Bush Making Changes in His Iraq Team

After more than a month of interagency discussions chaired by deputy national security adviser J.D. Crouch II, deep differences also remain among administration officials over the fundamental question of whether Iraq's Shiites can pull together a moderate political center.

Washington needs Baghdad to provide military manpower to confront the illegal Shiite militias that are fueling sectarian violence and to take political steps to accommodate Sunni grievances, notably in promised but long-delayed amendments to the new constitution.

But the crude execution of Saddam Hussein and the Iraqi government's insistence that two top officials of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, who were captured in a U.S. military raid, had to be handed back to Tehran have fueled U.S. concern that the government is under the partial control of Shiite militias and Iran. Though the White House has officially endorsed Maliki, U.S. officials are divided about whether the prime minister will really deliver, particularly badly needed Iraqi troops.

Last summer, Iraq failed to provide promised troops in Operation Together Forward, the highly publicized effort to secure Baghdad. Maliki pledged six battalions but provided only two -- and has not delivered the remainder, according to U.S. officials. Iraqi troops are essential to hold areas of the city after they are cleared of insurgents and other threats. The joint operation has instead resulted in escalating violence and increased U.S. and Iraqi deaths.

Some Iraqi units ordered to the capital suffered serious attrition or simply refused to go, which also happened in earlier joint U.S.-Iraqi operations. The AWOL rates among Iraqi units have averaged 5 to 8 percent but can rise to more than 50 percent when units are directed to deploy outside their normal areas of operation, according to a recent Pentagon report.

There is currently no military judicial system in the Iraqi army, and Iraqi commanders do not have the legal leverage to compel their soldiers into combat, according to the Pentagon. U.S. military commanders have long expressed frustration over the Iraqi military's failure to provide sufficient troops.

After yesterday's videoconference, White House spokesman Tony Snow said the president did not press Maliki to crack down on Shiite militias because Maliki brought it up himself. "The prime minister stressed his determination to go after anybody responsible for violence," Snow said. "That would include not only insurgent groups and Saddam loyalists, but also militias within Iraq."

Bush also spoke for the first time yesterday about Hussein's execution, saying he wished the proceedings had unfolded in a "more dignified way."

But he said Hussein was given justice. "My personal reaction is that Saddam Hussein was given a trial that he was unwilling to give the thousands of people he killed," Bush said. "He was given a fair trial, something he was unwilling to give thousands of Iraqi citizens who he brutalized."

The White House declined to comment yesterday on its personnel moves, but a senior administration official said the changes are a precursor to revamping policy. "It is appropriate to have the people in place as soon as possible to implement the new policy," said the official, who declined to be identified because the president has not made his announcement.

Bush is expected to announce today that Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte will return to the State Department as deputy to Condoleezza Rice, and retired Navy Adm. John M. McConnell will take the top U.S. intelligence job, U.S. officials say. McConnell directed the National Security Agency from 1992 to 1996 under President Bill Clinton.

As part of his congressional consultations before next week's speech, Bush has invited a group of lawmakers to talk today about Iraq, including moderate Democratic Sens. Ben Nelson (Neb.) and Blanche Lincoln (Ark.). He will meet with more lawmakers on Monday.

Staff writers Glenn Kessler, Ann Scott Tyson and Peter Baker contributed to this report.