Bush weighs more troops for Iraq

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Bush is weighing a short-term U.S. troop increase in Iraq, the White House said on Tuesday, as Bush reportedly acknowledged for the first time that America is not winning the war.

In a Washington Post interview, Bush said the United States is not winning in Iraq and that he plans to expand the U.S. military to deal with the long-term fight against terrorism.

"We're not winning, we're not losing," Bush told the Post, adopting the formula used by new Defense Secretary Robert Gates.

Bush, who declared days before the November elections that the United States was winning in Iraq, is expected to announce a new Iraq strategy in January.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said a temporary infusion of forces in Iraq -- an idea the high-powered Iraq Study Group considered acceptable -- was "something that's being explored" as Bush considers options on Iraq.

Snow disputed another Washington Post report that White House officials were at odds with the Pentagon's Joint Chiefs of Staff who oppose an increase in troop levels.

"I think people are trying to create a fight between the president and the Joint Chiefs where one does not exist," Snow said.

The Post, which also reported Bush as saying he was considering a short-term troop increase, said White House officials were aggressively promoting a "surge" of 15,000 to 30,000 troops over the unanimous disagreement of the leaders of the different U.S. military branches.

Bush has not made a decision on his new strategy and has asked military commanders to consider a range of options, Snow said. "So the idea that there is a decision and a squabble would be wrong."

Bush told the Post that he wanted to expand the U.S. military as part of the broader struggle against Islamic extremists rather than for Iraq specifically.

"I'm inclined to believe that we do need to increase our troops -- the Army, the Marines," Bush said in an interview posted on the newspaper's Web site. He gave no estimates on how many more troops might be added.

"I talked about this to (Defense) Secretary (Robert) Gates and he is going to ... come back with a recommendation to me about how to proceed forward on this idea," Bush said.