US President George W. Bush met on Monday with a heavyweight commission tasked with recommending new ways to fight the Iraq war but reiterated his opposition to a fixed timetable for a US withdrawal.
Bush said he expected "interesting ideas" from the Iraq Study Group led by former US secretary of state James Baker and former Democratic lawmaker Hamilton, who were expected to unveil their advice next month.
"I believe it is very important, though, for people making suggestions to recognise that the best military options depend upon the conditions on the ground," Bush said during a separate meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
The comments came amid growing talk of a change in Western strategy in Iraq and the Mideast, and as British Prime Minister Tony Blair was set to call on Syria and Iran on Monday to boost support for peace efforts in the region.
But Bush and Olmert rejected new overtures to Iran and Syria unless Tehran forswears sensitive nuclear work and Damascus changes its Lebanon policy and helps US-led efforts to pacify Iraq and build a democracy there.
"If the Iranians want to have a dialogue with us, we have shown them a way forward, and that is for them to verifiably suspend their enrichment activities," said Bush.
The US president's comments seemed to shut the door to Washington's previous offer to take up the issue of Iraq with Tehran separate from difficult discussions on the Islamic republic's nuclear programs.
"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," Bush added. "There has to be a consequence for their intransigence."
"We would love to be able to have negotiations with Syria, but that must be based on a certain reasonable, responsible policy, which is not performed by Syria for the time being," said Olmert.
Bush said he hoped to work with opposition Democrats who, fired up by capturing the US Congress in last week's elections, say they hope to begin a phased withdrawal of US troops from Iraq within four to six months.
"What's interesting is that they're beginning to understand that with victory comes responsibilities," Bush said of the Democratic victory. "And I'm looking forward to working with the Democrats to achieve common objectives."
Looking to the BakerHamilton panel's advice, Bush said he would not "prejudge" their report.
"I believe this: I believe that it's important for us to succeed in Iraq, not only for our security but for the security of the Middle East, and that I'm looking forward to interesting ideas," said the president.
Bush said that General Peter Pace, the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, was leading Pentagon efforts to overhaul an Iraq strategy that even the
White House concedes has not worked as well or as quickly as had been hoped.
The US president, who announced after the election that he was replacing Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, was also expected to get a fresh analysis of the situation there in a National Intelligence Estimate sometime in the next three months.
At the US State Department, spokesman Sean McCormack confirmed that an offer to de-link Iraq from nuclear issues in talks with Iran was dead. That plan had called for discussions between Tehran and the US ambassador to Iraq.
"We made an offer to talk specifically about Iraq. That particular channel didn't work out. If in the future we want to avail ourselves of that channel, then that is certainly a possibility, but I don't think that right now that is something that is under consideration," said McCormack.