Monday morning.
The goal of the talks in Fallujah and the south — all conducted by Iraqis, with no Americans participating — was unclear.
U.S. commanders demand that control of Iraqi police and U.S.-led coalition forces in the cities be restored and that insurgents in Fallujah lay down their arms and hand over Iraqis who killed and mutilated four American civilians on March 31.
U.S. coalition spokesman Dan Senor would not comment on Iraqi talks with al-Sadr's followers but added, "I would say that our goal is to minimize bloodshed and to head off any sort of conflict."