US President George W. Bush, under pressure to pull US forces from Iraq, met on Monday with a heavyweight panel expected to unveil far-reaching recommendations next month for winning the war.
Bush met early in the day with the Iraq Study Group headed by former US secretary of state James Baker and former Democratic lawmaker Lee Hamilton at the White House, spokesman Tony Snow told reporters.
Leading Democratic lawmakers, fired up by retaking the US Congress in elections last week, said on Sunday they hoped to begin a phased withdrawal of US troops within four to six months and heap pressure on Iraqis to take charge.
The Iraq Study Group was expected to unveil far-reaching recommendations next month. Bush is also expected to get a fresh analysis of the situation there in a National Intelligence Estimate sometime in the next three months.
The US president has said he will consider any suggestions that lead to victory in Iraq, but has flatly rejected setting a timetable for bringing home the roughly 150,000 US troops in Iraq.
The panel's co-chairmen had been scheduled to discuss the war with Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney and US national security adviser Stephen Hadley.
"This is a discussion. This is not a deposition, in other words," said Snow. "This is a discussion where both sides will share views and thoughts."
The British newspaper The Observer reported on Sunday that Prime Minister Tony Blair urged Bush in a long telephone call to involve Iraq's neighbours Syria and Iran in efforts to stabilise the strife-torn country.