US President George W Bush today opened three days of intensive consultations on Iraq, aiming to reverse the course of the nearly four-year-old war and energise his final two years in office.

Australia would not expand its forces to combine its troops with Iraqi forces as part of a withdrawal strategy in Iraq, the country's prime minister John Howard said today.

US President George Bush is meeting British Prime Minister Tony Blair today as the American leader faces urgent pressure to find a fresh strategy in Iraq following a scathing bi-partisan commission report that says his war policies have failed and “time is running out”.

The United States faces a “grave and deteriorating” situation after nearly four years of war in Iraq, a high-level commission warned bluntly today, prodding President George Bush to launch a diplomatic offensive to stabilise the country and allow withdrawal of most combat troops by early 2008.

A long-awaited study expected to call for a US change of course in Iraq is intensifying pressure on President George Bush to find a way out of a war that has lost favour with the American public.

President George Bush said he wanted to hear all advice before making decisions about changes in Iraq strategy, even as it was disclosed that Donald Rumsfeld had called for major changes in tactics two days before he resigned as defence secretary.

A cross-party commission, under pressure to offer a US exit strategy for Iraq, has reached a consensus and will announce its recommendations – reported to be a gradual pullback – next week, the group’s co-chairman said.

US President George Bush and Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki will discuss a speedier hand-over of security control to Iraqi forces as a prelude to the start of a US withdrawal when they meet in Amman, Jordan, later this week, top Iraqi government officials said today.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said today that Iraq is close to civil war as the Bush administration stepped up diplomatic efforts to stabilise the violent country.

Facing rising violence in Iraq and Afghanistan, US President George Bush is pressing European allies for more help in a rush of high-stakes diplomacy amid growing public impatience with the war.

US President George Bush traded ideas on Iraq with a bipartisan commission and promised to work with the incoming Democratic majority toward “common objectives”.

US President George W Bush yesterday praised a bipartisan commission on Iraq for asking him good questions but said “I’m not going to prejudge” the report the panel will issue.

US President George Bush today met with a bipartisan group seeking consensus on a new approach for the war in Iraq amid widespread agreement that the administration's current efforts have not worked well enough or fast enough.

US President George Bush is reportedly “open to ideas” as he meets a panel studying the war on Iraq today.

US military commanders are re-evaluating strategy in Iraq to determine what changes are needed, the top general said.

GEORGE W BUSH’S sudden selection of former CIA Director Robert Gates as US defence secretary brings back a member of the team that waged the successful first Gulf War with just two years to resuscitate the faltering US policy in Iraq.

US president George Bush today acknowledged that the situation in Iraq was tough and said he would consult with US generals to see if a change in tactics was necessary to combat the escalating violence.

THE former September 11 commission gave dismal grades yesterday to the federal government’s efforts to shore up national security and prevent another terror attack on the United States.

The former September 11 commission is giving the US Congress and the White House poor marks on protecting the United States against an "inevitable" terror attack because of their failure to enact several strong security measures.

US President George W Bush yesterday endorsed the creation of a national intelligence czar and counter-terrorism centre — his first steps in revamping the nation’s intelligence-gathering system to try to prevent a repeat of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

THE US Government failed to appreciate the threat posed by al-Qaida who exploited those lapses to carry out the deadliest assault ever on American soil, the chairman of the 9/11 commission said yesterday.

US President George Bush praised as ”very constructive” the recommendations in the September 11 report, though his administration has reacted coolly toward a key proposal to establish a Cabinet-level national intelligence director.

US leaders and intelligence chiefs failed for many years to grasp the gravity of the threat posed by extremists and suffered from “failure of imagination,” the commission investigating the September 11 attacks said in its final report released today.

US National security adviser Condoleezza Rice testified today “there was no silver bullet that could have prevented” the worst terror strike in the nation’s history.